Did you know that Beethoven made every cup of coffee with exactly 60 beans? Or that Shirley Temple always had precisely 56 curls in her hair? Or that the young Frank Sinatra practised underwater swimming as a way of developing his ability to hold long breaths? In Secrets of Success, Charlie Croker brings his proven blend of gripping trivia and incisive humour to the question of how famous high achievers reached those heights. We’ll see Chopin sleeping with wedges between his fingers to increase their span, learn how P.G. Wodehouse reminded himself which pages of a manuscript still needed work, and find out why Thomas Edison chose his research assistants on the basis of their soup-eating habits. This revealing and entertaining book provides countless glimpses into the methods – and sometimes madness – of the world’s most famous figures. From ancient Egypt to the modern day, you’re about to learn the secrets of their success ...

Spoken by over 700 million jabbering individuals, the English language has travelled to all corners of the globe - unfortunately, some of it has got a bit muddled along the way.

Lost in Translation: Misadventures in English Abroad affectionately demonstrates the very best - and worst - instances of genuine grammar-gargling from around the world, discovered by the author and his intrepid team of researchers. It includes everything from hilarious hotel signs to baffling advertisements, such as the German beauty product offering a 'cream shower for pretentious skin', the notice at a French swiming pool which proclaimed that 'swimming is forbidden in the absence of the saviour', or the warning sign at a Czech zoo which instructed visitors: 'No smoothen the lion'.

Did you know that Beethoven made every cup of coffee with exactly 60 beans? Or that Shirley Temple always had precisely 56 curls in her hair? Or that the young Frank Sinatra practised underwater swimming as a way of developing his ability to hold long breaths? In I Didn't Get Where I Am, Charlie Croker brings his proven blend of gripping trivia and incisive humour to the question of how famous high achievers reached those heights. We'll see Chopin sleeping with wedges between his fingers to increase their span, learn how P.G. Wodehouse reminded himself which pages of a manuscript still needed work, and find out why Thomas Edison chose his research assistants on the basis of their soup-eating habits. This revealing and entertaining book provides countless glimpses into the methods - and sometimes madness - of the world's most famous figures. From ancient Egypt to the modern day, you're about to learn the secrets of their success...