I Never Fell into a Midden Quotes

“I had started writing before the war, unsuccessful short stories which had too much of the admired Chekhov, O. Henry, Jack London, H.E. Bates in them and not enough of myself... Lichty Nichts did well enough to encourage a second collection and a third. I took a fourth selection to Willie Smith of David Winter. He suggested a full book on McGonagall. There had been no previous in-depth research on the would-be laureate. Superficial cheap mickey-taking had been the usual treatment. It was possible to find out a great deal about McGonagall. He had been well-reported in the press during his lifetime and particularly sympathetically by his journalist friend.”
― David Phillips, I Never Fell into a Midden