Tag Archives: trivia

In which the Author publishes a new book on Scotland…

Little Book of Scotland

My latest book, The Little Book of Scotland, has just been published. Here’s the blurb:

The ultimate compendium of trivia miscellany about Scotland’s unusual history

Take a funny, fast-paced, fact-packed look at the most frivolous, fantastic, or simply strange information that there

is to tell about Scotland. Here we find out about unusual crimes and punishments, eccentric inhabitants, famous

sons and daughters, and literally hundreds of other wacky facts about Scotland. This book contains historic and

contemporary trivia, including such gems as the real story of William “Braveheart” Wallace, which king was

murdered in a barn, and where the World War II Commandos were formed. With subjects ranging from Sir Walter Scott to Sir Sean Connery, Queen Victoria to Mary Queens of Scots, this remarkably engaging compendium is

essential reading for travelers and Scots alike.

scottish sun

The book has already picked up a fair amount of press interest in Scotland: here’s the full-page feature from

Saturday’s Scottish Sun. No doubt more to come.

The Little Book of Scotland can be picked up online here or here or at your favourite bricks-and-mortar bookshop – support bookshops, people, especially independent bookshops, they are Good Things.

In which the Author has a new book published…

 

41hltJqF08L._SL500_AA300_The Little Book of Edinburgh is out on May 6. It was great fun to research and write, especially as I was forced to visit a great many museums, tourist attractions and cafés in one of the world’s most beautiful cities. Oh, the suffering.

There is a blurb. It reads like this:

“The Little Book of Edinburgh is a funny, fast-paced, fact-packed compendium of the sort of frivolous, fantastic or simply strange information which no-one will want to be without. Here we find out about the most unusual crimes and punishments, eccentric inhabitants, famous sons and daughters and literally hundreds of wacky facts.

Geoff Holder’s new book contains historic and contemporary trivia on Edinburgh. There are lots of factual chapters but also plenty of frivolous details which will amuse and surprise.

A reference book and a quirky guide, this can be dipped in to time and time again to reveal something you never knew. Discover the real story of Greyfriars Bobby (he was a publicity stunt), meet the nineteenth-century counterparts of our favourite modern detectives, from Jackson Brodie to John Rebus, seek out historical sites from the distant past to the Second World War, and freak out with the Festival.”

 

See more at: http://www.thehistorypress.co.uk/index.php/the-little-book-of-edinburgh.html#sthash.4lsLH4b2.dpuf

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Little-Book-Edinburgh-Geoff-Holder/dp/0752486306http://www.thehistorypress.co.uk/index.php/the-little-book-of-edinburgh.html

 

 

 

In which the author writes a column for the Glasgow Evening Times…

 

On Monday (16th January) the Evening Times ran an article on your humble author, headlined Meet the new Mr Glasgow the History Man. Reporter Russell Leadbetter chatted to me about The Little Book of Glasgow, including the story of the city in the Second World War, and the tendency of Glaswegians, historically, to prefer riots over battles.

 

The feature functioned as a trailer for a weekly column in the newspaper. From 23rd January I’ll have a column in the Evening Times every Monday. Entitled ‘Historical Times’, it consists of extracts from The Little Book of Glasgow – everything from sport to film, from architecture to pop stars, and from astronomical druids to zoological oddities.

In which the author announces the publication of The Little Book in Glasgow…

 

My next publication, The Little Book of Glasgow, officially hits the shops on 21st November. It is basically ‘1000 things you didn’t know about Glasgow’ – a mix of trivia, facts, bizarre historical titbits, artistic achievements, and peculiarities of animal and human behaviour.

 

If you do know Glasgow, I hope it will shine a light on areas that were previously in shadow; and if you are new to the city, welcome to its leftfield wonders.

 

The book is divided up into nine chapters:

 

Places – Here and Now, Then and There

The River Clyde and other Waterways

Wars, Battles and Riots

Crime and Punishment

Transports of Delight – From Trains to Trams, and from Stagecoaches to Seaplanes

Food and Drink

City of Culture

Sports and Games

The Natural World

 

The book will tell you where to find sculptures of a Native American chief and an Egyptian pharaoh; which Glasgow-set film was actually filmed in London; how many pairs of shoes were fleeced from the city’s textile manufacturers by Bonnie Prince Charlie’s Jacobites; the story of how chicken tikka masala was invented in the city; and how Glasgow saved Britain in World War II.

 

There’s also oodles of stuff on everything from Glaswegian poets and authors of graphic novels to the tiger escape at Glasgow Zoo, the speed of 18th-century stagecoaches, and an investigation into deep-fried Mars Bars.

 

My favourite episode comes from the 1960s. A porpoise was discovered in a forgotten sack in the gents toilet at Central Station. It was never claimed and its skeleton is in the Kelvingrove Museum. Please, no jokes along the lines of “I’ve lost my porpoise in life.”