How well do you know your words?; Buxom used to mean obedient; A cloud was a rock; Raunchy originally meant dirty; Brimming with hidden histories and tantalising twists, The Accidental Dictionary tells the extraordinary stories behind ordinary words.; Our everyday language is full of surprises; its origins are stranger than you might think. Any word might be knocked and buffeted, subjected to twists and turns, expansions and contractions, happy and unhappy accidents. There are intriguing tales behind even the most familiar terms, and they can say as much about the present as they do the past.; Busking, for instance, originally meant piracy. Grin meant to snarl. A bimbo was a man, nice meant ignorant, glamour was magic and a cupboard was a table...; Focusing on 100 surprising threads in the evolution of English, The Accidental Dictionary reveals the etymological origins and quirky developments that have led to the meanings we take for granted today. It is a weird and wonderful journey into words.; So, let's revel in its randomness and delight in its diversity - our dictionary is indeed accidental.

'Caroline Taggart has carved out a niche for herself in user-friendly, wittily written factual books.' - Yorkshire Post ______________________ In this highly entertaining book, language enthusiast and Sunday Times best-selling author Caroline Taggart browses through thousands of years of history to shed light on why we use the words and phrases we do. Arranged by themes including food, the household, childhood, romance and more, this intriguing book looks at the origins of our language from their historical context. For example, did you know that: If you rest on your laurels, you're imitating a complacent Roman general? If you eavesdrop, you're likely to get wet? If you're taken aback, you should, strictly speaking, be a sailing ship? If you're galvanized into action, you're behaving like Frankenstein's monster? From blue-blooded (an invention of aristocratic Spaniards) to limelight (a way of lighting Victorian theatres), passing an exam with flying colours (another image from sailing ships) to winning hands down (from horse racing), Humble Pie and Cold Turkey will answer questions you may never have thought to ask. Including why turkeys need to be cold and how pies came to be humble.

Local historian Adam Sowan has explored the town of Reading has to offer, and presents here a challenging set of questions to stimulate the reader's curiosity and develop a deeper acquaintance with this much-maligned town.

Will you accept the challenge of 200 new thematic wordsearches, perfect for whiling away your downtime while travelling, on holiday or relaxing at home? Relax and give your brain a workout. Ideal for whiling away those long commutes, travelling on holiday or relaxing at home. Can you find all of the words hidden in the thematic grids? Grab a pencil and challenge yourself.

Puzzle over these sudoku challenges that range in difficulty

Keep your mind alert with 200 new word search puzzles, arranged in themes, and presented in a handy format. Relax and give your brain a workout at the same time. The ideal pastime while, travelling on holiday or relaxing at home. Challenge yourself to find the words hidden in the grids, all based on interesting themes to provide an enjoyable pastime.

Ever wondered how fat Henry VIII really was? Or what made Mary I 'Bloody'? Over many hundreds of years, British royalty has had its fair share of accidents, rumours, scandals, misrepresentations and misconceptions. For instance, could Richard III be innocent of the deaths of the 'Princes in the Tower'? And what really happened between Queen Victoria and her Highland servant John Brown? In today's world, where newspapers clamour to report new revelations about the Royal Family, this informative and quirky book gives the inquisitive reader an in-depth look at the secrets of our past royals. For anyone curious about what went on behind the palace walls, Raymond Lamont-Brown answers those intriguing, confusing and mysterious questions we might have about our monarchs.

'The perfect Christmas gift' - Alan Brazil A brilliantly entertaining and hilarious quiz book from the country's favourite sports broadcaster Know your bull calf from your bullseye? Your Hawksbee from your Hawk-Eye? Your Saints from your Seagulls? Then join the talkSPORT team as they test you and your mates or family on some of the greatest sporting moments of the past 50-odd years. With over 2,500 questions - split into family-friendly Easy, Medium and Hard sections for each sport - this awesome quiz book is the ultimate test of sporting knowledge and the perfect gift for anyone who loves the ups, downs and hilarity of the world of sport. Don't be a numpty - pick up your copy of The talkSPORT Quiz Book ... NOW

Quizzing has never been so much fun. Quench your thirst for quiz trivia, with 500 new quizzes to test the brain cells in this bumper new edition of 10,000 questions. Perfect for playing with friends and family! These quizzes are suitable for all ages. good clean fun for all. The answers are quick and easy to find so that anyone can pick this up and become a quiz master or train for the next challenge. 10,000 general knowledge and themed questions and answers, will keep even the keenest quizzer occupied for ages.

'This is a fascinating book ... it will no doubt be a great source of entertainment around many a dinner table' - She Magazine ______________________________ A Sunday Times top-ten title in 2008 and a bestseller ever since, I Used to Know That has continued to delight readers with its pages of forgotten facts from our school days. I Used to Know That is an ideal and accessible reference guide for adults wanting to brush up on their lost knowledge - or prepare for a pub quiz! If you've forgotten the capital city of Chile; the basics of osmosis; how to solve a quadratic equation; who wrote the famous poem about daffodils; the use of a conjunction or the number of continents in the world, I Used to Know That is guaranteed to provide all the answers.

Test your 90s knowledge with this awesome trivia card game! Welcome to the Best of the '90s, a fun trivia game that will take you on a sentimental journey through an exceptionally unforgettable decade! In this game you'll find 60 trivia cards with over 470 questions on the following subjects: Movies, Television, Music, Popular Culture, Politics, Sports, and Toys & Games. The questions probe topics ranging from Britney Spears to the Clinton years, from Pocahontas to Pokemon, and from eBay to Y2K. So, gather your Friends around, break out the Crystal Pepsi, open the Dunkaroos and take a Quantum Leap back to The Wonder Years!

How much do you really know about Spurs? Put your knowledge to the test with this bumper book of brainteaser quizzes and fascinating facts, beautifully illustrated by one of the world's leading sports artists. It's packed with trivia on all the great Lilywhites sides and players - from goal-getter Greaves to goal-king Kane, from the pioneering double winners of the 1960s to the Champions League finalists of 2019 - providing hours of highly dippable fun and entertainment. Who scored five goals in one game for England, three of them in just over three minutes, a record that stood for 62 years as the fastest hat-trick in international history? In which 1981 movie did Ossie Ardiles appear alongside Sylvester Stallone? Whose gold medal at the 2018 Asian Games earned him exemption from military service? What was the title of the 1987 single by Glenn Hoddle and Chris Waddle that reached number 12 in the UK charts? Which striker is nicknamed 'Coco'? Trivquiz Tottenham Hotspur holds the answers to all these questions and hundreds more.

Travel around the world without leaving your dinner table, or take this game on the go-either way, the enlightening and entertaining trivia questions in this deck are sure to inspire ideas for the next family vacation!

Forget crosswords or Sudoku! The Maps Quiz Book is the ultimate activity book to improve your navigation skills, wherever you may be in the world. Featuring 50 maps that cover subjects and places from around the globe, this book includes a range of historical, modern and fictional maps that will please any map aficionado. Each map comes with three different levels of questions under the headings Easy, Medium and Difficult, and all answers are included at the back of the book. The questions in The Maps Quiz Book don't require any prior cartographic knowledge, so this brain teaser book will suit the whole family. In no time you'll be expanding your knowledge and navigating your way through streets, geographic wonders and amazing facts via maps from around the world. A perfect gift for the navigator in your life, for ages 10 upwards.

In "A Treasury of Tennessee Tales" you'll discover:

Who painted "See Rock City" signs on barns?

What man, born in Nashville, became president of Nicaragua?

What were the best excuses moonshiners gave to the "revenooers" when their stills were discovered.

How Nathan Bedford Forrest won a naval battle in Tennessee during the Civil War.

How much do you really know about world soccer? Put your knowledge to the test with this bumper book of brainteaser quizzes and fascinating facts, beautifully illustrated by one of the world's leading sports artists. From Ardiles to Zidane, from Aguero to Zlatan, this book provides hours of highly dippable fun and entertainment. The major milestones, legendary players and unforgettable moments are all here. Which Brazil winger overcame childhood polio to win two World Cups? What is the name of the annual award given to the best young player in European football? Which USMNT star almost had his feet bitten off by an alligator while playing golf in Florida? Who was the first Australian-born player to win the Champions League? Who made his international debut at the 1990 World Cup and finished the tournament as top scorer? Trivquiz World Soccer On This Day holds the answers to all these questions and hundreds more.

If you're logofascinated, you are literally spellbound by language.; This surprising compendium of 1,000 facts about words, language and etymology is here to inspire your curiosity and delight in discovery. In Word Drops, you can delve into a smattering of unexpected connections and weird juxtapositions, stumble upon a new or remarkable word, or learn of many a bizarre etymological quirk or tall tale.; - Did you know that the bowl made by cupping your hands together is called a gowpen?; - And speaking of bowls, the earliest known reference to bowling in English dates from 1555, when bowling alleys were banned by an Act of Parliament.; - And that ties in nicely with the fact that the English called the Germans 'Alleymen' during the First World War.; - But in Navajo, Germany is called Beesh Bich'ahii Bikeyah-or 'metal cap-wearer land'.; Word Drops is a language fact book unlike any other, its linguistic tidbits all falling together into one long interconnected chain just like the example above with each fact neatly 'dropping' into place beside the next.; What's more, throughout, footnotes are used to give some informative and intriguing background to some of the most bizarre facts, covering everything from traditional Inuit games to the origin of the Bellini cocktail, from the precise length of one 'jiffy' to what the Romans thought hoopoe birds ate, and from what to expect on a night out with Dr Johnson to Samuel Pepys's cure for a hangover. Want to know the longest palindrome in Morse code, or who The Great Masticator was? Curious to know what Norwegian steam is, or what a jaaaar is? The answers are all here.; For all of the logofascinated among us, this is an immensely pleasurable and unpredictable collection that is guaranteed to raise eyebrows (the literal meaning, incidentally, of supercilious).