Book description
Who was the only British Prime Minister to be assassinated? The
demolition of the old London Bridge put an end to what famous
tradition? Which philosopher caught a fatal chill returning from a
predawn lesson given to Queen Christina of Sweden? What was the real
name of Buffalo Bill? Which mutiny, leading to a war of
independence, was provoked by the use of animal fat? What was
smuggled from Alexandria to Venice in, it is said, a barrel of pork?
What did Pope Innocent III outlaw, as a weapon of mass destruction?
Who, on the first day of 1660, had the remains of a turkey for
breakfast and began a new project?
Prepare to have your general knowledge tested by the best quizmaster
in the business. Here are 2000 of the world's strangest and most
stimulating questions, laid out in a series of thematic quizzes that
cover art , literature, politics, sport, geography and history and
span all the countries of the world. Bamber Gascoigne's fascination
with knowledge is highly contagious and his answers give you the
context you need to find out even more.
And as to the answers to the questions above -- well, you'll have to
read the book...
Bamber Gascoigne was the legendary quizmaster of
University
Challenge
(where, very unusually, he wrote his own questions) for twenty-five
years. His calm intelligence and urbane manner have been much imitated
-- he was spoofed in
Monty Python
,
The Young Ones
and
Red Dwarf
-- but never equalled. He handed over the reins to a rather more
irasible Jeremy Paxman in 1994 and now devotes most of his time to www.
historyworld. net, an online history encyclopedia. He has also written
and presented several landmark TV documentary series including
The Christians
,
Victorian Values
,
Man and Music
and
The Great Moghuls
and he is the author of some twenty books.
