“QUOTE ... UNQUOTE”
BOOKS AND E-BOOKS
This page begins with details of some of my more recent books and
e-books.
Following this, you will find a complete listing of all my book titles
in hardback, paperback and e-book.
My autobiography is now available as a paperback book and as an
e-book. Either version can most easily
be found on Amazon:
I became ‘broadcasting-struck’ at a very
early age but, although I maintained my ambition to go into radio or television
when I grew up, through school in Liverpool and at university in Oxford, I had
no very clear idea of what I wanted to do if and when I got there. It was when I landed my first job with
Granada TV in Manchester that I realised I wanted to be a writer and performer
of some description. After a short and
undistinguished stint as a hard news reporter with ITN, I gradually established
myself as a freelance contributor to a wide range of BBC radio outlets. In time, I became a presenter of news and
current affairs programmes (Today on
Radio 4, Twenty-Four Hours on World
Service) as well as in arts and entertainment.
As I relate in my radio times,
I somewhat unusually combined all my presentation work with acting in a radio
comedy classic (The Burkiss
Way to Dynamic Living) and a
radio comedy disaster (The Betty
Witherspoon Show).
This last show did mean, however,
that I got to work with Kenneth Williams.
my radio times contains a
notable portrait of that extraordinary character – along with reminiscences of
some of the many other people whom I encountered along the way, from film stars
to politicians, from leading figures in the arts to the occasional
arch-villain.
Eventually, it was my mix of skills
and enthusiasms that gave rise to Quote
... Unquote, the radio show I have devised and introduced for over 35
years. I relate how it came about, my
experiences with an astonishing variety of guests and how the brand established
me as something of an authority on aspects of popular language, the chief
subject of my many, many books.
Alongside my narrative in this ‘radio
autobiography’ is a vivid account of the personal life that underpins the
professional.
Illustrated with pictures from my
collection.
_____________________________________________
The latest addition to my BEST GUIDE TO … series of popular language
reference e-books is:
The BEST GUIDE TO QUOTATIONS is not a dictionary of quotations in the
usual sense. It is an annotated guide to
those quotations often misquoted or misattributed or for which finding a source
has proved in some way problematical.
This e-book is the result of nearly forty years spent on the quotations
watch and brings together material from my earlier quotations ‘companions’, now
updated through twenty years of discoveries from the Quote … Unquote
Newsletter. So here is the cream of
quotations scholarship – aided by a band of worldwide quote detectives.
So, what did
Neil Armstrong actually say when he stepped on to the moon?
Did John
Masefield write ‘I must GO down’ or ‘I must DOWN to the seas again’?
Where did the
expression ‘My work here is done’ originate?
Did Napoleon
ever really say ‘Not tonight, Josephine’?
Who wrote the
graffito ‘Far away is close at hand in images of elsewhere’?
Is there any
evidence that Lord Chesterfield ever said of sex that ‘the pleasure is
momentary, the position ridiculous and the expense damnable’?
These and scores of other notable sayings are here put under the
quotations microscope.
Go
to the Kindle store at amazon.com, amazon.co.uk or your local amazon for more
details. A small note: you don’t
actually have to have a Kindle to read Kindle e-books. You can download (for
free) a ‘Kindle for PC’ program that lets you view the books on your PC screen
and on other devices.
___________________________________________
My last
hardback book was published by Batsford and entitled Don’t You Know There’s a War On! – sub-titled Words and Phrases from the World Wars.
•
From ‘Your country needs you’ to Churchill’s ‘Blood, toil, tears and sweat’,
this fascinating book is a wide-ranging exploration of words and phrases from
the two world wars.
•
Covers phrases from both home and abroad, including military terms
(‘dreadnought’), political slogans (‘a bayonet is a weapon with a worker at
each end’), slang used by soldiers abroad (‘basket case’) and comic radio-show
catchphrases (‘this is Funf speaking’).
•
Packed with information on the provenance and development of these intriguing,
quirky and sometimes crude phrases that were born out of times of conflict and
have become part of our language.
____________________________________________
I have produced Kindle e-editions of a number of books on the
backlist. Apart from keeping the books
available, this process enables me to update them, correct them and generally
refresh them.
First out was a Kindle version of my five collections of humorous and
pointed graffiti which, it is not an exaggeration to say, were a publishing
phenomenon of the early 1980s and sold millions of copies. I have long wanted to produce a ‘complete
graffiti’ book and now I have done so.
Called The Golden Age of Graffiti, the e-book brings together the
text of the five collections, more or less exactly as originally
published. In addition there are photos
from my archive of some of the major graffiti, background notes on the most
famous ones, as well as thoughts on what has happened to the type of graffiti
jokes and stuff that was so current back then but which has now all but
disappeared under the spray-painted rubbish that bedaubs so many of our cities today. This
e-book is available from the Kindle store at amazon.com, amazon.co.uk or the
nearest amazon outlet to you.
_____________________________________________
Also available now are e-books by me, with the generic title The Best Guide to –––––
This is the biggest, best and funniest collection of humorous
quotations you will find, embracing as it does over 5,000 comic utterances of
all types: aphorisms and epigrams, retorts and putdowns, quips and one-liners,
sayings and proverbs, together with examples of unintentional humour such as
gaffes and malapropisms.
The quotations are drawn from a world-class cast of wits and humorists:
comedians, novelists, playwrights, journalists, politicians, actors,
songwriters and many others. Oscar
Wilde, Mark Twain, Noël Coward and Woody Allen are, of course, well represented
but hundreds of other exponents of the bon mot are included here, even if they
have brightened the world with only one or two of their sayings.
Nigel Rees draws on over 35 years experience of sourcing quotations
through his BBC Radio show Quote ...
Unquote. This is not just another
collection of funny sayings, it is the ultimate authority on who actually said
what and is a major attempt to pin down the quotations that readers really want
to know about. Using the search button
you can find what you are looking for in The
BEST GUIDE to HUMOROUS QUOTATIONS whether it be through a word or phrase or
under one of the 1,200 thematic headings.
_____________________________________________
And then:
From
a database of some 10,000 quotes, I have selected a comprehensive and
entertaining collection from all areas of cinema. Great and memorable lines from the movies are
coupled with quotable comments by and about film-makers and film-goers. This specially revised e-book also celebrates
the language of the movies – the catchphrases and titles, the slogans and
clichés. Above all The Best Guide to Movie Quotes hears from the professionals – the
actors, directors, producers, writers and critics – and tells us what they
love, loathe and lament about the business, the pictures, the players – and
about each other.
_____________________________________________
THE COMPLETE WORKS!
HARDBACK &
PAPERBACK
(E-BOOKS LISTED AT
END)
1. QUOTE ...
UNQUOTE Quizbook/anthology Hardcover edition Publ.: George Allen & Unwin (16/11/1978) ISBN: 0048270172 Paperback edition Publ.: Unwin Paperbacks (1/5/1980) ISBN: 0048270202
2. GRAFFITI LIVES
OK Paperback Publ: Unwin
Paperbacks (30/7/1979) ISBN 0048270180 Re-titled GRAFFITI 1 (16/8/1984) ISBN: 0048271195
3. VERY INTERESTING
... BUT STUPID! A Book of Catchphrases
from the World of Entertainment
Paperback Publ:
Unwin Paperbacks (11/8/1980) ISBN:
0048270210
4. GRAFFITI 2
Paperback Publ: Unwin Paperbacks (9/1980) ISBN:
0048270237 2nd edition (16/8/1984) ISBN: 0048271209
5. QUOTE...UNQUOTE
BOOK OF LOVE, DEATH & THE UNIVERSE Quizbook/anthology Hardcover Publ: George Allen & Unwin (9/1980) ISBN 0048270229
Paperback entitled QUOTE...UNQUOTE 2 Publ: Unwin
Paperbacks (25/1/1982) ISBN: 0048270318
6. GRAFFITI 3 Paperback Publ: Unwin Paperbacks (6/7/1981)
ISBN: 004827030x 2nd edition (16/8/1984) ISBN: 0048271217
7. EAVESDROPPING
Paperback Publ: Unwin Paperbacks (14/9/1981) ISBN:
004827044x
8. GRAFFITI FILE
(omnibus of GRAFFITI 1,2 & 3) Hardcover Publ:
George Allen & Unwin (29/10/1981) ISBN: 0048270490 Paperback omnibus
editions have also been published in
9. FOOT IN MOUTH
Paperback Publ: Unwin Paperbacks (30/8/1982) ISBN:
0048270733
10. SLOGANS
(illustrated Dict of Phrases Promoting Products,
Causes) Hardcover Publ: George Allen & Unwin (19/10/1982)
ISBN: 0048270644
11. GRAFFITI 4
Paperback Publ: Unwin Paperbacks (18/10/1982) ISBN:
0048270660 2nd edition (1984) ISBN: 0048271225
12. BABES AND
SUCKLINGS Paperback Publ: Unwin Paperbacks (19/9/1983)
ISBN:0048270814
13. QUOTE ... UNQUOTE 3 Quizbook/anthology Hardcover Publ:
George Allen & Unwin (13/10/1983) ISBN: 0048270806 Paperback Publ: Unwin Paperbacks (29/7/1985) ISBN: 004827142x
14. A YEAR OF
GRAFFITI Calendar Paperback Publ: Unwin Paperbacks (10/1983)
ISBN:0048270881
15. WORD OF MOUTH (BABES, EAVESDROP, FOOT omnibus) Hardcover Publ: George Allen & Unwin (27/10/1983) ISBN:
004827092x
16. THE NIGEL REES BOOK
OF SLOGANS AND CATCHPHRASES (revised omnibus of VIBS and SLOGANS) Paperback Publ: Unwin Paperbacks (4/9/1984) ISBN: 004827108x
17. A YEAR OF BOOBS
AND BLUNDERS Calendar Paperback Publ: Unwin
Paperbacks (11/1984) ISBN: 0048271144
18. SAYINGS OF THE
CENTURY (The Stories Behind the Twentieth Century's Quotable Sayings) Hardcover
Publ: George Allen & Unwin (10/1984) ISBN:
0048080489 Paperback Publ: Unwin Paperbacks (10 or 22/10/1987)
ISBN: 0044400802
19. THE JOY OF
CLICHES (A Complete User's Guide) Hardcover Publ:
Macdonald (25/10/1984) ISBN: 035610401x Paperback Publ:
Futura (26/9/1985) ISBN: 0708828396
20. A WHO'S WHO OF
NICKNAMES (written with
21. SHOWBIZ TRIVIA
Quizbook Paperback Publ: Unwin Paperbacks (26/8/1985)
ISBN: 0047930845
22. QUOTABLE TRIVIA
Quizbook Paperback Publ: Unwin Paperbacks (26/8/1985)
ISBN: 0047930837
23. SIXTIES TRIVIA
Quizbook Publ: Unwin Paperbacks (26/8/1985) ISBN:
0047930829
23. A YEAR OF STINGS AND SQUELCHES Calendar Paperback Publ:
Unwin Paperbacks (10/1985) ISBN: 0048271381
24. THE GIFT OF THE
GAB (A Guide to Sparkling Chat) Hardcover Publ:
Macdonald (10/1985) ISBN: 035610950x Paperback Publ:
Futura (10/1986) ISBN 0708831133
25. GRAFFITI 5
Paperback Publ: Unwin Paperbacks (27/10/1986) ISBN:
0048271500
26. NUDGE NUDGE WINK WINK (A Quotebook of
Love and Sex) Paperback Publ: Javelin (22/9/1986)
ISBN: 0713719168
27. DICTIONARY OF
TWENTIETH CENTURY QUOTATIONS Paperback Publ:
28. SAY NO MORE! (A
“Quote...Unquote” Quotebook) Paperback Publ: Javelin
(19/10/1987 or 2/11/87) ISBN: 0713720026
29. THE NEWSMAKERS
Fiction Hardcover Publ: Headline (27/8/1987) ISBN:
0747200114 Paperback Publ: Headline (13 or 17/10/1988)
ISBN: 0747230161
30. WHY DO WE
SAY...? Word & phrase origins Hardcover Publ:
Blandford (21/9/1987) ISBN: 0713719443 Paperback Publ:
Blandford (10/11/1988) ISBN: 0713720867 Re-titled DICTIONARY OF WORD &
PHRASE ORIGINS Hardcover Publ: Cassell (8/10/1992)
ISBN: 0304320501 (also 0304344222) PB version (18/8/94) 2nd edition of re-titled version Publ: Cassell (26/9/1996) ISBN: 0304348031 Paperback Publ: Cassell (23/4/1998) ISBN: 0304349658 Past Times
paperback (2000) as BOB'S YOUR UNCLE) ISBN: 0304357405 3rd edition Paperback Publ: Cassell (14/3/2002) ISBN: 0304362255
31. TALENT Fiction
Hardcover Publ: Headline (17/10/1988) ISBN:
0747200785 Paperback Publ: Headline (5/10/1989) ISBN:
0747232520
32. WHY DO WE
QUOTE...? Annotated quotations Hardcover Publ:
Blandford (14/9/1989) ISBN: (0713721614) Paperback Publ:
Blandford (16/5/1991) ISBN: 0713722312
33. A FAMILY MATTER
Fiction Hardcover Publ: Headline (5/10/1989) ISBN:
0747201374 Paperback Publ: Headline (16/8/1990) ISBN:
0747233748
34. DICTIONARY OF
POPULAR PHRASES Hardcover Publ: Bloomsbury (31/5/1990)
ISBN: 0747503443 Paperback Publ: Bloomsbury (23/5/1991)
ISBN: 0747509891 2nd paperback edition Publ:
Bloomsbury (16/7/1992) ISBN: 0747512213 3rd paperback Key edition Publ: Bloomsbury (26/1/1995) ISBN: 0747520585
35. DICTIONARY OF
PHRASE & ALLUSION Hardcover Publ: Bloomsbury (19/9/1991)
ISBN: 0747507899 Paperback Publ: Bloomsbury (24/9/1992)
ISBN: 0747512175 2nd paperback edition Publ:
36 BEST BEHAVIOUR (A
Complete Guide to Manners in the 1990s) Hardcover Publ:
Bloomsbury (22/10/1992) ISBN: 0747512086 Paperback re-titled GUIDE TO GOOD
MANNERS Publ: Bloomsbury (1/7/1993) ISBN: 0747515220
2nd paperback edition entitled GOOD MANNERS Publ:
37. POLITICALLY CORRECT PHRASEBOOK Hardcover Publ:
Bloomsbury (21/1/1993) ISBN: 0747514267 Paperback Publ:
Bloomsbury (13/1/1994) ISBN: 0747514275 Japanese edition Hardcover Publ:
38. EPITAPHS (Dict.
of Grave Epigrams and Memorial Eloquence) Hardcover Publ:
Bloomsbury (11/2/1993) ISBN: 0747511276 Paperback Publ:
Bloomsbury (2/2/1994) ISBN: 0747514615
39. DICTIONARY OF MODERN QUOTATIONS Hardcover Publ:
Chambers (1/4/1993) ISBN: 055021030x
40. LETTER WRITING
(A Guide to Personal and Professional Correspondence) Hardcover Publ: Bloomsbury (20/1/1994) ISBN: 0747514283 Paperback Publ:
41. BOOK OF HUMOROUS
ANECDOTES Paperback Publ: Guinness (9/1994) ISBN:
0851127924
42. BREWER’S
QUOTATIONS (A Phrase and Fable Dictionary) Annotated quotations. Hardcover Publ: Cassell (27/10/1994) ISBN: 0304343978 Paperback Publ: Cassell (7/3/1996) 0304348325
43. AS WE SAY IN OUR
HOUSE (A Book of Family Sayings) Hardcover Publ:
Robson (27/10/1994) ISBN: 0860517667 Paperback Publ:
Robson (28/9/1995) ISBN: 0860519996 2nd Paperback edition Publ:
Robson (2001) ISBN: 1 861054645
44. DICTIONARY OF
JOKES Paperback Publ: Guinness (1/10/1995) ISBN:
0851126669
45. DICTIONARY OF
CATCHPHRASES Hardcover Publ: Cassell (13/7/1995)
ISBN: 0304345636 Paperback Publ: Cassell (7/3/1996) Reprint
(25/9/1997) ISBN: 0304347884 2nd Edition
PB 03044366854 (14/4/05) Past Times paperback (2000) as NOT TONIGHT,
JOSEPHINE ISBN 0304357391
46. PHRASES &
SAYINGS Hardcover Publ: Bloomsbury (28/9/1995) ISBN:
0747521689 Paperback Publ:
47. DICTIONARY OF
CLICHES Hardcover Publ: Cassell (11/7/1996) ISBN:
0304346985 Paperback Publ: Cassell (24/9/1998) ISBN:
0304349623
49. BRAINBOX QUIZ
BOOK Paperback Publ: Guinness (11/10/1996) ISBN:
0851126170
50. DICTIONARY OF
SLOGANS Paperback Publ: HarperCollins (9/1997) ISBN:
0004720423
51. COMPANION TO QUOTATIONS Annotated quotations. Hardcover Publ:
Cassell (20/11/1997) ISBN: 0304348481 Paperback Publ:
Cassell (6/5/99) ISBN: 030435192X Barnes
& Noble hardback edition as MARK MY WORDS (Great Quotations and the Stories
Behind Them) (2002) ISBN 0760735328 (not showing)
52. DICTIONARY OF
HUMOROUS QUOTATIONS Hardcover Publ: Cassell (22/10/1998)
ISBN: 0304350958 ; Marks & Spencer paperback (2002) as QUIPS, SLURS &
GAFFES (no ISBN) ; extracts in THE GRUMPIEST OLD MEN Publ:
Premier ISBN: 8888998659 (1/9/05)
53. DICTIONARY OF
ANECDOTES Paperback Publ: Cassell (2/12/1999) ISBN: 0304351954
54. CASSELL’S MOVIE
QUOTATIONS Hardcover Publ: Cassell (21/9/2000) ISBN: 0304353698 Paperback Publ: Cassell (14/3/2002) ISBN 0304362247
55. CASSELL’S
HUMOROUS QUOTATIONS Hardcover Publ: Cassell (13/9/2001) ISBN: 0304357200 Paperback Publ: Cassell (20/3/2003) ISBN 0304365882 W.H. Smith edition (2003) as QUIPS AND QUOTES
(1898799598) see below
56. OOPS, PARDON,
MRS ARDEN! Hardcover Publ: Robson (10/2001) ISBN: 1861054408 Paperback Publ:
Robson (2002) ISBN: 1861055447
57. QUIPS AND
QUOTES Paperback Publ:
W.H. Smith (2003) ISBN: 1898799598
58. A WORD IN YOUR
SHELL-LIKE: 6,000 CURIOUS & EVERYDAY PHRASES EXPLAINED Hardcover Publ: Collins (6/9/2004) ISBN: 000715593X Paperback Publ:
Collins (2/5/2006) 0007220871
59. CASSELL’S
DICTIONARY OF CATCHPHRASES (2nd edn) Paperback Publ: Cassell (2005) ISBN: 0304366854
60. I TOLD YOU I WAS
SICK Hardcover Publ: Weidenfeld & Nicolson (20/10/2005) ISBN: 0304368032
61. BREWER’S FAMOUS
QUOTATIONS: 5,000 QUOTATIONS AND THE STORIES BEHIND THEM Hardcover Publ: Weidenfeld
& Nicolson (30/3/2006)
ISBN: 0304367990 Paperback Publ: Chambers (9/2009) ISBN: 9780550105479
62. A MAN ABOUT A
DOG: EUPHEMISMS & OTHER EXAMPLES OF VERBAL SQUEAMISHNESS Hardcover Publ:
Collins (4/9/2006) ISBN: 0007214537 Paperback Publ:
Collins (2008) 9780007214549
63. ALL GONG AND NO
DINNER: 1,001 HOMELY PHRASES AND CURIOUS DOMESTIC SAYINGS Hardcover Publ:
Collins (17/7/2007) ISBN:978-0-00-724935-0
64. MORE TEA, VICAR? Hardcover Publ:
National Trust (2009) ISBN:978-1-905400-74-4
65. DON’T YOU KNOW THERE’S A WAR ON? Hardcover Publ:
Batsford (2011) ISBN:978-1-906388-99-7
66. MY RADIO TIMES Paperback Publ: Ambergate Press (2013) ISBN: 9781482399462
E-BOOKS
(all in Kindle
format available from Amazon)
01. QUOTE … UNQUOTE 1 – Quotes and Quizzes
02. QUOTE … UNQUOTE 2 – Quotes and Quizzes
03. QUOTE … UNQUOTE 3 – Quotes and Quizzes
04. QUOTE … UNQUOTE 4 – Nudge Nudge Wink Wink
05. QUOTE … UNQUOTE 5 – Say No More!
06. QUOTE … UNQUOTE 6 – Eavesdroppings
07. QUOTE … UNQUOTE 7 – Babes and Sucklings
08. QUOTE … UNQUOTE 8 – Foot in Mouth
09. QUOTE … UNQUOTE 3 – Quotes and Quizzes
10. THE NEWSMAKERS (novel)
11. TALENT (novel)
12. A FAMILY MATTER (novel)
13. I TOLD YOU I WAS SICK! – THE BEST GUIDE TO EPITAPHS
14. MY RADIO TIMES (autobiography)
15. SAYINGS OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
16. THE QUOTE … UNQUOTE NEWSLETTER – 1992-1996
17. THE QUOTE … UNQUOTE NEWSLETTER – 1997-2001
18. THE QUOTE … UNQUOTE NEWSLETTER – 2002-2006
19. THE QUOTE … UNQUOTE NEWSLETTER – 2007-2011
20. THE QUOTE … UNQUOTE NEWSLETTER – 2012-2016
21. THE QUOTE … UNQUOTE NEWSLETTER – 2017-2021
22. THE BEST GUIDE TO CATCHPHRASES – from the world of
entertainment
23. THE BEST GUIDE TO EUPHEMISM
24. THE BEST GUIDE TO HUMOROUS QUOTATIONS
25. THE BEST GUIDE TO MODERN MANNERS
26. THE BEST GUIDE TO MOVIE QUOTES
27. THE BEST GUIDE TO NICKNAMES
28. THE BEST GUIDE TO QUOTATIONS
29. THE BEST GUIDE TO SLOGANS
30. THE GOLDEN AGE OF GRAFFITI
31. THE JOKE DICTIONARY
32. THE JOY OF CLICHÉ – THE BEST GUIDE TO CLICHES
33. THE PC PHRASEBOOK
34. WORD AND PHRASE ORIGINS
(END)