Anthony Poulton-Smith - Speaker

Author of more than seventy books, many on the subject of place names. Also penned some 1,500 articles and ghostwriter of almost two hundred books. Speaker on etymologies and related subjects on which I have written. Willing to travel anywhere in the country, fees very reasonable and negotiable.

• Origins of Place Names: including towns and villages, hills and streams, even fields and roads.
• Origins of Pub Names: their beginnings, design, meanings and misunderstandings.
• When Nature Calls: the toilet, the history of the privy.
• Not the Normal Paranormal: looks at ghostly reports covered by the author's writings and asks if there is a rational explanation.
• Animal Myths: a look at some of the quite ridiculous explanations given for the fauna we know so well.
• Humorous Etymologies: we know what they mean today, but won't believe how some of these words began and in what context they were used.
• The Saxon Era: a revealing look at the so-called Dark Ages, revealing why they were anything but 'dark'
• Watling Street: this famous 'Roman' road and why it is more than one road and was a road before the Romans were ever thought of.
• Talking Butts: the many odd ideas, generally accepted as part of history, which have no basis in fact.
• Salt Routes: the original trade route, why it existed and why these routes are still in use today.
• Ley Lines: Examination of ancient trackways, how they were laid out and why.
• Not Politically Correct? - the silliness of the PC world, and just how these 'offensive' terms began quite innocently.
• The Fastener Industry: an engineer's non-technical look at nuts, bolts, screws and washers.
• 20 Years of Not Being Published - the many pitfalls to avoid when trying to become a published author
• An English Recipe - not only did we import the foodstuffs over the centuries but also their names and some very odd meanings.
• Lost Lines - a look at the unusual and inventive use put to former railway property.
• What's Cool? - an amusing look at how the use of words and even meaning change with remarkable speed.
• Classic Toys - playing with the ideas, the development and the branding behind childhoods old and new.
• Socks and Sandals - fashion revealed through the development of the names rather than styles.
• When Hardware was a Store - a look at the real meanings behind everyday items found in every home.
• Pecks and Stones - the myriad different measurements and why these pre-metric terms reveal so very much of our history.
• Playing with Fire - from science to stupid, just why fire is the greatest technological leap ever made and why we should never have bothered.
• Forgotten Holidays - the many 'holidays' and feasts of yesteryear which are no longer celebrated.
• Old Wives Tales - and why their husbands believed every ludicrous word.
• Stupid Moments in History - historians record the momentous, here we focus on those moments they will wish had never happened.
• Time, Ladies and Gentlemen - the science and the silly behind our fascination with time, today and in the past.
• What Guy Fawkes Never Knew - the escape route and the many disasters which befell the plotters as they fled London, and the many tales still attributed to them.
• OBEs and OEDs - the many awards and medals, their creations and histories.