Cecil Hunt's Howlers

Howlers (1928)

Cecil Hunt (1902-1954) wrote and compiled around 60 books. But he is most famous for his books of howlers. Hunt's first book of howlers, called simply Howlers, was published in August 1928 and became an instant bestseller. Howlers sold 10,000 copies even before the book had been published. Howlers was so successful that Hunt went on to compile and publish around a dozen more howlers collections. For more on Cecil Hunt, see Cecil Hunt's entry in Wikipedia.

We are delighted to be able to reproduce selected extracts from Hunt's Howlers books. The first selections come from the original Howlers book, arranged under the following headings:

Literature and Grammar Howlers

Science and Maths Howlers

Faith and Religion

Geography Howlers

Fresh Howlers (1930)

Following the runaway success of Howlers, Cecil Hunt compiled a second volume called Fresh Howlers. Hunt received howlers from people in Italy, France, Malta, Jamaica, Sarawak, South Africa, Canada, China, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and other countries. We have uploaded an edited selection of the howlers from this book, under the following categories:

Politics

History

Music

Howlers Encored (1931)

Howlers Encored is Hunt's third book in the Howlers series. We have reproduced extracts from Howlers Encored on the following subjects:

Health and Medicine

Animals

Latest Howlers (1934)

Latest Howlers is Hunt's fourth book in the Howlers series. We have reproduced a small selection from Latest Howlers in the following categories:

Sport

Philosophy

Handpicked Howlers (1937)

Ten years after he compiled the original Howlers book, Cecil Hunt chose some "super-fine howlers" for illustration by the famous artist Edmund Blampied. In the foreword to Handpicked Howlers, Hunt writes: "The rich humour of many of the howlers can be fully relished by picturing the comicality conveyed". For copyright reasons, we are unable to reproduce Blampied's drawings (70 years have not yet passed since Blampied's death in 1966). But we can reproduce selected extracts from Hand-picked Howlers here.

More Handpicked Howlers (1938)

Ripe Howlers (1939)

Following the success of Handpicked Howlers and More Handpicked Howlers, Cecil Hunt compiled a fresh collection of howlers. The result was Ripe Howlers, published in the year that World War II started. In the foreword, Hunt writes: "We have enjoyed above all the receipt of letters of gratitude from people whose physical and mental suffering is such that they might be forgiven if laughter had momentarily forsaken them". We, too, have enjoyed the incredible response to our website, from people all over the world, and we are delighted to reproduce some extracts from Ripe Howlers (coming soon).

My Favourite Howlers (1951)

Some years after World War II, Cecil Hunt published My Favourite Howlers. In the foreword, Hunt writes: "Most of my collections of Howlers are out of print; indeed some were violently dispersed by a particularly humourless enemy during the war. But their refreshing fun, it seems, is still in the minds of many who inquire for them, so I am glad of this opportunity to present a full selection". Decades on, we are glad of the opportunity to present a selection from My Favourite Howlers, to an even wider audience (coming soon).

Important Copyright Notice

We have reproduced these extracts, and edited and rearranged them, for readers in countries where the Howlers books are in the public domain. This includes Australia because 50 years have passed since the publication of the Howlers books and Hunt's death in 1954; the change in the law in 2005 extending the period of copyright protection from 50 years to 70 years was not made retrospective in Australia. For other countries, please check your local copyright laws.