Few authors of the twentieth century can claim that through their published fiction they have directly or indirectly helped to bring about significant changes in the laws of Britain. A. P. Herbert, who was knighted in 1945 and made a Companion of Honour in 1970, was one of those few. The vitality and exceptionally wide range of his work are remarkable: he is perhaps best known as a humorist and contributor to Punch magazine, with which he was associated for sixty years; but he also wrote successful musical comedies, poetry, nonfiction, and novels. Much of his writing reveals his unrivaled talent for comedy and drama, and even his serious treatment of what he saw as injustice and unnecessary confusion was always applied with penetrating thought, mockery, and satire that prove in the end to be more effective than mere condemnation.

The eldest of three brothers, Alan Patrick Herbert was born...