Once More With Footnotes

in my ancient edition, but I did find 'Complutensian Polyglot', so the effort was not wasted) of myth, legend, quotation, historical byways, and slang, but that would still miss out quite a lot of it. A better description would be "an education", in the truest sense. Brewer's flowered in thos e pre-Trivial Pursuit days when people believed that if you patiently accumulated a knowledge of small things a knowledge of big things would automatically evolve, and you would become a better person.
     
                  Brewer's has been updated for this Millennium editio n. It includes Gandalf as well as Attila the Hun (and why shouldn't it?). Some of the duller nymphs and more obscure Classical items have been dropped to make space for such additions to the language as "hit the ground running" and "all dressed up and now h ere to go". To be considered obscure by Brewer's is a real badge of obscurity, and it is sad to see them go; but the serious Brewerite can only hope that Cassell might one day be persuaded to release a "preservative" edition, so that this detritus of myth and legend is not forever lost.
     
                  But today is tomorrow's past. One day the Fab Four (ask your dad) will be one with ... oh, some of the things that no one cares about any more. Given the speed of change, they're already well on their way. It's an educatio n in itself, seeing them take their place with old Roman senators and mythological fauna, and watching the dust settle. We're the next millennium's ancients ...
     
                  Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable is the first book to turn to when questions arise and the final desperate volume when the lesser reference books have failed. No bookshelf, no WORLD is complete without it. It's as simple as that.
     

We get at least one approach every month about Discworld board games. Many of them are fine, but too often the Discworld name has been pasted onto something generic, or Discworld history would need a major re-write in order to fit the game. Letters burble: "In this game there is a big war between the wizards and the witches ..." Uh, no, I don't think there is.
     
    Bu t Trevor Truan, who designs games like other people breathe, came up with something good in "Koom Valley" the game's working title. It was what I'd asked for: a true Discworld game, a game that could reasonably exist and be played there. It pitches dwarfs against trolls — a conflict hallowed by time — and, in order to play a complete game you have to play both sides, which was a specification I hadn't laid down but which was exactly what I wanted. A game which forces you to think and play like your hereditary enemy could be extremely useful to a thoughtful author. It had the right feel, in short, and slotted neatly into Discworld history.
     
    It looked easy to play, but championship players have told me it can stretch the mind more than chess. It also gave me the germ of a plot, which one day will get written.
     
    All that remained was to chose the name, which was obvious ...
     
     
     
     
     
T hud — A H istorical P erspective
     
                  The role of games in the histories of both dwarfs and trolls has been very important.
     
                  Perhaps the most famous was the dwarfish game of Hnaflbaflsniflwhifltafl, devised by the cunning inventor Morose Stronginthearm for Hugen, Low King of the Dwarfs. Hugen had asked for a game that would teach young dwarfs the virtues of preparedness, strategy, boldness, an d quick thinking, and Morose came up with a board game that has some early resemblance to the Thud board.
     
                  The game swept through the dwarfish world, and was very popular. Hugen, being well pleased, asked Morose what he wanted as a reward. The inventor is on record as saying: "If it please you, your majesty, I ask for nothing more than that you should place one plk [a small gold piece then in general circulation] on the first square, two on the second, four on the third, and so on until the board is filled. "
     
                  The king readily agreed to this, and had a sack of gold brought from the treasury. However, the count had not been going on for very long before it became clear that what Morose had asked for was, in fact, all the gold in the universe.
     
                  This presented a problem for the king, who had given his word, but he solved it by producing