In Ask a Historian: 50 Surprising Answers to Things You Always Wanted to Know, author, BBC podcaster and public historian Greg Jenner provides answers to things you always wondered about, but didn’t know who to ask.

Why is Italy called Italy? How old is curry? Which people from history would best pull off a casino heist? Who was the richest person of all time? When was the first Monday? What were history’s weirdest medical procedures that actually worked? How much horse manure was splattered on the streets of Tudor London?

Responding to 50 genuine questions from the public, Greg leads an entertaining tour through the ages, revealing the best and most surprising stories, facts and historical characters from the past. Bouncing through a wide range of subjects – from ancient jokebooks, African empires and bizarre tales of medicinal cannibalism to the invention of meringues, mirrors and menstrual pads – he spans from the Stone Age to the Swinging Sixties, and offers up a deliciously amusing and informative smorgasbord of historical curiosities, to be devoured one morsel at a time.