Ah, British sitcoms, the masters of insult. And popular staples on KERA, of course. From watching every episode a hundred times, my daughter has memorized every vitriolic line of the brilliant Blackadder; she even has the complete scripts. Now, author Graham McCann relates the backstage history of that other magical font of marital bile and class resentment: Fawlty Towers. Yes, there was a demented hotel keeper who inspired John Cleese. But, says book reviewer Sinclair McKay, to many older Brits, Basil’s place was a reminder of dozens of backwood British hotels from the pre-’70s that were just as insane.