Imagine if all your Christmases did actually "come at once". That idiom is supposed to evoke an image of delight, happiness and nothing going wrong, but the British Christmas doesn't always turn out that way. Yes, sometimes all the gifts are perfect, everyone's on great form and no one chokes on a mince pie. But on other occasions you'll fall through a glass cabinet or set your cardigan on fire. A Very British Christmas pays tribute to all the peculiar ways we choose to celebrate; it tells stories of our propensity to behave badly, our uselessness under pressure and our unquenchable joie de vivre. Join us as we salute cultural icons, dissect national customs and hear from people who've eaten all the turkey and lived to tell the tale. Tidings of discomfort, tidings of joy.

A Very British Christmas: Twelve Days of Discomfort and Joy

Marsden, Rhodri

‘Funny, touching and ludicrously British.’ India Knight‘Makes Christmas slightly less awful’ Al Murray
A Very British Christmas is a twelve-stage sleigh ride through the best, worst, strangest and funniest aspects of the Christmas holiday, with cultural icons saluted, national habits dissected and personal reminiscences from those who’ve eaten all the mince pies and lived to tell the tale.
The essential Christmas stocking filler for every Brit who’s ever found themselves on a deflating air bed in their parents’ spare room wedged up against the washing machine come Christmas Eve and wondering why this Christmas, just like every year, doesn’t look like the ones on the telly.

A Very British Christmas: The perfect festive stocking filler.

Humor & Entertainment

Humor

Ever wondered what it’s like to be hit by lightning or to lose your sense of smell? Heard about the woman saved by bee stings — or the window cleaner who survived a 400ft fall? Originally written for the Wellcome charity, these 16 stories by leading science writers explore the mysteries of the human body. Learn about everything from diets to allergies, hair colour to rare blood, and from allergies to remote surgery. Contents • What’s it like to be struck by lightning? • Why do we colour hair? • The man with the golden blood • Why dieters can’t rely on calories • 3D printers can now make body parts • How to fall from a skyscraper and live to tell the tale • The quest to explain miscarriages • Seeking a ‘cure’ for male baldness • How bee stings saved a woman’s life • The global trend for ‘kangaroo’ babies • What it means to lose your sense of smell • The doctor aiming to end eye pain • Could allergies be a defence against noxious chemicals? • Why business is going slow on the male pill • How virtual reality headsets aid remote surgery • Shhh! What exactly is the menopause? Table of Contents Contents • What’s it like to be struck by lightning? - Charlotte Huff • Why do we colour hair? - Rebecca Guenard • The man with the golden blood - Penny Bailey • Why dieters can’t rely on calories - Cynthia Graber and Nicola Twilley • 3D printers can now make body parts - Ian Birrell • How to fall from a skyscraper and live to tell the tale - Neil Steinberg • The quest to explain miscarriages - Holly Cave • Can the power of thought outwit ageing? - Jo Marchant • Seeking a ‘cure’ for male baldness - Rhodri Marsden • • How bee stings saved a woman’s life - Christie Wilcox • The global trend for ‘kangaroo’ babies - Lena Corner • What it means to lose your sense of smell - Emma Young • The doctor aiming to end eye pain - Bryn Nelson • Could allergies be a defence against noxious chemicals? - Carl Zimmer • Why pharma may be going slow on the male pill - Andy Extance • How virtual reality headsets aid remote surgery - Jo Marchant • Shhh! What exactly is the menopause? - Rose George

Bodyology: The Curious Science of Our Bodies

Biographies & Memoirs

George, Rose

Steinberg, Neil

Graber, Cynthia

Birrell, Ian

Professionals & Academics

Canbury Press

Crap Dates: Disastrous Encounters from Single Life

A good date can be exhilarating: a shared joke, an improbable spark, long moments of gazing fondly into each other's eyes. Not so for the dating disasters featured in this collection of laugh-out-loud actual tweets about the most terrible evenings imaginable. From seriously unwelcome confessions, to dousing dates in wine, to bringing them back to creepy apartments to meet favorite stuffed animals, here are the funniest and most alarming reports from dating's front lines. Along the way, author Rhodri Marsden offers tips on how to identify and avoid the worst of the bad daters, including married men, blatant liars, deluded optimists, and more. This harrowing collection of real nightmare dates will amuse anyone who's suffered through one of cupid's off nights.

Chronicle Books+

From skate-boarding dogs to Arnold Schwarzenegger photoshopped into a swimsuit and sat on George Bush’s lap &gt;&gt;FWD This Link brings together the biggest distractions of the past decade into an addictive user-friendly Rough Guide. Rhodri Marsden, Technology columnist for the Independent and guru on the webs weirdest, shares the coolest virals and hoaxes and the funniest YouTube clips. Discover the unsuspecting internet stars, and the reason why we loved them from the Star Wars Kid to the Numa Numa guy. The guide is packed with the webs most entertaining wildlife including fainting goats and frisky donkeys. Let’s not forget the power of the email and those living to regret clicking the “send” button, only for their heart-felt love letters to be splashed across the press the next morning. Those wonderful websites that have you coming back again and again, brow-furrowing collections, online museums and shopping sites that defy belief – they’re all here to keep you amused online when you should be working. 
Warning: This book will not help you clear your Inbox.

FWD This Link (Rough Guide Reference)

Computers & Technology

Web Development & Design

Rough Guides

The Next Big Thing: A Rough Guide to things that seemed like a good idea at the time (Rough Guide Reference)

In August this year, inspired by a particularly horrendous date he'd just had and fed up with the trials of single life, journalist and author Rhodri Marsden invited his Twitter followers to send in their worst ever dating experiences (in 140 characters or less, of course). The result was astonishing. Within hours Rhodri was flooded with 1000s of crazy, shocking and hilarious true stories of dating disasters. And as the word spread, people all over the world began to submit their calamitous experiences, sending Rhodri's Tweet viral and attracting the attention of newspapers, TV shows and online magazines drawn to this incredible story. Crap Dates is the best from Rhodri's hilarious collection of real-life dating howlers, and is guaranteed to bring a smile to anyone who has ever had a bad date ...everyone: AdeleLBamber: He drank A LOT & talked about his sister A LOT. I left & he phoned +20 times. Last voicemail was him singing Billy Ocean at 4am. emilyhill1982: Told him I liked reading, he said he wanted to burn all libraries and then talked about football for hours. I hid in the loo. Abzbyrne: I had one who turned up, on a warm summer evening, in a huge arran jumper because he thought I'd like that being Irish.

Simon Schuster(uk)

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Marsden, Rhodri. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Marsden, Rhodri

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Marsden, Rhodri. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

A Very British Christmas: Twelve Days of Discomfort and Joy

A Very British Christmas: The perfect festive stocking filler.

Bodyology: The Curious Science of Our Bodies

Crap Dates: Disastrous Encounters from Single Life

FWD This Link (Rough Guide Reference)

The Next Big Thing: A Rough Guide to things that seemed like a good idea at the time (Rough Guide Reference)

Crap Dates: Disastrous Encounters from Single Life