Any true fan knows that the porcelain umpire’s chair is an ideal place to put your sporting knowledge to the test. This compendium of fun activities and quiz questions will have you spotting the difference at Wembley, finding a lost helmet at Lord’s, and going for gold in Olympic omniscience.

From bestselling author and professional brain-teaser Hugh Jassburn, this illustrated puzzle book includes a range of challenges relating to football, rugby, tennis, cricket, athletics, golf, boxing, basketball, rowing, snooker and more.

Pit your wits against such quiz questions as these:

• What is the lowest darts score you can’t achieve with a single dart?
• In 1981 Muhammad Ali retired from boxing – what was his career record?
• What is Tiger Woods’ real first name?
• Who was the first cricket player to score a century and take ten wickets in a test match?
• What sport has four letters, is played all around the world, and begins with a “t”?

A winning gift idea, this book will score a major-league success with sport obsessives and casual fans alike.

”

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‘The perfect Christmas gift’ – Alan Brazil

A brilliantly entertaining and hilarious quiz book from the country’s favourite sports broadcaster

Know your bull calf from your bullseye?

Your Hawksbee from your Hawk-Eye?

Your Saints from your Seagulls?

Then join the talkSPORT team as they test you and your mates or family on some of the greatest sporting moments of the past 50-odd years.

With over 2,500 questions – split into family-friendly Easy, Medium and Hard sections for each sport – this awesome quiz book is the ultimate test of sporting knowledge and the perfect gift for anyone who loves the ups, downs and hilarity of the world of sport.

Don’t be a numpty – pick up your copy of The talkSPORT Quiz Book … NOW

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A quiz in a grid. Test your memory and all round general knowledge with these 80 new crosswords. Not only for crossword lovers, but quizzers of all abilities.

This Crossword appears weekly in the Monday edition of The Times. The puzzles offer a fair challenge for all quiz lovers.

The clues are less testing than the Sunday Times General Knowledge crosswords, but stretch your memory and brain cells, and provide hours of entertainment.

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World-renowned excretion expert Hugh Jassburn has compiled a compendium of entertaining activities and informative fun that will make you want to stay put, even if you don’t need to go. Try your hand at word searches and fiendish hidden-picture games, or test yourself with maze puzzles and brain-twisters. You can also enjoy a roll-call of mind-blowing lavatory facts you never knew you needed until now.

So, pick up this book and start to make the most of your time on the toilet, because working your brain and your butt simultaneously has never been easier or more enjoyable. Doing a number two will never be the same again.

“Every toilet should have a copy of this book next to it.”
Frank Aeces, WHAT TOILET? magazine

“From poo puzzles to poo facts, pooing has never been so much fun.”
Dr Dum Ping, POO MONTHLY

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Need to think of something interesting to do at the next family gathering?

Want to learn a bunch of random facts about history, science, true crime, and the paranormal?

Pick up Interesting Stories for Curious People, the ultimate guidebook for a plethora of interesting facts about a whole bunch of several different topics. A quick read packed with information from cover to cover.

Here you will find out:

• How did a Frenchman successfully use a spontaneous combustion defense during a murder trial?
• How did a German teenager help end the Cold War?
• Why did some really smart guys think foam houses would be the wave of the future?
• What is a chupacabra and why are there two of them?
• Did Cleopatra really die from a snake bite?

You’ll be glued to the pages of this book reading interesting fact after interesting fact as Interesting Stories for Curious People brings you the in-depth knowledge of some things you may have heard about and always wondered, but now will learn the truth. You’ll finally be able to separate fact from fiction and will be surprised to learn that some of the things you’ve been told, even by your teachers, was just plain wrong!

Whether you are a trivia maven or just a person who likes to learn new things, you’ll learn something new and find yourself entertained as you discover some of the most fascination criminals, ghost stories, strange habits of historical figures, and just weird things that are a part of our world. So open this book and your mind and see another side of things that you may not know existed.

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THE ULTIMATE GIFT FOR WANNABE SPIES: AN INTERACTIVE PUZZLE BOOK FROM THE CREATOR OF THE BESTSELLING CULT PHENOMENON, JOURNAL 29!

In this brain-bending interactive game, you’ll solve puzzles on every page, and obtain keys to move forward by submitting answers online. To solve each puzzle, you’ll need to think outside the book.

You are an agent of CY.P.H.E.R., the secret international agency working on ‘unsolvable’ code-based cases. Called upon to investigate cryptic clues discovered in the wake of a series of mysterious disappearances, the clock is ticking to crack the codes before it’s too late.

To escape this book, you must write, draw, search, fold and cut pages, explore virtual escape rooms and think laterally to identify the perpetrator and solve the mystery.

All you need to play is a pencil, a pair of scissors, an internet connection, and a curious mind.

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‘Top Bins! A personal best, a lap record and a hole in one for when rain has stopped play.’ ALAN DAVIES

Hop, skip and jump into this wonderfully curious grand tour of the world of sports, brought to you by QI Elves James Harkin and Anna Ptaszynski.

From sport’s weirdest rules to its most unlikely heroes, via comically large cricket bats, pole-vaulting priests, creative football chants and exploding billiard balls, each chapter of Everything to Play For is brimming with surprising facts and intriguing stories.

Even if you’ve never asked yourself what David Attenborough has to do with yellow tennis balls, why Victorian doctors feared the outbreak of ‘bicycle face’ or what led ancient Egyptian athletes to have their spleens removed, this book will give you the astonishing answers – and plenty more besides.

**

For more from the team behind QI’s hit TV show, check out the QI FACTS series of books, @qikipedia, their weekly podcast at nosuchthingasafish.com or visit qi.com.

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THE NUMBER 1 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER
SHORTLISTED FOR THE WATERSTONES BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023

‘THE PUZZLE SENSATION OF THE YEAR!’ – JANICE HALLETT, bestselling author of THE TWYFORD CODE
‘I’M COMPLETELY OBSESSED’ – OLIVIA BLACKE, author of A FATAL GROOVE

* The ‘utterly addictive’ murderous puzzle book for armchair detectives everywhere *

From G. T. Karber, the creator of the popular online daily mystery game at www.Murdle.com, comes this fiendishly compulsive and absolutely killer collection of 100 original murder mystery logic puzzles. Join Deductive Logico and pit your wits against a slew of dastardly villains in order to discover:

– Who committed the ghastly deed?
– What weapon was used to dispatch the victim?
– Where did the dreadful demise occur?

These humorous mini-mystery puzzles challenge you to find whodunit, how, where, and why. Examine the clues, interview the witnesses, and use the power of deduction to complete the grid and catch the culprit. Packed with illustrations, codes, and maps, this is the must-have detective casebook for the secret sleuth in everyone.

Are you the next Miss Marple or Hercule Poirot? You’ll soon find out, if you dare to Murdle!

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Do you have a friend or family member who loves golf?

Better yet, do you know the frustration and hilarity that comes with trying to play this beautiful sport?

Everyone who has experienced the game of golf understands that it can be frustrating, unfair, and embarrassing to play. Sometimes, if you are the sad individual who hit a poor shot, you might be tempted to provide an excuse to your playing partners. A good excuse can relieve the tension, and maybe even bring a few laughs.

Sometimes, though, an excuse can be hilarious just by its lack of credulity. A golfer can chalk their bad shot up to anything, absolutely anything, and that’s when the excuse becomes a funny moment. Golfers share these stories with their friends, and it’s not the shot they remember, only the hilarious excuse.

The Golfer’s Excuse Handbook contains 250 excuses on a range of subjects all over the golf course, and a few that extend beyond the links!

• Five different chapters, one for each group of excuses and the topics likely to draw a golfer’s ire.
• Each chapter features interesting golf history and trivia, as well!
• There are also entertaining golf quotes from players, world leaders, and other well-known individuals within these pages.
• Chapter subjects include the golf course itself, a golfer’s playing partners, and the weather!

This book will entertain any fan of the game, from those who watch the pros to anyone who dares to swing a club. Perhaps this book can start a conversation with friends and family members about who has the worst excuses on the course, or who has said the most outrageous line in a moment of shame.

Maybe there’s a golfer in your life that needs help with their excuse game! This book can also serve any golfer with a ton of ideas on how to deflect the embarrassment of that bad shot. And, if you have someone in your life who is particularly unskilled, they may need multiple excuses to make it through a round!

This book is bound to bring a smile to anyone who has experienced the struggle of golf. It will make readers smile, laugh out loud, and most importantly, appreciate the joy and pain that is the game of golf.

Grab a copy of The Golfer’s Excuse Handbook and tee up the fun today!

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***From THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING SERIES comes the next book of MURDLE – the ‘utterly addictive’ murderous puzzle book for armchair detectives everywhere***

‘THE PUZZLE SENSATION OF THE YEAR!’ – JANICE HALLETT, bestselling author of THE TWYFORD CODE

‘I’M COMPLETELY OBSESSED’ – OLIVIA BLACKE, author of A FATAL GROOVE

Deductive Logico is back on the scene to investigate muders most foul in Murdle: More Killer Puzzles.

These fiendishly compulsive mini-mystery puzzles challenge you to find whodunit, how, where and why. Join Logico to uncover the buried secrets of the Violet Isles, solve the riddles of an ancient and mysterious scholar, and explore the haunted lands of Drakonia. Follow the clues, interview the witnesses and use the power of deduction to complete the grid and catch the culprit. Together, you’ll unearth the dark truth beneath each murder and crack the code that can only be decrypted once you’ve solved them all!

Packed with perplexing puzzles, codes and maps, this is the ultimate casebook for the secret sleuth in everyone.

Sherlock: Baffled. Poirot: Befuddled. This must be a MURDLE!

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Need to think of something interesting to do at the next family gathering?

Want to learn a bunch of random facts about history, science, true crime, and the paranormal?

Pick up Interesting Stories for Curious People, the ultimate guidebook for a plethora of interesting facts about a whole bunch of several different topics. A quick read packed with information from cover to cover.

Here you will find out:

• How did a Frenchman successfully use a spontaneous combustion defense during a murder trial?
• How did a German teenager help end the Cold War?
• Why did some really smart guys think foam houses would be the wave of the future?
• What is a chupacabra and why are there two of them?
• Did Cleopatra really die from a snake bite?

You’ll be glued to the pages of this book reading interesting fact after interesting fact as Interesting Stories for Curious People brings you the in-depth knowledge of some things you may have heard about and always wondered, but now will learn the truth. You’ll finally be able to separate fact from fiction and will be surprised to learn that some of the things you’ve been told, even by your teachers, was just plain wrong!

Whether you are a trivia maven or just a person who likes to learn new things, you’ll learn something new and find yourself entertained as you discover some of the most fascination criminals, ghost stories, strange habits of historical figures, and just weird things that are a part of our world. So open this book and your mind and see another side of things that you may not know existed.

Read more

Want to impress your friends and family with both useful, worthless but undeniably interesting facts?

Then Interesting Facts For Curious Minds: 1572 Random But Mind Blowing Facts About History, Science, Pop Culture and Everything in Between is the book for you!

In this book you’ll find the answers to questions such as:

• When did zero become a number?
• Who was the inventor of Bitcoin?
• What did the Big Bang sound like?
• How have sports changed around the world?
• What’s a malapropism?

Interesting Facts For Curious Minds gives you the answer to all these and many, many more questions that I know have crossed your mind from time to time. This book is divided into 63 chapters by topic for your convenience, bringing you a nice mix of science, history, pop culture, and all sorts of stuff in between. Each chapter contains 25 concise yet engaging factoids that are sure to make you think and at times laugh.

How you read this book is entirely up to you. I’m sure most of you will read it cover to cover at some point, but when you’re with friends and family you can pick the chapters out that most appeal to all of you.

However you read this book, I guarantee you’ll find it one of the best tools to pass some time, relax alone, or connect with others. So sit back, relax, and get ready to learn some truly interesting facts!

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