Books

Writings of Note

When a city is as littered with intriguing curiosities as this one, you need a framework to make sense of it all. What better framework than the Underground system? Join me as we take a stroll along a stretch of Tube line, learning about the secrets and oddities we pass along the way.Walks

Strolls through time

Sick of doing quizzes that ask ‘what’s the capital of Albania?’ You either know it or you don’t, and either way there’s no fun. A really good question should be one you can work out, a challenge you enjoy even if you don’t get the answer in the end. For example:Quizzes

For the curious

Blog

Musings & trifles

Magic

Team-building through tricks

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Books

Writings of Note

When a city is as littered with intriguing curiosities as this one, you need a framework to make sense of it all. What better framework than the Underground system? Join me as we take a stroll along a stretch of Tube line, learning about the secrets and oddities we pass along the way.Walks

Strolls through time

Sick of doing quizzes that ask ‘what’s the capital of Albania?’ You either know it or you don’t, and either way there’s no fun. A really good question should be one you can work out, a challenge you enjoy even if you don’t get the answer in the end. For example:Quizzes

For the curious

Blog

Musings & trifles

Magic

Team-building through tricks

The Bluffer's Guide to Bond

Packed with Bond trivia

Your one-stop crib to the world’s greatest secret agent

The Bluffer's Guide to Bond
Buy The Bluffer's Guide to Bond at Amazon

This was published in the year Daniel Craig took over 007 duties, and it was a real pleasure to be able to pick up on the ‘darkness' that the producers reintroduced into the character. For years I'd been saying that Ian Fleming's morally complex novels were hugely better than the lightweight, gadget-ridden corn-fests that the films had become. Thankfully Craig's ‘Casino Royale' was more along these lines.

The book is peppered with Bond trivia: his aftershave was Floris No 89 (the number coming from the Floris shop's address on London's Jermyn Street) ... an early title for Moonraker was Mondays Are Hell ... In the film of Dr No, Ursula Andress (she of the white bikini) had her voice dubbed by another actress. This book might not leave you shaken but it could leave you ... No, I'm sorry. Don't know what came over me.

Content

London Bus

A London double decker bus can lean further from the vertical without falling over than a human can. What a great way of learning about centres of gravity. The reason a Routemaster can lean so far is that there's a great long strip of pig-iron welded to its base, keeping you top-deckers safe as you go round corners. If you want reassuring photographic evidence, click here