What do you think?
Rate this book
Bloomsbury Treasury of Phrases
This volume contains 3000 examples of phrases old and new written and spoken in English. The entries span the centuries, from the wit and wisdom of the classics and common Latin phrases to the latest in media phraseology and current catchphrases, from carpe diem to hasta la vista baby!, from concordia parvae res crescunt to yabba-dabba-do! The book is cross-referenced throughout.
- GenresReference
600 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1997
1 person is currently reading
2 people want to read
About the author
Nigel Rees
137 books9 followersNigel Rees is an English author and presenter, best known for devising and hosting the Radio 4 long running panel game Quote... Unquote (since 1976) and as the author of more than fifty books – reference, humour and fiction.
He went to the Merchant Taylors' School, Crosby, and then took a degree in English at New College, Oxford (where he was a Trevelyan Scholar and took a leading role in the Oxford University Broadcasting Society). He went straight into television with Granada in Manchester and made his first TV appearances on local programmes in 1967 before moving to London as a freelance. He worked for ITN’s News at Ten as a reporter before becoming involved in a wide range of programmes for BBC Radio as reporter and producer.
In 1971, he turned to presenting. He introduced the BBC World Service current affairs magazine Twenty Four Hours nearly a thousand times between 1972 and 1979. From 1973 to 1975 he was also a regular presenter of Radio 4’s arts magazine Kaleidoscope. From 1976 to 1978 he was the founder presenter of Radio 4’s newspaper review Between the Lines and, from 1984 to 1986, Stop Press.
By way of contrast he kept up the revue acting he had started at Oxford by appearing for five years in Radio 4’s topical comedy show Week Ending... and then in five series of the cult comedy The Burkiss Way. Comedy appearances have also included Harry Enfield and Chums on BBC TV.
When he was 32, in 1976, he became the youngest ever regular presenter of Radio 4’s Today programme and had two years of early mornings with Brian Redhead before leaving in May 1978 at the time of his marriage to Sue Bates, a marketing executive. The other reason was the increasing success of Quote... Unquote, his quiz anthology on Radio 4, then in its third series. By 1978 it was also time for the first Quote... Unquote book. This gave rise to a whole series under various titles and devoted to aspects of the English language and especially the humour that derives from it. One of his five graffiti collections was a No. 1 paperback bestseller in the UK.
His reference books include the Cassell’s Movie Quotations, Cassell’s Humorous Quotations, A Word In Your Shell-Like and Brewer's Famous Quotations. Since 1992, he has published and edited The Quote... Unquote Newsletter, a quarterly journal (now distributed electronically) and devoted to the origins and use of well-known quotations, phrases and sayings.
For 18 years he was a regular guest in Dictionary Corner on Channel 4's Countdown. He is a recent past President of the Johnson Society (Lichfield) and was described in The Spectator (16 December 2006) as: "Britain's most popular lexicographer – the lineal successor to Eric Partridge and, like him, he makes etymology fun."
He went to the Merchant Taylors' School, Crosby, and then took a degree in English at New College, Oxford (where he was a Trevelyan Scholar and took a leading role in the Oxford University Broadcasting Society). He went straight into television with Granada in Manchester and made his first TV appearances on local programmes in 1967 before moving to London as a freelance. He worked for ITN’s News at Ten as a reporter before becoming involved in a wide range of programmes for BBC Radio as reporter and producer.
In 1971, he turned to presenting. He introduced the BBC World Service current affairs magazine Twenty Four Hours nearly a thousand times between 1972 and 1979. From 1973 to 1975 he was also a regular presenter of Radio 4’s arts magazine Kaleidoscope. From 1976 to 1978 he was the founder presenter of Radio 4’s newspaper review Between the Lines and, from 1984 to 1986, Stop Press.
By way of contrast he kept up the revue acting he had started at Oxford by appearing for five years in Radio 4’s topical comedy show Week Ending... and then in five series of the cult comedy The Burkiss Way. Comedy appearances have also included Harry Enfield and Chums on BBC TV.
When he was 32, in 1976, he became the youngest ever regular presenter of Radio 4’s Today programme and had two years of early mornings with Brian Redhead before leaving in May 1978 at the time of his marriage to Sue Bates, a marketing executive. The other reason was the increasing success of Quote... Unquote, his quiz anthology on Radio 4, then in its third series. By 1978 it was also time for the first Quote... Unquote book. This gave rise to a whole series under various titles and devoted to aspects of the English language and especially the humour that derives from it. One of his five graffiti collections was a No. 1 paperback bestseller in the UK.
His reference books include the Cassell’s Movie Quotations, Cassell’s Humorous Quotations, A Word In Your Shell-Like and Brewer's Famous Quotations. Since 1992, he has published and edited The Quote... Unquote Newsletter, a quarterly journal (now distributed electronically) and devoted to the origins and use of well-known quotations, phrases and sayings.
For 18 years he was a regular guest in Dictionary Corner on Channel 4's Countdown. He is a recent past President of the Johnson Society (Lichfield) and was described in The Spectator (16 December 2006) as: "Britain's most popular lexicographer – the lineal successor to Eric Partridge and, like him, he makes etymology fun."
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
No one has reviewed this book yet.