Bees Knees and Barmy Armies - Tapa dura

Every day we pepper our speech with hundreds of phrases, place names and expressions, but rarely do we think about their origins. If we did, we'd be in for a treat, because the stories behind our sayings are often fascinating, amusing and intriguing. Following on from the bestselling "March Hares and Monkeys' Uncles", once again Harry Oliver has delved deep into the history behind hundreds of terms in our endlessly rich language, and produced a tome packed with answers to the questions you might ask about the words and phrases we all use but rarely stop to ponder. From ancient idioms to up-to-the minute lingo, this book has it all. So stop getting up to skullduggery, take a pew and have a butcher's at this little tome. Learn about your language in one fell swoop and make sure you never get caught red handed using words you don't understand to bark up the wrong tree! This book really is the dog's b*******!

Harry Oliver is the author of Black Cats and April Fools, Cat Flaps and Mousetraps, and March Hares and Monkeys' Uncles.