Three Men in a Boat

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Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog), published 1889, is a humorous account by Jerome K. Jerome of a boating holiday on the Thames between Kingston and Oxford.

The book was intended initially to be a serious travel guide, with accounts of local history of places along the route, but the humorous elements eventually took over.

The three men were based on Jerome himself and two real-life friends, George (who went on to become a senior manager in Barclays Bank) and Harris. The dog, Montmorency, however, was entirely fictional, but, as Jerome had remarked, "had much of me in it."

One of the best things about Three Men in a Boat is how undated it appears to modern readers. The jokes seem fresh and witty even today. There was a not-so-successful sequel, about a cycling tour in Europe, entitled Three Men on the Bummel.

The Thames trip was re-created in 1933 by William Austin, Edmund Breon, and Billy Milton, in 1956 by Laurence Harvey, Jimmy Edwards, and David Tomlinson, in 1975 by Tim Curry, Michael Palin, and Stephen Moore, and in 2005 by comedians Griff Rhys Jones, Dara O'Briain and Rory McGrath, and a very nervous dog Loli, for the BBC.

1 Memorable quotes
2 Summary
- 2.1 Memorable incidents
3 See also
4 External links

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Memorable quotes

The opening sentence: "There were four of us".
"I like work. It fascinates me. I can sit and look at it for hours."
"George goes to sleep in a bank from ten till four each day except Saturdays, when they wake him up and put him outside at 2."
"When George is hanged, Harris will be the worst packer in this world..."

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Summary

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The story kicks off with Jerome introducing the four characters - George, Harris, Montmorency, and himself, and what hypochondriacs George, Harris and himself are. They feel that they are overworked and need a complete change in scene. They decide on a rowing trip up the river Thames.

First, they settle their sleeping arrangements. George makes the most sensible remark of the whole story when he tells Harris and Jerome “We must not think of the things we could do with, but only of the things that we can’t do without” while the three of them are deciding what to pack. They discuss the food items to take, somehow manage to finish packing, and fall asleep.

They wake up late the next morning and reach Kingston (only Jerome and Harris reach Kingston as they have to pick George up in the afternoon) to embark upon their journey. They sail quietly while Jerome is steering (which he forgets that he is) engrossed in their own thoughts until Harris realizes that he cannot see Mrs. Thomas’s Tomb because they have to pick up George and then Harris throws a fit.

They lunch and find that they are trespassing. Then they pick up George, who has bought a banjo. He is introduced to work by having to untangle the towline. They decide to sleep on board that night.

They manage to put up the canvas after which they eat a hearty, long-awaited supper, which makes their persona improve for the rest of the night - even Montmorency doesn’t try being a nuisance. George actually wakes up early the next day. Jerome has a spine-chilling bath and drops George’s shirt into the water. Harris tries to cook scrambled eggs on board but fails.

They lunch a little below Monkey Island during which wanted mustard but did not get any. They fail to open a tin of pineapples. They sail to Marlow and replenish their food. Montmorency almost fights with a tom cat. During lunch (not at Marlow), Harris disappears while carving a pie. For dinner, George makes an Irish stew and while the tea kettle is boiling, Montmorency picks up a fight with it, only to lose. Jerome and George almost get lost when returning from a long walk.

The next day they decide who does what work when. Harris and George force Jerome to do extra work. George finds a dead body in the water. They get their clothes washed at Streatley. George breaks a giant trout made of plaster of Paris. They sail up till Oxford.

They spend two days at Oxford, where Montmorency becomes himself again and has 25 fights. Jerome and Harris lose two-pence each to George. After leaving Oxford, they desert their boat at Pangbourne, mainly because of the terrible weather and end their river trip two days early.

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