Halfway down the Danube

Schott's Delight

It's one of those books that you don't really need. It contains nothing but obscure facts. Thus, it's sheer delight.

Schott's Original Miscellany is a unique collection of essential trivia, uncommon knowledge and vital irreverence.

Where else can you find, packed on to one page, some famous lefthanders, the structure of military hierarchy, all of the clothing care symbols, a list of the countries that drive on the left, and a nursery rhyme about sneezing?

Where else but Schott's Original Miscellany will you stumble across John Lennon's cat, the supplier of bagpipes to the Queen, the twelve labours of Hercules, and the brutal methods of murder encountered by Mrs Marple?

Here are some samples of what you can find in Schott's Original Miscellany:

Palindromes

Sums are not set as a test on Erasmus*
Norma is as selfless as I am, Ron*
Anne, I vote more cars race Rome to Vienna
Some men interpret nine memos
Are we not drawn onward, we few, drawn onward to new era?
Able I was, ere I saw Elba
Too bad - I hid a boot
A man, a plan, a canal: Panama

* indicates that the palindrome has been attributed to W.H. Auden

How to wrap a sari:

Or might you be interested in the deaths of some Burmese Kings?

THEINHKO killed by a farmer whose cucumbers he ate without permission (931 AD). Theinhko's Queen, fearing civil disorder, smuggled the farmer into the royal palace and dressed him in royal robes. He was proclaimed King NYUANG-U SAWRHAN, and was known as the 'Cucumber King'. He later transformed his cucumber plantation into a spacious and pleasant royal garden.

ANAWRAHTA gored by a buffalo during a military campaign. (1077)

UZANA trampled to death by an elephant. (1254)

NARATHIHAPATE forced at knifepoint to take poison. (1287)

MINREKYAWSWA crushed to death by his own elephant. (1417)

RAZADARIT died after becoming entangled in the rope with which he was lassoing elephants. (1423)

TABINSHWETI beheaded by his chamberlains whilst searching for a fictitious white elephant. (1551)

NANDABAYIN laughed to death when informed, by a visiting Italian merchant, that Venice was a free state without a king. (1599)

I want it!

(All info courtesy miscellanies.info)

Posted by claudia at January 8, 2005 06:38 PM