For over 50 years, Test Match Special has provided listeners with every Test cricket ball, batting average, and plenty of views from the boundary, too. But how well do you know your cricket? Pit your wits against Aggers, Tuffers, Boycs and Johnners – and try not to get caught out! Can you identify the most famous players from history, name that ground or reel off well-known (and lesser-known) stats and facts. And of course, what Test Match Special would be complete without the gaffes, giggles, cakes and celebrity guests who make up a day at the cricket? With over 3,000 mind-bending puzzles about every aspect of the sport and beyond, this is the ultimate test of any cricket fan's true average.
All the fun of Portico's bestselling Strangest series, now in quiz form! Test your cricket knowledge with this handy book, packed with fun and challenging quiz questions based around the weirdest events from more than a century of cricketing history. Quiz categories include: Freak weather conditions Bad ball behaviour Streakers Time for tea The Ashes Cricket's great eccentrics Village green shenanigans Cricket quotations Whether you're testing your friends, practising for pub quizzes or just reading it in an armchair, this book will take your cricket knowledge to a whole new level.
Containing over 1500 questions on a wide range of sports, this book provides a comprehensive test of sporting knowledge. Varied and challenging, the questions are divided into eight chapters, including one on numbers (multiple choice) and two on sporting miscellany. While featuring question categories on over 30 physical sports, the book also includes a category on 'mind sports' such as chess and bridge. The questions have a slight modern bias, but earlier eras are not neglected in order to tap into the rich history of competitive sport. Updated to include events from 2012, this second edition brings out some fascinating facts and both sports fans and quizzers should find it entertaining and informative.
In 1957 a whole day's play of a Test Match was broadcast on BBC Radio for the first time with the slogan 'Don't miss a ball, we broadcast them all'. This book celebrates 50 years of Test Match Special with anecdotes, behind-the-scenes stories, photos, reminiscences and champagne moments from five decades of top-quality cricket commentary. Sprinkled throughout are 'My First TMS Match' articles by a number of the programme's main contributors, including Jonathan Agnew, Harsha Bhogle, Henry Blofeld, Tony Cozier, Angus Fraser, Bill Frindall, Gerald de Kock, Simon Mann, Vic Marks, Christopher Martin-Jenkins, Jim Maxwell, Shilpa Patel, Mike Selvey, Donna Symmonds and Bryan Waddle. Edited by Peter Baxter, the organising brain behind TMS and the programme's producer for 34 years, this is a comprehensive and celebratory account of this most respected and prestigious brand in cricket and an essential read for all fans of the game.
Who played the best pranks on his fellow team-mates? Which member of the TMS team terrorised his teachers in the annual staff-pupil game? And the truth behind 'the greatest sporting commentary of all time'... Between them, Jonathan Agnew and Phil Tufnell have probably watched more cricket than anyone alive, and they have many stories to tell, both as players and as commentators for Test Match Special. From their days as schoolboy cricketers, learning the ropes, to the shenanigans of the county circuit, and now their careers as commentators, they have seen it all. Joined by colleagues from TMS such as Isa Guha, Ebony Rainford Brent, Alison Mitchell, Carlos Brathwaite and Aatif Nawaz, Aggers and Tuffers share the highlights, mishaps and moments of brilliance and emotion that they have witnessed and experienced on pitches around the world.
“A book about wool and sheep, the making of Scotland, England and farming, textile manufacture, folklore and, crucially, the essential craft of knitting.” —Janice Galloway, author of Jellyfish Over the course of a year, Esther Rutter—who grew up on a sheep farm in Suffolk, and learned to spin, weave and knit as a child—travels the length of the British Isles, to tell the story of wool’s long history here. She unearths fascinating histories of communities whose lives were shaped by wool, from the mill workers of the Border countries, to the English market towns built on profits of the wool trade, and the Highland communities cleared for sheep farming; and finds tradition and innovation intermingling in today’s knitwear industries. Along the way, she explores wool’s rich culture by knitting and crafting culturally significant garments from our history—among them gloves, a scarf, a baby blanket, socks and a fisherman’s jumper—reminding us of the value of craft and our intimate relationship with wool. This Golden Fleece is at once a meditation on the craft and history of knitting, and a fascinating exploration of wool’s influence on our landscape, history and culture. “Wondrous.” —BBC Countryfile “A yarn well told.” —The Irish Times “A compelling literary journey through the social history of wool in the British Isles.” —Karen Lloyd, author of The Gathering Tide “[Rutter’s] stops on her journey around Britain also knit together the past and the present, the social, historical and the personal, in an altogether engaging way.” —Books from Scotland
The ultimate book of Mensa-crafted puzzles, brainteasers, word games, number conundrums, and logical mysteries to test your intelligence Puzzle fans have bought more than 650,000 copies of the Mensa Genius Quiz series-the only books that let readers "match wits with Mensa," comparing how well they do against members of the famous high-IQ society. Here, in a giant omnibus edition, are four best-selling titles: The Mensa Genius Quiz Books 1 & 2, The Mensa Genius Quiz-A-Day Book, and The Mensa Genius ABC Book. Here are more than 800 fun mindbenders to exercise every part of your brain-word games, trivia, logic riddles, number challenges, visual puzzles-plus tips on how to improve your thinking skills. All the puzzles have been tested by members of American Mensa, Ltd., and include the percentage of Mensa testers who could solve each one, so that you can score yourself against some of the nation's fittest mental athletes.
‘He played that so late, it was almost posthumous.’ (John Arlott) For over fifty years, Test Match Special has provided the soundtrack to many cricket fans’ lives – now this book collects its greatest hits. Here are all the witty sayings, bons mots, doubles entendres, wise words and priceless moments from the whole TMS team past and present, and of course their many and varied celebrity guests. Whether it’s classic Test moments or hilarious asides from the boundary, you’ll find the perfect line for every occasion. Collecting over half a century of quips and quotes, and beautifully illustrated throughout, The Wit and Wisdom of Test Match Special is a cricket fan’s indispensable guide to bats, bowls, beards and bakes.
This little gem of a book is a repository of intriguing, fascinating, obscure, strange and entertaining facts and trivia about Britain and all the things that have made it great. Within this volume are such themes as myths and legends, traditions and customs, great Britons and great British places, while not forgotten is a celebration of the best of British music, food, entertainment and sport and a host of topics that explore the more eccentric and eclectic people and things that contribute to and define Great Britain. Despite being a relatively small collection of islands, there is always something new, fascinating, frivolous or even bizarre to discover about Great Britain – you will find much of it here. Did You Know? There is no location in Britain which is more than 741⁄2 miles from the sea. The first person in Britain to be convicted of speeding was Walter Arnold of Kent, who in 1896 was fined 1s plus costs for driving at a breakneck 8mph. Britain has some thoroughly unusual pub names, including: The Bucket of Blood in Phillack, Cornwall, The Honest Lawyer in Folkestone and The Old Thirteenth Cheshire Astley Volunteer Rifleman Corps Inn in Stalybridge – which also enjoys the honour of having Britain's longest pub name. Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II is a well-known corgi fan. She has owned no fewer than 30 during her reign, the first being Susan, who was given to her in 1944.
