'Enlightening . Funny, smart, original and provocative ... It is hard to imagine the stalwarts of Mock the Week recognising the Druze militia leader Walid Jumblatt in a London cinema' NEW STATESMAN

'Few standups have come close to capturing a fraction of this creative energy in a book . Alexei Sayle is an exception' GUARDIAN

"What I brought to comedy was an authentic working-class voice plus a threat of genuine violence - nobody in Monty Python looked like a hard case who'd kick your head in."

In 1971, comedians on the working men's club circuit imagined that they would be free to continue telling their tired, racist, misogynistic gags forever. But their nemesis, a nineteen-year-old Marxist art student, was slowly coming to meet them.

Thatcher Stole My Trousers chronicles a time when comedy and politics united in electrifying ways. Recounting the founding of the Comedy Store, the Comic Strip and the Young Ones, and Alexei's friendships with the comedians who - like him - would soon become household names, this is a unique and beguiling blend of social history and memoir. Fascinating, funny, angry and entertaining, it is a story of class and comedy, politics and love, fast cars and why it's difficult to foul a dwarf in a game of football.

Abbey Road Studios is the most famous recording studio complex in the world and with an unparalleled history of recording, working with some of the world's most celebrated artists, producers, composers and orchestras.

The studios have been at the heart of the music industry for 80 years and have been the location of countless landmark recordings. Abbey Road remains one of the most technically advanced recording and mixing facilities in the world with a unique blend of vintage equipment and today's leading technology.

Alistair Lawrence is a freelance music journalist.