Phil Mason

This was a book of unrelated trivia. I have no idea if any or most of the trivia was based on facts. For example, the first story simply said the Battle of Waterloo was fought 6 hours late because Napoleon's was soaking his "piles." That was it! I'm not sure it altered let alone changed history. I thought I would do a little research and there are lots of reputable organizations that claim "considerable indication that Napoleon was bothered by very painful thrombosed hemorrhoids." (NIH National Library of Medicine) This book also stated that Napoleon probably died in St. Helena of an infected ulcer. I have read that numerous times before. The book was really a waste of time, don't know why I finished it! 268 pages… (mehr)

I've read a number of this type of book; paragraph or so long reports of political strangeness, and thought many of the anecdotes would be rehashes of earlier books. Instead, almost all of the anecdotes are new to me (Kevin Rudd's earwax eating notwithstanding) and many are very funny.

My favourite story has to be the low turnout in Birmingham South for the 1979 European Parliament: by lunch the turnout was one voter, an elderly lady who thought she was voting in the Eurovision Song Contest.… (mehr)