There were four of us - George, William Samuel Harris, and myself, and Montmorency'.

So begins Three Men in a Boat, perhaps the best-loved comic novel of the Victorian era. It describes the boating expedition on the Thames of the three friends and Montmorency the dog.

The difficulties and vicissitudes of these innocents abroad are magnified to epic proportions, and give the book the air of fresh innocence that has ensured its enduring popularity.