Books by Christopher Matthew

Sheds new light and detail upon the weapon system that dominated the ancient battlefield for 200 years.

In this omnibus edition of Christopher Matthew's comic verse, his route takes in Britain's middle-aged middle classes and their foibles, stops to raise a leg at dogs and their lovers, and terminates - as is life's way - with a wry look at romance for bus-pass owners.

'It's never too late to have a fling, for autumn is just as nice as spring . . .'Christopher Matthew's latest collection of canny comic verse negotiates the perils and pitfalls of romance in later years. Love is revealed in the most unlikely places, with the most improbable people seeking it. Whether in Dorking, Diss, Clapham Junction or West Wittering, there are amorous opportunities waiting to be seized at the bridge table, on the tennis court, in the herbaceous border, on a bicycle made for two, or simply in warm companionship. Often hilarious and always touching, these delightful and stirring tales of late-flowering love (and even mild debauchery in a retirement home) are a celebration of life for the young at heart.And never again will you take the 49 bus without a sideways glance at the driver.

The path trodden by the middle-aged middle classes in Britain, smooth though it may appear to the less privileged, is in reality a peculiarly dangerous one, dogged by its own set of terrors, pitfalls and opportunities for social humiliation. In The Man Who Dropped the Le Creuset on his ToeChristopher Matthew follows up the huge success of Now We Are Sixty with a collection of mordant, witty, cautionary verses on the subject of the British bourgeoisie and its foibles and failings.Not only can expensive, enamelled, cast-iron cookware be very dangerous in the wrong hands, but so too can Pilates, open-air opera in evening dress, weekending in Wales with a pug, gastro-tourism in Tuscany, the mid-life parachute jump as an alternative to physiotherapy, and pushing a trolley in Waitrose.As for the middle-aged Lothario's quest for a younger, Mark Two model, this can all too often end in ignominy rather than fun and games and feather boas in Cap Ferrat.Sharply observed and gloriously mischievous, The Man Who Dropped the Le Creuset on his Toe gently punctures the pride and sense of entitlement enjoyed by the pesto-loving middle classes.

20th Anniversary editionTaking some of A.A. Milne's best-known poems - such as 'Buckingham Palace', 'Lines and Squares', 'Puppy and I' and 'Rice Pudding' - Matthew presents some rewrites for those just turning sixty.