Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire) is the seventh
studio album by English
rock band
the Kinks, released in October 1969. Kinks frontman
Ray Davies constructed the
concept album as the soundtrack to a
Granada Television play and developed the storyline with novelist
Julian Mitchell; however, the television programme was cancelled and never produced. The rough plot revolved around Arthur Morgan, a carpet-layer, who was based on Ray Davies' brother-in-law Arthur Anning. A mono version was released in the UK, but not in the US. It is now available on the 2011 deluxe-edition re-issue.