of the 1960s. He has been described by Stephen Fry
as "the funniest man who ever drew breath," although Cook's work was also controversial. Cook is closely associated with anti-establishment
comedy that emerged in Britain and the USA in the late 1950s.
Cook was born at Shearbridge, Middle Warberry Road, Torquay
, Devon, the only son and eldest of the three children of Alexander Edward (Alec) Cook (1906–1984), a colonial civil servant, and his wife Ethel Catherine Margaret, née Mayo (1908–1994).
You know, I go to the theatre to be entertained... I don’t want to see plays about rape, sodomy and drug addiction... I can get all that at home.
I am blind, but I am able to read thanks to a wonderful new system known as broil. I'm sorry, I'll just feel that again.
If there's one thing I can't bear, it's when hundreds of old men come creeping in through the window in the middle of the night and throw all manner of garbage over me. I can't bear that.
We shall move about in people's rooms and say, "Excuse me, we are the World Domination League. May we dominate you?" Then, if they say "Get out," of course we give up. Well, you have to give up if you're told to get out.
I've had some wonderful ideas for getting the dominating going. I've got some extremely subtle advertising slogans that should get the public behind us. Things like "vote for EL Wisty and lovely nude ladies will come and dance with you." It's a complete lie, of course, but you can't afford to be too scrupulous if you're going to dominate the world.