“I love work,” the Victorian humorist Jerome K Jerome remarks in his comic masterpiece Three Men in a Boat, ”I could watch it for hours”.

But the energy and sheer verve of his book leave us in no doubt that, in fact, he certainly did adore his work as a comic writer.
The success of the book, which has never been out of print, reminds us that the fruits of truly passionate and devoted work can even live on beyond our natural lifespans.