John O'Farrell

John O’Farrell's first book was the comic political memoir Things Can Only Get Better. It was a number one bestseller and remains one of the most popular political memoirs ever written. He wrote a sequel 20 years later: Things Can Only Get Worse. In the intervening years, he has published five novels: The Man Who Forgot His Wife, May Contain Nuts, This Is Your Life, The Best a Man Can Get and There's Only Two David Beckhams. His new novel, Family Politics, was published in 2024. He has also written the bestselling history books, An Utterly Impartial History of Britain and An Utterly Exasperated History of Modern Britain. One of a small number of British writers to have achieved bestseller status with both fiction and non-fiction, his books have been translated into over twenty-five languages and been adapted for radio and television.  A former comedy scriptwriter for such productions as Spitting Image, Have I Got News For You, Smith & Jones and Chicken Run, he was the founder of Britain’s first daily news satire website NewsBiscuit and co-wrote the Broadway musical Something Rotten! and, mostly recently, the musical adaptation of Mrs Doubtfire.

Twitter: @mrjohnofarrell

Books in order of publication:

Non-Fiction

Things Can Only Get Better (1998)

Global Village Idiot (2001)

I have a Bream (2002)

I Blame the Scapegoats (2003)

May Contain Nuts (2005)

An Utterly Impartial History of Britain (2007)

Isle of Wight To Get Ceefax (ed) (2008)

An Utterly Exasperated History of Modern Britain (2009)

Fiction

The Best A Man Can Get (1997)

This is Your Life (2002)

May Contain Nuts (2005)

The Man Who Forgot His Wife (2012)

A History of Capitalism According to the Jubilee Line (2013)

There’s Only Two David Beckhams (2015)

Things Can Only Get Worse (2017)

Family Politics (2024)