Schott's Original Miscellany

Product Information

Tony Blair asked Schott if he would like to see then-baby Leo; Cherie barked at him not to take too long as they were about to have lunch. Ben has written for many of the great British and American titles including The Times, The Telegraph, The New York Times, The Spectator, Private Eye, Bloomberg Opinionand Playboy.

Schott MISCELLANIES | Ben Schott

They consist of a collection of trivia generally centred on the culture of the United Kingdom (and to a lesser extent the rest of the European Union and the Commonwealth). Things began to get a little crazy when, without warning, The Guardiandevoted the cover ofG2to the Miscellanyand, amazingly, declared the book “the publishing sensation of the year. The idea for the first book originated in some cards that Schott made to send to friends, which contained booklets of what he considered vital but hard to find information.On my way to pitch this Christmas card idea to a large advertising agency (WPP), I was waylaid by an old friend (Martin) who persuaded me to turn the card into a book. It was a work of striking originality, and it was remarkable to receive an unsolicited submission like this in the mail. On the advice of another friend (Elinor), I sent one of these books to Nigel Newton, the head of Bloomsbury Publishing (the Harry Potter people). I managed to persuade The Pear Tree Press (the one in Stevenage, not the one in Jamaica) to print 50 hard-back copies. The first edition of Schott's Almanac was published in Britain in 2005, followed by yearly editions published in Britain, America, and Germany until 2010.

Ben Schott - Wikipedia

Walter Thompson where he was an account manager on the Nestlé Rowntree account working on Smarties, Kit Kat and Polo. He was commissioned by a range of editorial and commercial clients, including The Independent, The Sunday Times, Sunday Business, Reader's Digest, and the Institute of Directors. Walter Thompson, Ben spent most of his twenties as a freelance portrait photographer for a diverse range of editorial and commercial clients.

Schott introduced the 2006 Almanac with a quote from Ben Hecht: "Trying to determine what is going on in the world by reading newspapers is like trying to tell the time by watching the second hand of a clock". In 2005 and 2006 the Guardian featured special editions of G2 featuring extracts from Schott's Almanac. The Almanacs shared the same look and feel as the Miscellanies – but were substantially longer and larger.