Thomas Anstey Guthrie was an English novelist and journalist, who wrote his comic novels under the pseudonym F. Anstey. Guthrie became an important member of the staff of Punch magazine, in which his voces populi and his humorous parodies of a reciter's stock-piece represent his best work. Many of Anstey's stories have been adapted into theatrical productions, motion pictures. In later life, Anstey spent a good deal of time overseeing dramatizations of his works, and later film adaptations. According to the critics the fantasy of Guthrie's stories is a lighthearted critique of middle-class British society during the Victorian era.
It is a book about the group of indefatigable Councilmen, embrancing the uselessness of suspension the inspection of variety entertainments until such improprieties as are contained therein have been suffered to contaminate the public mind for a considerable period… What happened with them? Read the story to know!