Yorkshire folk pride themselves on their down-to-earth wit and wisdom. Here is a collection of well-loved tales, poems and anecdotes, taken from the pages of 'Dalesman', Yorkshire's favourite magazine.

Whenever you need an amusing story to hold attention, drive home a point in speech making to enliven conversation, or to read just for fun, the more than 4,100 peppery, bubbling stories in this volume will satisfy every demand. All are arranged alphabetically under subject. The index and cross-index makes it possible to locate the right story quickly. The range of this volume is far and wide. The stories are about people in all walks of life. All of them are wholesome and clean. And what is more, you will want to remember and retell these stories. Drawn from the vagaries, the foibles, and the peculiarities of human nature, they provide countless chuckles from many different locales. The ENCYCLOPEDIA of WIT, HUMOR and WISDOM is indispensable for public speakers, toastmasters, lawyers, ministers, educators, writers, salesmen, and those who love a good laugh.

He’s British football’s philosopher manqué. The most successful England manager we never had and a genuine footballing legend. To many, an outspoken working class hero. To others – mainly his targets – he was a bolshy northern gobshite. Never less than opinionated, often controversial and always eloquent, here we present Brian Clough, in his very own words… On himself: ‘I wouldn’t say I was the best manager in the business. But I was in the top one.’ On Roy Keane: ‘I only ever hit Roy once. He got up, so I couldn’t have hit him very hard.’ On the FA: ‘I’m sure the England selectors thought if they took me on and gave me the job I’d want to run the show. They were shrewd, because that’s exactly what I would have done.’ On being nominated for a knighthood: ‘I thought it was my next door neighbour, because she thought if I got something like that, I’d have to move.’ On handling players: ‘We talk about it for twenty minutes and then we decide I was right.’ On drink: ‘Walk on water? I know most people out there will be saying that instead of walking on it, I should have taken more of it with my drinks.’ Duncan Hamilton is the author of the acclaimed Provided You Don’t Kiss Me: 20 Years with Brian Clough, for which he won the William Hill Sports Book of Year Award in 2007. He was the Nottingham Evening Post’s Forest reporter during the club, and Clough’s glory years. He is now deputy editor at the Yorkshire Post.

The ninth novel in the beloved Tales of the City series, Armistead Maupin’s best-selling San Francisco saga. 'Wonderful. . . . As compulsively readable and endearing as all the previous novels have been’ Booklist (starred review) ____________________ Now ninety-two, Mrs. Madrigal has seemingly found peace with her ‘logical family’ in San Francisco. Some members of that family are bound for the otherworldly landscape of Burning Man, the art community in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert but Anna has another destination in mind: a lonely stretch of road outside of Winnemucca where the 16-year-old boy she once was ran away from the whorehouse he called home. There she journeys into the dusty troubled heart of her Depression childhood to unearth a lifetime of secrets and dreams and attend to some unfinished business she has long avoided. Hurdling barriers both social and sexual, Maupin leads the eccentric tenants of Barbary Lane through heartbreak and triumph, through nail-biting terrors and gleeful coincidences in a sexually-liberated San Francisco. The result is a glittering and addictive comedy of manners that continues to beguile new generations of readers.

James Herriot is probably the most beloved living writer. When All Things Bright and Beautiful was published three years ago, it became the number one best seller in the world, winning still new friends for the Yorkshire veterinarian whose first book All Creatures Great and Small had already been enjoyed by millions of readers. In this, his third book, he takes up where he left off-- both in terms of the warmth, humor, and skill with which he writes, and in the story itself. It is World War Two and James has just been inducted into the RAF. We see him at training camp and we go back to Yorkshire-- on real trips as he breaks away to see Helen who is about to have a baby, and on trips of reverie as he recalls the Dales, the animals, and the Yorkshire people who have so enriched his life. We meet old friends again-- his partner Siegfried, the zany Tristan, the bon vivant Granville Bennett-- and scores of new folk, each with a story to tell. James Herriot is back, and, as one reviewer said of his work, "If ever you have loved a friend, human or otherwise, this is the book for you."