One of the things I find strange in most detective fiction is the lack of British humour. As a group, English people tend to fall back on humour when there is a problem or we are stressed or even very sad. We break the tension with jokes all the time yet this seldom comes into fiction. 'Country Life' does have humour in it even if it is not a comedy.
My own influences go way back to 'Round the Horne' and the 'Goons' on the radio and later these two. Flanders and Swan were fantastic and very, very British in their jokes and playing with words. They did a follow-up to their famous 'Hippo' song which I can't find anywhere but it went...
'The amorous hippopotamus, whose love song we know, is now married and father of ten. He murmurs "God-rottimus" and watches them grow, and he longs to be single again!' Perfect!!
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