Happy World Book Day! Recently, Peter Pan's "All children, except one, grow up" was voted the best opening line of a book - so today, we asked the listeners of the Ian Dempsey Breakfast Show to give us their best openers.
Some are funny, some are poignant - and some are bonkers and probably untrue...but we've left them in anyway because it's World Book Day and who cares about the rules!
My 9 yr old daughter likes this opening line Mr Stink stank. He also stunk and if it is correct English to say he stinked, then he stinked as well - Mr Stink
The time has come. - Dr. Seuss, Marvin K. Mooney Will You Please Go Now!
I had a farm in Africa, at the foot of the Ingong Hills - Isak Dinseen, Out of Africa
A woman of extraordinary strength. I have remained inspired by her
Dear Anyone Who Finds This, Do not blame the drugs. – Linda Barry, Cruddy
Pride and prejudice. It is common knowledge that every man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife
A screaming comes across the sky. —Thomas Pynchon, Gravity's Rainbow
Once upon a time and a very good time it was there was a moocow coming down along the road and this moocow that was coming down along the road met a nicens little boy named baby tuckoo — James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
124 was spiteful. —Toni Morrison, Beloved
You better not never tell nobody but God - Tom Robbins, Another Roadside Attraction
It was the day my grandmother exploded. I sat in the crematorium, listening to my Uncle Hamish quietly snoring in harmony to Bach's Mass in B Minor, and I reflected that it always seemed to be death that drew me back to Gallanach. - The Crow Road by Iain Banks. John
Call me Ishmail! Moby Dick. Herman Melville!
I’m pretty much f*cked – Andy Weir, The Martian
How did i meet Father Joe? I was a 14 yr old boy having an affair with a married woman - from the book Father Joe, a true story by Tony Hendra
Ian , what about the best opening line: An old woman am I with one foot in the grave. Yes you guessed it; Peig Sayers, Joe
All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in it's own way. Opening line from Anna Karenina by Tolstoy. Fergus, Tallaght
Best opening line, the man in black fled across the desert and the gunslinger followed. From Stephen Kings Dark Tower. Vinny O 'Reilly from Artane
