After exhaustive research into the D'Oyly Carte collection of documents, Ainger offers the most detailed account to date of Gilbert and Sullivan's starkly different backgrounds and long working partnership. "A Gilbert is of no use without a Sullivan," W. S. Gilbert once summed up his reasons for persisting in his collaboration with Arthur Sullivan despite the combative nature of their relationship. Indeed, Michael Ainger suggests, it is the clash between these two strongpersonalities that accounts for the success of their work together, as each partner challenged the other to produce his best work.