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But at the core is a very human tale of fall and redemption that brought tears to my eyes when the two are finally parted by Father Joe’s death.The reviewer’s ‘Heaven: a traveller’s guide’ is published by HarperCollins Buy any book reviewed on this site at postage and packing are free in the UK. So beguiled was Hendra that he decided he wanted to become a monk, and turned prig on the spot.At this stage, I still had my suspicions that this was a spoof autobiography by a satirist with many piss-takes to his credit. Persevere; it’s worth it.On the other side is Father Joe: Dom Joseph Warrilow, a Benedictine monk at the enclosed community of Quarr on the Isle of Wight. Hendra begins by explaining how he met Father Joe: “I was 14 and having an affair with a married woman.” Her husband, catching them in the act (not much of an act, in retrospect), marches Hendra off for punishment by Father Joe.It’s the 1950s: Hendra feared eternal damnation at least, but instead the engaging, eccentric Father Joe absolved him from his sins and beguiled him by presenting an image of a church that was loving and compassionate. He went off to America and made his name as a satirist at the National Lampoon. His writing is, as you would expect, sharp and funny, but his target audience is clearly American.

So British readers will have to put up with explanations of the Isle of Wight and Plasticine. For Hendra is writing about religion: specifically, his on-off vocation to be a Catholic priest. While that may go down well in the States, here such soul-searching is usually regarded as plain embarrassing.
This enchanting book is essentially a two-hander. On one side is Tony Hendra, part of the Sixties comedy generation that emerged from Cambridge.

Oliver doubles hilariously as Martin, the recovering addict.There are times when this complex play even feels like a wistful “Dear John” letter to the drug experience. And – for all its flaws – it is bravery such as this that keeps it compelling To 23 January (020-8932 4747). Hurray for America. There may be many things we bemoan about our closest allies, but if it hadn’t been for their enthusiasm for Tony Hendra’s extraordinary memoir, I doubt whether we would have seen it published over here – although the author is British. Naturally, there was a certain amount of practicality involved in the decisions we made.

We had to restore the existing fabric of the building, which then became a support for a new outer “layer”. Once we had replaced the joists in the sitting room, we re-floored it with wide boards of Sapele, which we stained to match the mahogany banister rail. This floor continues into the kitchen and it looks great – though it isn’t actually the best solution for a kitchen floor, as it’s fairly high-maintenance. We spent a fortune restoring the plaster cornicing and used London Fine Art Plaster, which did an incredibly brilliant job.I love the lights we chose for these two rooms – they’re Achille Castiglioni “Taraxacum” lights, and real design classics They’re not very economical; each one has 60 25-watt bulbs. We think they look quite like Daleks.Our huge Gaggenau pizza oven was given to us by a client when they upgraded theirs. We’ve also got a huge American fridge with an ice and water dispenser that the kids love, although they constantly drop ice on to the floor. Matilda drove her bike into the fridge when it was new and scratched it with the brake handle.

Then she finished the job off by scribbling over the door in Biro. I’m really pleased with my pullout X-trend tap which we bought from alternative plans, too – it’s slick as well as practical.The white-gloss kitchen cupboards were supplied by Anthony Downes. We’ve used standard cabinets but customised them with stainless-steel trims to suit our needs. The cupboards are probably 12ft high and almost reach the ceiling. We need the storage because we aren’t very good at throwing things away and we have accumulated a huge amount of stuff.The kitchen opens out onto the garden via the original double doors. We have added a glass bridge spanning the small courtyard below, leading to a decked area of the garden that is actually the roof of the garages.