Books by Gordon Thorburn

Was this the greatest medical disaster of World War Two? Who caused it? This new book has the answers.

Superpiss used to be a brand of windscreen washer fluid in Finland but they've changed the name for some reason. Bra milk has gone the same way.Luckily, there is still an Italian detergent called BumBum, a Ghanaian pepper sauce called Shitto, Jamaicans can buy Mannish Water Ram Goat Soup, those horrible Danish salt-liquorice pastilles are Spunk brand, the Swedes eat marshmallows called Skum, you can keep your feet dry in China with a Sex Shoes Set and refresh after a jog in Japan with a glass of Sweat.This hilarious book contains hundreds of examples from foreign parts of product names, signs and advertising puffery that make English speakers laugh immoderately, plus a few mistakes that slipped through at home.It's all real. None of it has been invented. In Egypt, you really can buy German Winter Hats for Diabetics.

Travelling art

How did a working-class boy mechanic finish with fifty-seven fighter victories? What was special about Udet, Boelcke, and von Richthofen? Who were the greatest aces, and what were their real scores? What were the best fighter aircraft of WWI? These and many other questions are answered in Gordon Thorburn's fascinating study of the first air war.