A-Z of WTFs in History: The Bizarre. The Bonkers. The Barely Believable.

History. What a mess. If only people hadn't been involved. They just can't help themselves. Or, most of the time, other people. As we scour the annals of the past, one thing's for sure: it won't be long before two little words and one rude one pop involuntarily into our heads. Maybe it's something someone did. Maybe it's something someone said. Maybe it's just how people were. Sometimes it's good, more often it's bad. Sometimes it's very bad indeed. Whatever the case, the result's the same: words fail us. Except for two little ones. And a rude one.

Join maverick historian-archaeologist Professor Jasper Heathcoat-Beech as he cherry picks the last few thousand years for choice cuts of jaw-dropping human hokum, extraordinary examples of bonkers brilliance and stuff that's just plain strange. Snipers disguised as dead horses and the royal surgeon convinced a woman had given birth to rabbits; ancient Greek vending machines and Chinese south-pointing chariots; the excesses of Emperor Nero and Queen Cleopatra; the foibles of Queen Victoria and the foot-in-mouth follies of Kaiser Wilhelm II; the weird worlds of out-there art, music and science; ill-prepared explorers and the deadly perils posed by toilets; Babylonians, Burgundians, Byzantines, Vikings, oh - and shoguns too. An A-Z of WTFs in History does what it says on the cover - to the letter.

Professor Jasper Heathcoat-Beech is a pen name. In real life, the author has a First-Class Honours Degree in Classics and a PhD in Late Antique/Early Medieval History from the University of Cambridge.