His third book is ‘Try not to Laugh’ and is a guide to memorising, revising and passing exams for students. In the next fifteen years he acquired a distinguished reputation for his stories about English country life.

Waiting for them is a young man: Mr Cedric Charlton, an upstanding inspector of taxes, come to discover why they haven't paid any.

One thing was for certain – the second the Larkin’s got home and saw poor Charley standing there in their yard, he never, ever had a chance. I grew up around people rather like the Larkins (without the nonstop eating and drinking): generous, warmhearted and welcoming, but (like the Larkins and unlike the Capra family) rather judgemental of people who don't share their lifestyle and values. This funny and rollicking book follows the tale of a young office worker who meets the ever buoyant Larkin family on their small farm. Bates – The Larkin Family Saga (Comprising: The Darling Buds of May, A Breath of French Air, When the Green Woods Laugh, Oh! Frankly, it should be compulsory for every human being on the planet to read The Darling Buds of May at least once in their life time - with the good example of Ma and Pop Larkin glowing cheerfully at the back of their minds like a summer's day in Kent, no human being could possibly want to start a war, exploit others for foul gain or deliberately hurt anyone!

He also wrote his autobiography in three volumes (each delightfully illustrated) which were subsequently published in a one-volume Autobiography. The title of the book is a quote from William Shakespeare's Sonnet 18: Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Bates goes on to cite the novels as reflective of the vast changes to the English countryside in the 1950s but, more significantly, he notes that "it is not to be denied, moreover, that there is something of myself in Pop Larkin: a passionate Englishman, a profound love of Nature, of the sounds and sights of the countryside, of colour, flowers and things sensual; a hatred of pomp, pretension and humbug; a lover of children and family life; an occasional breaker of rules, a flouter of conventions. Bates - The Larkin Family Saga (Comprising: The Darling Buds of May, A Breath of French Air, When the Green Woods Laugh, Oh!What he doesn’t know is that oldest daughter Mariette is in a bit of trouble and he might be just the man to help. The Pop Larkin Chronicles : The Darling Buds of May, A Breath of French Air, When the Green Woods Laugh, Oh! By using the Web site, you confirm that you have read, understood, and agreed to be bound by the Terms and Conditions. Now known as “Charley,” our hapless hero floats along on a stream of unstinting alcohol and unending feasts. The way the author decide that he must describe every 2 pages the body of women (Ma and Mariette particularly) was really off putting.