A SWINDON brother and sister have co-written a book which pokes fun at the Victorians.

Right Up The Empire will be published on Monday.

The book sees a selection of Victorian images interspersed with Carry On-style captions.

It was written in four months by siblings Diane Mason and Andrew Selwood, and the pair are already working on a sequel.

Diane, 54, from Greenmeadow, said the idea had come out of a chance look through an old Victorian periodical.

When her brother made a quip about one of the captions the pair fell about laughing and an idea was born.

Diane, an academic with a doctorate in Victorian literature and medical history, said: “It’s quite racy in places and it’s very much a Carry On and seaside postcard innuendo style humour, with a contemporary edge.

“If you were looking at comedy influences you’d be looking at people like Julian Clary, Les Dawson, Dick Emery and Frankie Howerd.”

Diane said family and friends had encouraged her to pursue the project.

She said: “There are a lot of people who would find it funny.”

Andrew, 52, from Laburnum, Road, Pinehurst, said: “I was at Di’s and I was looking through the Victorian periodical magazines and some of the cartoons suggested something quite amusing because they were overly dramatic and over posed.”

“We think there is something in it to appeal to everyone.”

Diane and Andrew are direct descendants of 19th century author Richard Jefferies, who lived in Coate.

Andrew said: “Seeing the lighter side of things seems to be something of a family trait so we assume he would have had the same sense of fun.

“And just as Jefferies was inspired by the natural beauty of the local area, so we have drawn on Wiltshire for at least one of the gags.”

Right Up The Empire is published by Chichester-based Summersdale Publishers, priced £9.99.