Pedro and Ricky Come Again

Ought to become a classic. It is an enshrinement of [Meadess] intense baroque and catholic cleverness Roger Lewis, The Times

Thirty years ago, Jonathan Meades published a volume of reportorial journalism, essays, criticism, squibs and fictions called Peter Knows What Dick Likes . The critic James Wood was moved to write: When journalism is like this, journalism and literature become one.

Pedro and Ricky Come Again is every bit as rich and catholic as its predecessor. It is bigger, darker, funnier and just as impervious to taste and manners. It bristles with wit and pin-sharp eloquence, whether Meades is contemplating northernness in a German forest or hymning the virtues of slang.

From the indefensibility of nationalism and the ubiquitous abuse of the word iconic, to John Lennons shopping lists and the wine they call Black Tower, the work assembled here demonstrates Meadess unparalleled range and erudition, with pieces on cities, artists, sex, England, France, concrete, faith, politics, food, history and much, much more.