The first of the Uncle books by J P Martin, called simply “Uncle” has been published in an inexpensive hardcover edition in the US, with the sequel Uncle Cleans up due later in the year.

This tale of a millionaire Elephant in a Purple Dressing Gown and his bizarre friends (The Old Monkey, The One-Armed Badger, Cloutman & the cat called Goodman) is one of the most surreal books I have ever read. Written in 1964 I read it, and its five follow-ups a few years later when I was about twelve, one after another in the space of a week. And I have remembered them - but not seen them - since.

Wonderfully weird, they are set mainly in and around Uncle's castle, Homeward. Homeward is described as being a hundred sky-scrapers of different colours, linked by switchback railways and water slides and surrounded by a moat.

Uncle's enemies are a bunch of degenerate layabouts who live in the equally large, but much more decrepit castle of Badfort. A cross between a council estate, a mill and a ruin Badfort's main crime is that it pollutes the view from Homeward. Its inhabitants are even more weird, with the Hateman family in charge but with cohorts like Oily Joe, Isidore Hitmouse (who specialties in throwing skewers) and an semi-intelligent mound of blue jelly called Jellytussle helping them in their schemes against Uncle.

With illustrations by Quentin Blake, that I can picture to this day, these are stories that have stayed with me and I'm afraid may be imposed upon my ten-year-old as soon as Amazon come up with the goods.

Very British, I'm slightly worried that the political or class overtones, or simple prejudices, that I suspect are present in the books may be too much for the middle-aged Mr Duncan, whereas as a twelve year old all I saw was the wonderful weirdness. Still, I can't wait to find out!