A five-CD boxed set featuring the complete works of Derek & Clive, aka Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, has just been released, entitled A Right Pair Of C****: The Complete F****** Derek & Clive.

The famously obscene characters were created by Cook and Moore in the 1970s. Legend has it that after their no-holds-barred banter was circulated in bootleg form among various rock stars it was decided to give the original recordings a legitimate release. Following their success further increasingly controversial recordings were made.

Their outrageous performances were captured on Derek and Clive: (Live) (1976), Derek and Clive - Come Again (1977), and Derek and Clive - Ad Nauseam (1978). A greatest hits album containing some previously unreleased material, called Rude & Rare The Best of Derek and Clive, was released in 2011. The original album Ad Nauseam came complete with its own sick bag.

The largely ad libbed conversations between the duo pushed the boundaries of taste to the absolute limit. In ‘The Worst Job I Ever Had’ they described retrieving lobsters from Jayne Mansfield’s bum and collecting Winston Churchill’s bogeys. The tensions and rivalry between the duo came to a head on the track entitled “Cancer”, with Cook making fun of the disease with the full knowledge that Moore’s father had recently died of cancer.

Cook and Moore's vicious verbal sparring still has the power to shock nearly four decades on. Fans include Ricky Gervais, Jenny Éclair, David Baddiel and Johnny Vegas.

Buy Derek & Clive: A Right Pair Of C****: The Complete F****** Derek & Clive here.