Horse Racing's Strangest Tales

Horse Racing's Strangest Tales
Author: Andrew Ward
Publisher: Portico
Total Pages: 252
Release: 2017-02-16
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 1911042831

Extraordinary but true stories from over 150 years of racing. This hilarious, sideways look at horse racing vividly recounts many of the strangest moments and oddest incidents from over 150 years of the sport's history. Andrew Ward recalls the time when spectators mounted two fallen horses and rode them to second and third places; the race which had to be re-run because the judge wasn't in his box at the finish; the ultrasonic binoculars that allegedly stunned a horse and unseated a jockey at Ascot, and many more. A totally original, offbeat collection of extraordinary but true stories, Horse-Racing's Strangest Races will be a delight to all lovers of the turf. Word count: 60,000

Horse Racing's Strangest Races

Horse Racing's Strangest Races
Author: Andrew Ward
Publisher: Robson Books Limited
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2000
Genre: Horse racing
ISBN: 9781861053244

A humorous, sideways look at horse racing that recounts many of the strangest moments and incidents from the last 150 years of the sport's history.

Motor Racing's Strangest Races

Motor Racing's Strangest Races
Author: Geoff Tibballs
Publisher: Portico
Total Pages: 262
Release: 2016-06-09
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 1911042572

Since 1894, when motor racing’s colourful history began with a bang (and a banger!), drivers, racers and lunatics alike have done many stupid and bizarre things all in the name of motor sport. Author Geoff Tibballs has gathered together this absorbing collection of stories from over a century of motor racing around the world, including the Frenchman who drove 25 miles in reverse, the Grand Prix in which the leading drivers were so far ahead that they stopped for a meal in the pits, the Le Mans 24-hour race won by a car patched up with chewing gum, and the driver who drank six bottles of champagne – virtually one per pit-stop – on the way to winning the Indianapolis 500. The stories in this book are bizarre, fascinating, hilarious, and, most importantly, true. Revised, redesigned and updated for a new generation of petrolheads, this book contains enough extraordinary-but-true tales to drive anyone around the bend. Word count: 45,000

Fishing's Strangest Days

Fishing's Strangest Days
Author: Tom Quinn
Publisher: Batsford
Total Pages: 238
Release: 2014-02-25
Genre: Humor
ISBN: 1849941750

Fishing's Strangest Tales gathers together choice stories and bizarre fishing tales from all over the world. Consider the Oxford scientist who in 1910 discovered the marvellous life-giving properties of brandy to fish who had otherwise gasped their last. Or how about the nine-year-old boy fishing for trout who caught a large mussel – containing no less than forty pearls – and managed to earn more in one day than his father, a farm worker, had earned in the last five years. Fishing's Strangest Days is full of fascinating tales that may sound fishy and unbelievable but will have have you caught hook, line and sinker.

Cornwall's Strangest Tales

Cornwall's Strangest Tales
Author: Peter Grego
Publisher: Portico
Total Pages: 172
Release: 2013-07-15
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1909396435

Welcome to the weird and wonderful world of Cornwall, or as it is sometimes obscurely referred to, Merry Jack. Though this isn’t the usual side of the county the tourists, travellers and residents see. This is the real Cornwall, the strange and twisted nooks and crannies of the county’s bizarre history – past, present and future. Following on from the bestselling Portico Strangest titles now comes a book devoted to England’s gloriously coastal, yet most haunted, region. Located in the toes of the outstretched legs of Britain’s old man, Cornwall is a county with more strangeness than you can shake a Cornish pasty at. Cornwall is an area of outstanding natural beauty, as well as outstanding strangness – from ye olde tales of plundering pirates to foulish ghosts drinking in local pubs right through to the most famous of all myths – the bizarre beast that forever stalks Bodmin Moor. Spooky.

Sailing's Strangest Moments

Sailing's Strangest Moments
Author: John Harding
Publisher: Portico
Total Pages: 244
Release: 2014-03-28
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 1849941785

This fascinating collection of entertaining stories from the seven seas reveals unusual and bizarre sailing trips, vessels and characters, and recounts perilous journeys in freak weather, meetings with pirates and sea monsters, and other legendary tales.

London's Strangest: The Thames

London's Strangest: The Thames
Author: Iain Spragg
Publisher: Portico
Total Pages: 135
Release: 2015-03-05
Genre: Humor
ISBN: 1910232408

The 19th-century MP John Burns described the Thames as 'liquid history' and ever since the Romans founded Londinium in 43 AD, the river has played a key cultural and economic, political and social role in the history of England. London's Strangest: The Thames reveals the bizarre, funny and surreal events and episodes that have occurred over the centuries on, beneath and along the banks of the famous waterway. From appearances of the world's first submarine to the raid on the Sex Pistols river concert, Lord Nelson's final journey to John Prescott's watery protest, and even the recent escapades during the floods, the River Thames really has witnessed it all.

London Underground's Strangest Tales

London Underground's Strangest Tales
Author: Iain Spragg
Publisher: Portico
Total Pages: 176
Release: 2013-01-31
Genre: Humor
ISBN: 1909396168

Welcome to the weird and wonderful world of London's Underground, or as it is affectionately referred to, the Tube. Though this isn’t the usual side of the Tube the tourists, travellers and residents see. (Though, of course, they do see a great deal of strangeness in their daily commutes!). This is the real Underground, the strange and twisted nooks and crannies of what happens hundreds of metres below millions of London legs – from its peculiar past through to its paranormal present and looking forward to its fascinating future. Following on from the bestselling Portico Strangest titles now comes a book devoted to London's globally envied, and much loved, public transport system. Located deep beneath the heart of Greater London, the Underground is awash with more strangeness than you can shake your pre-paid Oyster card at. In 2013 the whole city will be celebrating the Underground's 150th birthday – the oldest underground in the world. So, pack up your old kit bag and travel stop-by-stop with us on this strange and fantastic journey along the Northern, Picadilly, Metropolitan, Jubilee, Hammersmith and City and District Line ... and explore the Underground as you've never seen it before. London Underground's Strangest Tales is a treasure trove of the humorous, the odd and the baffling – an alternative travel guide to the Underground's best-kept secrets. Read on, if you dare! You have been warned. Word Count: 35,000

Flying's Strangest Moments

Flying's Strangest Moments
Author: John Harding
Publisher: Robson
Total Pages: 274
Release: 2015-06-04
Genre: Transportation
ISBN: 1910232440

The history of flying is packed with incredible feats of bravery and endurance, human ingenuity and recklesness, mystery, romance and tragedy. From the first hot air balloons of the 18th century to the supersonic jet flights of today, magnificent men (and women) have taken their incredible flying machines ever higher, further and faster. This collection of wonderfully engaging tales of madness, bravery, inventiveness, disaster and triumph will take every aviation enthusiast on a whirlwind ride.