QI: The Book of the Dead

Welcome to a biographical dictionary with a twist. QI has compiled six dozen of the happiest, saddest, maddest and most unusual men and women from history, to share their secrets, celebrate their wisdom, learn from their mistakes, and marvel at their bad taste in clothes. Hans Christian Anderson was terrified of naked women. Florence Nightingale spent her last fifty years in bed. Sigmund Freud smoked twenty cigars a day. Catherine de Medici applied a daily face mask made of pigeon dung. Rembrandt van Rijn died penniless. Madame Mao banned cicadas, rustling noises and pianos.