Steve Roud was Local Studies Librarian for the London Borough of Croydon and served as Honorary Librarian of the Folklore Society for over fifteen years. He has been researching British folklore for over thirty years and is the joint author of the Oxford Dictionary of English Folklore, plus other books on traditional drama and folk song, and the Penguin Guide to the Superstitions of Britain and Ireland, which won the Katharine Briggs Folklore Award in 2004. His publications include London Lore (2008) and The Lore of the Playground (2010). He also compiles the Folk Song Index and the Broadside Index, two internationally acclaimed computer databases of traditional folk and popular song. He lives in Sussex.

Steve Roud

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P.G. Wodehouse

Set inside Blandings Castle, this comedy series follows Lord Emsworth and his pig Empress as they meet with his dysfunctional family and friends, and the havoc that follows.

EPISODE 1 IN A MAJOR BBC DRAMA STARRING TIMOTHY SPALL, DAVID WALLIAMS AND JENNIFER SAUNDERS 
 
Clarence has to get his pig eating again or lose the fat-pig prize to his arch nemesis. 
 
Lord Clarence Emsworth’s pride and joy, the prize-winning pig Empress of Blandings refuses to eat when Cyril the pig-man is jailed by Clarence’s conniving rival Sir Gregory Parsloe-Parsloe. 
 
With the prize’s weigh-in only two-weeks away, Clarence and his gambling, spendthrift son Freddie are desperate to get the Empress to eat. 
 
Meanwhile, Clarence’s sister Connie attempts to thwart her niece Angela’s love affair with ex-cowboy Jimmy and instead find her a more eminent match in the smarmy Heacham – Sir Gregory’s nephew! 
 
'Sublime comic genius' 
Ben Elton 
 
'You don't analyse such sunlit perfection, you just bask in its warmth and splendour.' 
Stephen Fry 
 
'The funniest writer ever to put words to paper.' 
Hugh Laurie 
 
'P.G. Wodehouse remains the greatest chronicler of a certain kind of Englishness, that no one else has ever captured quite so sharply, or with quite as much wit and affection.' 
Julian Fellowes

Blandings: Pig-Hoo-o-o-o-ey!

(Episode 1)

EPISODE 4 IN A MAJOR BBC DRAMA STARRING TIMOTHY SPALL, DAVID WALLIAMS AND JENNIFER SAUNDERS 
Baxter returns as summer tutor for Clarence’s grandson George and plans to weasel his way back into permanent employment. 
 
Blandings is threatened by the return of tyrannical secretary Baxter, hired by Connie to put an end to all tom-foolery. This is a tragedy for Clarence and he finds an unusual ally in his grandson George, who had been happily rampaging through the grounds with an air rifle. 
 
It is not long before there is an outbreak of shooting and wounding. Meanwhile, Freddie is back to ask Clarence to clear his debts, this time pursued by East-End gangsters and a beguiling dancer who takes a fancy to Beach. 
 
‘Sublime comic genius’ 
Ben Elton 
 
‘You don't analyse such sunlit perfection, you just bask in its warmth and splendour.’ 
Stephen Fry 
 
‘The funniest writer ever to put words to paper.’ 
Hugh Laurie 
 
‘P.G. Wodehouse remains the greatest chronicler of a certain kind of Englishness, that no one else has ever captured quite so sharply, or with quite as much wit and affection.’ 
Julian Fellowes

Blandings: The Crime Wave at Blandings

(Episode 4)

No Such Thing As A Fish

__________ 
‘My favourite geeks. Hilarious. Sideways. Brilliant.’ Tim Minchin 
 
In a year dominated by Russian collusion and Brexit confusion, The Book of the Year returns with another dose of barely believable yet wholly unimpeachable facts and stories from the past twelve months. 
 
Every week for the past four years, Dan, James, Anna and Andy – the creators of the award-winning, chart-topping comedy podcast No Such Thing As A Fish – have wowed each other and millions of their listeners with the most astonishing trivia they have learned over the previous seven days. Now, once again, they have put down the microphones, picked up their pencils, and transformed a year’s worth of weird and wonderful happenings into one uplifting book that you won’t be able to put down. 
 
Discover how Peruvian mummies affected the World Cup, and why Love Island contestants are experts in game theory – as well as hundreds of stories that may have passed you by entirely, including the news that: 
 
· NASA sent a man with a fear of heights to the International Space Station. 
· An ice hotel in Canada caught fire. 
· Mark Zuckerberg’s private data was compromised while he was talking to Congress about compromised data. 
 
From Kim Jong Un’s personal potty to Jeremy Corbyn’s valuable vegetables, The Book of the Year 2018 is an eye-opening tour of yet another incredible year you didn’t know you’d lived through.

The Book of the Year 2018

Your Definitive Guide to the World’s Weirdest News

Damon Beesley

Iain Morris

Following on from last year’s huge Sunday Times bestseller, The Inbetweeners Yearbook, comes The Inbetweeners Script Book, the perfect gift for all die-hard Inbetweeners fan and lovers of fine award-winning literature. 
 
The book features all eighteen scripts of the televised show, each with its own introduction from the writers and creators, Damon Beesley and Iain Morris, sharing behind the scenes stories about filming, the writing process, and the real events that inspired the show’s storylines.

The Inbetweeners Scriptbook

Random House presents The Audiobook of the Year 2018, written and read by the team behind hit podcast No Such Thing as a Fish; James Harkin, Jane Hill, Dan Schreiber, Andrew Hunter Murray and Anna Ptaszynski. 
 
Think you know what happened in 2018? Think again. 
 
Following hot on the heels of the success of The Audiobook of the Year (or, more precisely, twelve months later), The Audiobook of the Year 2018 bravely delves behind the headlines to sniff out the best and most bizarre facts of the past 12 months. 
 
Compiled and written by the creators of the award-winning hit comedy podcast No Such Thing As A Fish, all of whom are researchers for QI, it will establish - among other things - that: 
 
· Britain’s first robot shop assistant was sacked after a week 
· Donald Trump claimed the US sells F52 planes to Norway, even though F52 planes only exist in the game Call of Duty 
· During the Winter Olympics, it was so windy during the Women's Slopestyle Final that every single competitor was blown off her snowboard. 
· A snail racing competition in Plymouth was postponed because the snails were too 'sluggish' to take part. 
 
Ranging from the distinctly offbeat to the wonderfully ludicrous - from the South Africans who were rationed to just one toilet flush per day, to the Nutella riots spreading across France, via the Miami bitcoin conference that stopped accepting bitcoin - The Audiobook of the Year promises a fact for every occasion and will prove the perfect Christmas gift for all trivia buffs.

The Audiobook of The Year (2018)

John Armstrong

Ann Armstrong

Have you ever wondered how typewriters can rival commercial radio? Why, according to John, it's best to shave only once a week, and with old fashioned soap and water? And what the various repercussions of spring and its extra hour of daylight bring? 
 
The BBC created a fantastically cult television series when they filmed the daily operations of John and Ann's double glazing firm U-Fit, the third largest in Coventry. It was here we were first introduced to John's misanthropic musings and no-nonsense attitude to management and his wife Ann's doting loyalty. 
 
Now their individual and highly entertaining personalities have been brought to the page, as they ruminate on various aspects of life from asbos to Buddhism, and Chekov to Maltesers.

The Armstrongs' A-Z Guide to Life

Random House Audiobooks present The Audiobook of the Year, written and read by the team behind hit podcast No Such Thing As A Fish: James Harkin, Andrew Hunter Murray, Anna Ptaszynski and Dan Schreiber. 
 
 
In a year when much of the news was believable but fake, comes an audiobook packed with stories that are unbelievable but true. 
 
The Audiobook of the Year is a feature-length edition of the award-winning hit comedy podcast No Such Thing As A Fish. Each week, over a million people tune in to find out what bizarre and astonishing facts Dan, James, Anna and Andy have found out over the previous seven days. Now the gang have turned their attention to the news of the past twelve months. 
 
You’ll discover the curious details behind the main headlines – how Donald Trump slept on the 66th floor of a 58-storey building, what effect Brexit had on Coco Pops, and why China’s president can’t stand Winnie the Pooh – as well as hundreds of stories you may have missed entirely, like the news that: 
 
- Qatar built a refugee camp for camels 
- 2,000 bees were stolen in Beeston 
- The victim of Britain’s first ever shark attack ended up with a cut thumb. 
 
 
From bizarre arrests to baffling elections, via a surprising amount of sausage news, The Audiobook of the Year is an eye-opening tour of the incredible year you didn’t know you’d lived through. 
 
‘Jolly, packed with impressive and silly facts . . . hooray for No Such Thing As A Fish.’ – Observer 
 
‘Knowledge-packed and riotously funny.’ – The Times

The Audiobook of the Year

In a year when much of the news was believable but fake, comes a book packed with stories that are unbelievable but true. 
 
The Book of the Year is a hilarious guide to 2017’s most extraordinary events, unearthed by the creators of the award-winning hit comedy podcast No Such Thing As A Fish. Each week, over a million people tune in to find out what bizarre and astonishing facts Dan, James, Anna and Andy have found out over the previous seven days. Now the gang have turned their attention to the news of the past twelve months. 
 
You’ll discover the curious details behind the main headlines – how Donald Trump slept on the 66th floor of a 58-storey building, what effect Brexit had on Coco Pops, and why China’s president can’t stand Winnie the Pooh – as well as hundreds of stories you may have missed entirely, like the news that: 
 
· Qatar built a refugee camp for camels. 
· The world’s first avocado restaurant ran out of avocados on its first day. 
· The victim of Britain’s first ever shark attack ended up with a cut thumb. 
 
From strange inventions to baffling elections, via a surprising amount of sausage news, The Book of the Year is an eye-opening tour of the incredible year you didn’t know you’d lived through.

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