The latest Olympian feat of miscellany-making: a crucial compendium of  the vital and trivial in the worlds of sports, gaming and idling.

Schott's Sporting, Gaming & Idling Miscellany, published 18th October 2004, is the third miscellany by Ben Schott.  Its purpose is to keep wicket at the conversational crease, casting its net wide across the sporting field to gather in everything from the Noble Art and the Beautiful Game, to the Sport of Kings and the Gentle Craft. 

What other sporting book will explain the rules of elephant polo; the perils of the Cresta Run; the intricacies of the Palio or the breathtaking antics of Kabaddi?

But all this frenetic activity is bound to be tiring, certainly for the more sedate gamesters and speculators amongst us. So alongside field sports, you'll find out the importance of snooker to nuns; the correct temperature of a ‘hot bath’; the words of the Haka (and Swing Low Sweet Chariot); the myriad participants of the ‘Wacky Races’; and also what W. G. Grace considered cheating.

Finally, in pursuit of the complete spectrum of human (in)activity, Schott's Sporting, Gaming & Idling Miscellany turns it's attentions to the ultimate pastimes of indolence, from cards, crosswords, and shadow patterns to bathing, sleeping and dreaming. 

View samples from the book on this page on 18th October 2004.

DOWNLOAD THE DICKIE BIRD SCREENSAVER

Harold 'Dickie' Bird MBE is almost certainly the most famous cricket umpire ever to have taken stand behind the wicket.

You can find out more about his remarkable career in Schott's Sporting, Gaming and Idling Miscellany and fans can download our Dickie Bird Screensaver below...

Click on the appropriate link below and choose to save the file to your computer

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