Please can you help me find some gentle, very English/UK humour for my elderly dad?

[BSJohnson]

He loved "Travels with Boogie", which I gave him after seeing a recommendation on here, and also "Secrets of a bookseller". He also enjoyed Bill Bryson's books two England books, and "A walk in the woods". I also know he read and enjoyed "three men in a boat" years ago.

He doesn't usually read fiction, but I get the impression he likes gentle, English humour, but clever, not twee. He's sharp as a tack, and grasps contemporary references and modern culture, but doesn't not partake of them! Has anyone got any bright ideas, please?

doesn't not

The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman. Very gently amusing all the way through.

Alexander McCall Smith is very good at gently amusing.

The book that’s being recommended everywhere for gentle humour is Leonard and Hungry Paul by Ronan Hession. I’ve not seen anyone say they dislike it. It’s about a friendship between two men and is just ... a lovely read. Very quiet humour.

Or maybe Diary of a Somebody by Brian Bilston?

You could also try Rewilding by Isabella Tree, about the return of nature to a farm, if he likes nonfiction based in Britishness. Very interesting.

There’s a follow/up to Diary of a Bookseller too - Confessions of...

If he has ever enjoyed reading books about exploration then ‘The Ascent of Rum Doodle’ is a fantastic (and extremely funny) parody of that genre with a lot of very English lampooning.

Thanks everyone! Some great suggestions here.
I was looking at that a Richard Osman one for myself this morning, and thinking I'd wait til it's out in pb, but maybe not, if I can just borrow it off df after Christmas!
The Ascent of Rum Doodle I'd also noticed, so it's great to have a recommendation for it. I'm going to go and look up the others now (I've already earmarked the second bookseller one, but I've not heard of the other recommendations).

Thanks!

If he’s interested in cricket, Penguins Stopped Play is meant to be mildly amusing... tales of village cricketers touring the globe.

Bill Bryson's Little Dribbling fits perfectly!

Patrick Leigh Fermor, wonderful vintage travel writing. Fiction, Dorothy L Sayers mysteries, perhaps try him with ‘The Nine Tailors’. Or ‘The adventures of Sally’ by PG Wodehouse. If he liked ‘Three Men In a boat’ he may enjoy this.

How about the James Herriot books? I used to love them, and they’re pretty gentle - well, they’re vet books so the odd dog or cow comes to an unfortunate end, but really they’re about the foibles of the people, and very funny too.

You could also try Gervase Phinn - he’s written about 5 books about his time as an education inspector in Yorkshire in (I think) the 1980s. They are gently amusing. He’s also written fiction but that features romance which may not be for your dad!

I gave him "Little Dribbling" last year, sadly. He's read Herriot, as my mum had them all.

I was about to suggest Gervase Phinn! Really lovely stories

He's not a sports fan at all, and I've read and very much enjoyed some Patrick Leigh Fermor, but I'm not sure it's funny enough. Sorry to be picky!
I've also got two Gervase Finn books, and I enjoyed them, but they are more my dm's taste, tbh. Not quite enough edge.

Diary of a provincial lady by e m delafield? Lovely book and amusing.

And he's read a fair amount of Wodehouse. Lord, this is difficult!

Thinking about it, I feel like he likes observational humour that is a bit sharp at times, so yes to Wodehouse-style. I'm hoping to find something probably from the last 30-40 years, so he's less likely to have read it already/know it as a classic.

What about this, it's just out and looks fun.

www.amazon.co.uk/Windsor-Knot-Elizabeth-investigates-delightfully/dp/1838773169?tag=mumsnetforu03-21

Diary of a Nobody by George Grossmith?

That makes a lot of diary recommendations...

Has he read The Diary of a Nobody by George and Weedon Grossmith?Written about the same time as Three Men in a Boat. There is also a sequel to Three Men called Three Men on the Bummel. If I remember correctly, it is about a cycling trip in Germany.

Just to continue the theme, any/all of the Adrian Mole books.

Jeeves and Wooster - P.G. Wodehouse ?

The Innocent Anthropologist by Nigel Barley

Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons

Alexander McCall Smith is very good at gently amusing.

I agree. It's gentle Scottish humor, though, rather than English.