Here is a generous distillation of the genius of John Hepworth, carefully and lovingly gleaned by author Morris Lurie from over seven years of Outsight, the weekly contribution by Hepworth that has enlivened the back page of Nation Review and its predecessors.

The result is a savoury pudding of the sharp and sweet of life. There are favourite Hepworths galore: Hepworth on war, Hepworth on jails, Hepworth at the lizard races, Hepworth in London and Paris and Bangkok ...

Hepworth everywhere, seeing everything, noting it down with that innocent candour that is his, and his alone. And delightfully illuminating all are the illustrations of well-known cartoonist, duck-fancier and long-time Hepworth comrade, Michael Leunig.