ReadThe Portobello Bookshop Gift Guide 2025

The Rabbit Hole Book

99 adventures into the history of stuff

Charles Spencer author Richard Coles author Cat Jarman author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Penguin Books Ltd

Published:23rd Oct '25

Should be back in stock very soon

The Rabbit Hole Book cover

Whatever you think you know about history… think again!

The first trivia book from the team behind the hit history podcast The Rabbit Hole Detectives, investigating the provenance of historical objects, real and metaphorical, with intelligence and humour


'Compulsively dip-in-able' The Times

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Ever fallen down a rabbit hole? Ever got lost chasing a fact, a hunch or a curious piece of cultural ephemera?

Then the Rabbit Hole Detectives – Richard Coles, Cat Jarman and Charles Spencer – are here to do the burrowing for you.

Why were eight WWII Hurricane fighter planes buried in Ukraine?

What have chimpanzees to do with the invention of toilet paper?

How many dynamite sticks should not be used to blow up a whale?

Which ancient civilisation liked a short tongue and a shaved head?

The Rabbit Hole Book follows Richard, Cat and Charles as they investigate and elucidate weird and wonderful curiosities from history, telling stories that are as often dumbfounding as they are gripping, as unexpected as they are hilarious or deeply moving.

What are you waiting for?

Welcome to the warren . . .Whatever you think you know, guess again.

Compulsively dip-in-able * The Times *
I'd be amazed if you found none of the chapters interesting. My own curiosity gland was tickled by many of the entries * Daily Mail *

ISBN: 9781405966580

Dimensions: 197mm x 130mm x 21mm

Weight: 249g

352 pages