Well I Never Knew That!: Do Spies Win Olympic Medals? - Hardcover

Ryding, Peter

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0955152569 ISBN 13: 9780955152566

Publisher: Pathfinder Partners Ltd, 2006

Synopsis

The WELL I NEVER KNEW THAT series of books takes you on a fun
and fascinating journey through the origins of fascinating facts and
everyday phrases like no other book.

For a start the specially commisoned artwork is both historically accurate
and actually SHOWS you the origins of words and phrases. Like the original
"square meal" made from a sawn off (square)plank of wood and "Beyond the
pale" where a pale was a wooden stake(cf PALISADE) marking the boundary of
land protected by knights with the dangerous area of land of the
barbarians. It would be dangerous to go "Beyond the pale!"

The book is also written so you can use it as a quiz over dinner or
relaxing on sofas. One person reads out teh story and other can guess teh
phrase that has derived from the situation.

You can also discover the TRUE meaning behind nursery rhymes. Sometimes its
political satire (eg Ride a cock horse to Banbury Cross) sometimes its
about sex(eg Jack and Jill) and sometimes its a social commentary (eg Half
apound of tuppeny rice).
All these intriguing origins are then interconnceted in ways that noone has
spotted before. For example "pop" means to pawn something for money. So
when a cloth worker died their clog shoes (to avoid sparks and fires in
the factories) woudl be pawned. Hence the phrase "TO POP YOUR CLOGS." This
is the same term appearing in the nursery rhyme "POP GOES THE WEASEL",
where a weasel is a craftsmans tools. This phrase meant that after poor
people did all their drinking ale in the boozer ("Up and down the city
road, In and out of the Eagle(pub), That's the way the money goes, POP goes
the weasel!" Meaning that the craftsmen had to pawn their tools for food
and so loose their livelihood!. Oh what jolly things we teach our kids !
:)

About this title

Review

BLOODY MARVELLOUS ! Every loo in Britain should have one!" -- BORIS JOHNSON(MP)

My son loves it! -- MIKE XXXX(WINKT CLUB MEMBER)

From the Publisher

Peter Ryding has really come up with an amazingly unique and
entertaining series of books. The humour, the drawings, teh themings and
teh interconnections and his wonderfully fast moving and entertaining
style.

His radio interviews to talk about the books regularly attract record
breaking numbers of phnone ins and listeners especially his monthly series.
These books are becoming a phenomena and a richly deserved one at that!

About this edition

• Publisher: Pathfinder Partners Ltd
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0955152569
• ISBN 13: 9780955152566
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 180