Richard Ingrams

Richard Ingrams is the former Private Eye founder who, having handed the editorship over in the 1980s, went on to create and edit the popular humorous lifestyle and issues magazine, The Oldie. He has also been a regular on the Radio 4 panel show, The News Quiz, and has written columns for The Observer and more recently, The Independent.

Richard Ingrams confesses that he's "addicted to newspapers and magazines", which he reads on the train, leaving his book reading to be done exclusively in bed. These are his thoughts on the three books currently residing on his bedside table:

"My first book is Diana by Sarah Bradford. I didn't think I'd ever find myself reading a book about Princess Diana, but it's a fascinating story about this girl swept up into the Royal Family. It looks at her relationships with Prince Charles and Prince Phillip and her terrible end, and Sarah Bradshaw tells it all terribly well. "

"My second book is by my friend, the journalist Patrick Cockburn. It's an illuminating and brilliantly written book. An awful lot of journalists now sit at their desks looking at their laptops, but Patrick actually goes out into the world. It has that immediacy about it. And his narrative is not all grimness - it's a terrific achievement. "

My third book is Going Home by June Thomson. She's a detective novelist, but she's not that well-known, despite having written 20-plus books. It's traditional in setting - a Midsomer Murders atmosphere, but more realistic. These are thoroughly modern crimes, well written and plotted: June Thomson ought to be better known."

Diana by Sarah Bradford: RRP: £9.99
The Occupation: War, Resistance and Everyday Life by Patrick Cockburn: RRP: £15.99
Going Home by June Thomson RRP: £18.99