IT'S a case of life imitating art for Ian Hislop and Nick Newman.

The long-term writing partners and collaborators on Private Eye have written a play about two old pals who founded a satirical magazine 100 years ago.

But that's where the similarities end.

The duo's new play The Wipers Times tells the extraordinary story of the satirical newspaper, named after the army slang for Ypres, created in the mud and mayhem of the Somme, illustrated with comic sketches and spoofs depicting life on the front line during World War I.

Defying enemy bombardment, gas attacks and the disapproval of many of the top brass, The Wipers Times rolled off the press for two years and was an extraordinary tribute to the resilience of the human spirit in the face of overwhelming adversity.

"We tend to do most of our writing in Pizza Express and we did have to work with Burt Reynolds once," laughs Nick, who has enjoyed a successful career as a satirical cartoonist and comedy scriptwriter.

"And they were trying to do jokes in the worst possible conditions. Probably the most difficult days we've had on Private Eye were when Princess Diana was killed or on 9/11. It really makes you think about humour. With the situation they were in, there was nothing they couldn't make a joke of.

"It's an extremely powerful story of resilience and the British sense of humour."

"In our dreams," says Ian when I ask if there are many similarities between Private Eye and The Wipers Times.

"It's just the idea that in 1916, while at war, they would discover a printing press and their reaction would be to produce a satirical newspaper.

"It's an amazing decision and it's not like they had nothing else to do," he quips with the trademark sarcasm that has made him a popular team captain on the BBC current affairs quiz Have I Got News For You.

Nick continues: "They're just about to go over the top and the sort of gallantry we stretch to is a boozy lunch before coming straight back to the office to make fun of Piers Morgan.

"You don't get more gallant than that," laughs Ian, a well-known foe of the former Daily Mirror editor turned TV host.

The friends have enjoyed a long and fruitful writing career that started as teenage pupils at Ardingly College in West Sussex and continued with revues while they both studied at Oxford.

Co-credits spanning Spitting Image scripts and the Bafta-nominated TV version of The Wipers Times illustrate how well they combine as writers.

Hislop's lifelong fascination with the Great War developed further when he discovered several family links during the filming of BBC genealogy series Who Do You Think You Are?

On discovering how, in a bombed out building during the First World War in the Belgian town of Ypres, two officers discovered a printing press and created a newspaper for the troops, he knew he had to tell the little known story, which became a radio show and then a TV documentary.

Far from being a sombre journal about life in the trenches, Fred Roberts and Jack Pearson produced a resolutely cheerful, subversive and very funny newspaper designed to lift the spirits of the men on the frontline.

"They had a mutual interest in alcohol, a bit like us," Nick tells me. "I imagine we would have enjoyed a glass or two of Johnnie Walker with them."

"They hadn't known each other quite as long, but they are an idealised version of us," adds Ian, who is married to The Island novelist Victoria and has two grown up children.

The stage premiere of the pair's award-winning BBC film The Wipers Times visits the Main House at Salisbury Playhouse for one week only next week.

"It's wonderful to have people actually laughing at something you've written," muses 58-year-old Nick.

"We're print men to a large extent and we don't get much feedback other than the odd complaint! Even with TV, it takes ages to write something and in an hour and a half, it's gone. It's lovely to be involved in the whole production and how it's come together over the course of five or six weeks."

"There is a happy ending to some extent," says 56-year-old Ian, who has been editor of Private Eye for 30 years.

"They both survived. The sad thing is that they both lived out their lives in relative obscurity and didn't write again. This is the story they should have written and I hope it will help to preserve their legacy."

The Wipers Times is at Salisbury Playhouse from Monday to Saturday. A new matinee has been added on Wednesday after every other performance sold out.

Ian Hislop and Nick Newman will give a post show talk following the opening night on Monday.

Box office: 01722 320333 or salisburyplayhouse.com.