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Author: Barfield, Mike

Reading age: from c 7 years

Published on 10 April 2025 by Templar Books in the United Kingdom.

Paperback | 96 pages
299 x 235 | 440g

Ever wondered what it would be like to be an Incan runner, carrying messages across the ancient Andes at lightning speed? Or perhaps a jester, keeping the royal courts in stitches with your hilarious antics? What about a stage farter? A poo collector? A body double? All these jobs are yours for the taking in history’s line-up of the world’s oddest jobs.

In this book, you’ll encounter a colourful cast of characters who embraced the quirkiest of professions, including the legendary Harry Houdini who defied the laws of nature with his mind-bending magic tricks; Bessie Coleman, the first African-American stunt-pilot; Marie Tussaud who fled the French Revolution and came to London to create wax sculptures; Zazel, a Victorian daredevil who became the first human cannonball; and the amazing story of Samuel Sorensen Adams, inventor of many of the most famous joke shop gags such as sneezing powder, the handshake buzzer and the stink bomb.

This treasure trove of history’s most peculiar jobs will leave you laughing, gasping, and wondering what job you’d have chosen in days gone by – and what jobs you might encounter in the future…