SALISBURY born David Mitchell is taking his readers on a literary tour with the release of his new book – Thinking About It Only Makes It Worse.

The witty comedian, actor and the man behind That Mitchell and Webb Look, Peep Show and multiple panel shows, was born on July 14, 1974 to parents Ian and Kathy who worked as managers of a Salisbury hotel.

Thinking About It only Makes It Worse follows Mitchell’s popular Soap Box series, where he voiced his qualms about global warming, Richard III, Downton Abbey and the like.

This time round, Mitchell takes his readers on a literary tour of the absurdities of modern life, including Ryanair, sports day, UKIP and hotdogs made of cats. Mitchell studied History at Cambridge where he joined Footlights, the world famous comedy troupe with alumni the likes of Stephen Fry, John Cleese and Emma Thompson.

By his own admission, Mitchell admits his enthusiasm for Footlights meant he spent more time in the theatre than in lecture halls – and when he met fellow student Robert Webb, the two became fast friends as well as comedy partners.

While Mitchell may have shrugged off the academic side of Cambridge, his new book shows signs of a historian’s touch.

“I suppose I tend to see things as part of a broader historical direction of travel,” he said.

“Most of the sort of things I try and write jokes about, whether its sketches or on panel shows, they tend to be about things now that you think are absurd, or dangerous, or laughable, the kind of direction that things are going in.

“There’s the issue of if the planet is going to remain habitable, but then, how much does thinking about this help?”

The trials of everyday British life and of course the Government gripe the comedian.

“Some of us are fundamentally dissatisfied,” he said. “If you move abroad to address that, you risk shattering the comforting illusion that you’d be happy if only you lived somewhere sunny.”

With two books, a feature film and a menagerie of TV shows behind him, he’s still busy writing his columns.

It’s clear that an ever-exasperated Mitchell still has questions to ask, but he doesn’t view his opinions as particularly extreme.

“On good days, I reckon I come across as pretty reasonable,” he says.

Thinking About It Only Makes It Worse is out on November 6 from Faber & Faber.