From the best selling author of Red Herrings & White Elephants, Pop Goes the Weasel, Ten Minute Mysteries and many more...Who Really Makes Crop Circles?Strange formations in fields of wheat and other crops have been appearing since the 1970s. Are they made by aliens parking their spaceships, or is the explanation rather more down to earth?Of all the subjects I’ve explored for this series, the one I was most looking forward to finding more about was crop circles. For...

The international bestseller. "Amusing and informative . . . [takes] you on a trip through the most fascinating and richest regions of the English language." —Knutsford Guardian (UK)Mad hatter . . . pie in the sky . . . egg on your face. We use these phrases every day, yet how many of us know what they really mean or where they came from?From bringing home the bacon to leaving no stone unturned, the English languag...

Introduction.The subject of urban myths and legends is one I have been interested in for a couple of years now. It occurred to me, one day at lunch with friends on the Isle of Dogs, that many long rambling conversations (and ours are certainly long and always rambling) will include a tall tale or two.One person will then be reminded of a story he or she once heard which is then presented as near or actual fact. The story will be introduced like this: 'That reminds me of a s...

'Stupid presidents, smart presidents, white presidents, black presidents -- doesn't work! What this country needs is a crazy Third World dictator. And Donald Trump has what it takes to be that. He's already got a plane with his name on it, solid gold buildings, a harem...' – Lewis Black, on Donald Trump.IntroductionThere is nobody more interesting on the political stage either in America or throughout the world at the current time as The Donald. Time and time again he has b...

Robert Kennedy, JFK and the Death of Marilyn Monroe.Who Didn't Kill Them?For five decades the world has been told that the killers of John F Kennedy and his brother Bobby were either already dead or languishing in prison.Lee Harvey Oswald was shot the day after the assassination but the Warren Commission, set up to investigate the brutal murder of the President, insists that he did. And that he acted alone. Details in this essay prove beyond doubt that the small pie...

Food is just as entitled to a proper history as castles, wars, kings, queens, art, literature and the bubonic plague. But the book world is now so saturated by celebrity chefs trying to show the working man how to rub garlic on a ciabatta or break lime leaves over a piece of raw fish that we've lost sight of the really interesting stories behind the recipes we all know and love.And, whilst I don't ride around London on a scooter with my mates or swear at incompetent sous chefs for ...

From the best selling author of Red Herrings & White Elephants, Pop Goes the Weasel, Ten Minute Mysteries and many more...The Mysterious Death of God’s Own Banker - Did Roberto Calvi, head of a bank with close connections to the Vatican, take his own life or was there a more sinister reason why he was found hanging under Blackfriars Bridge?Early in the morning of 18 June 1982, in a scene redolent of a real-life Da Vinci Code, the body of Roberto Calvi, chairman of one of It...

From the Author of the Internationally Bestselling Books - Red Herrings & White Elephants, What Caesar did for My Salad, Shaggy Dogs, Pop Goes the Weasel, They Laughed at Galileo:Have you ever wondered where your Margherita, Melba, Suzette or Eggs Benedict come from? This is the fantastic history and origins of your favourite foods and recipe names.Food is just as entitled to a proper history as castles, wars, kings, queens, art, literature and the bubonic ...

From the international bestselling author of Red Herrings and White Elephants, Pop Goes the Weasel & They Laughed at Galileo.Did you know that the Cornish pasty was invented to protect tin miners from arsenic poisoning, or that the word 'salary' comes from Roman soldiers being paid their wages in salt? Why do we eat goose (or turkey) at Christmas?Is the Scotch egg actually from Scotland and what did some retired crusaders have to do with French toast? Who w...

Albert Jack now turns his attention to the mysteries that have haunted us throughout history."Albert Jack's Ten Minute Mysteries" cleverly combines his research with riveting stories and hilarious observations.All life's most perplexing questions answered: UFOs, Crop Circles and Alien invasions Where is the Mona Lisa? (clue: it's not in the Louvre) Is the Loch Ness Monster really a circus elephant? Will the real Paul McCartney please stand up? What happened...

From the author of the internationally Bestselling Books - Red Herrings & White Elephants, What Caesar did for My Salad, Shaggy Dogs, Pop Goes the Weasel, They Laughed at Galileo & 9/11 ConspiracyOriginally written in 2014 the story chillingly predicting many of the great events between 2016 & 2019, such as the election of Donald Trump, the Islamic suicide attacks in Europe and the dreaded VIRUS that was used to restrict movements of people and restore order.

From the international bestselling author of Red Herrings and White Elephants--a curious guide to the hidden histories of classic nursery rhymes.Who was Mary Quite Contrary, or Georgie Porgie? How could Hey Diddle Diddle offer an essential astronomy lesson?Do Jack and Jill actually represent the execution of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette? And if Ring Around the Rosie isn't about the plague, then what is it really about?This book is a quirky, curiou...