Wasted talent?

A quarter of a century after his death, how is Peter Cook perceived? The Guardian's Ryan Gilbey spoke to Cookophiles and fellow comics Ade Edmondson, Eddie Izzard and Lucy Porter about the genius and influential legacy of a man about whom the consensus was - and arguably still is - that he peaked early and ended up drunk, washed up and phoning it in.

I wasn't even born when Cook was enjoying what is widely considered to be his heyday, but my first encounter with him via Why Bother?, his early-90s improvised interviews with Chris Morris that found him in character as Sir Arthur Streeb-Greebling, had me doubting the received wisdom - clearly he never lost his ability to freewheel to brilliant effect.

I later enjoyed his collected writings (Tragically, I Was An Only Twin) and the BBC's dramatisation Not Only But Always, but have never really investigated further. Perhaps now's the time. But where to start? Not Only ... But Also? Derek And Clive?