Canongate acquires Michael Spicer debut

Canongate has acquired actor and comedy writer Michael Spicer's debut book, The Secret Political Adviser.

Canongate editorial director Hannah Knowles pre-empted world rights from Kate Haldane at PBJ Management.

The book imagines the life of a secret political adviser "working with clients such as Boris Johnson, Prince Andrew and Donald Trump", and is due to be published in hardback on 1st October.

Spicer appears regularly on the BBC2 show "The Mash Report", and has written and performed in comedy projects for Channel 4, Hat Trick and Comedy Central. His series of YouTube comedy sketches, "The Man Next Door," features over 100 episodes, and provided inspiration for the book.

He said: "I am overwhelmed and very excited to be writing this book and I’m very grateful to Canongate for giving me the chance to do something each day during this lockdown other than destroy my children’s future by persisting with my wholly inadequate approach to home schooling."

Knowles said: "I think it’s fair to say that the world sorely needed Michael’s satirical creation when he introduced the secret political adviser into our lives.

"At a time when laughter is a precious commodity, he has helped us through the general election, Brexit and now Covid-19 with his ingenious sketches. Hopefully his book doesn’t act as a harbinger for the fourth horseman of the apocalypse."