It Just Slipped Out

Book excerpt: 'Such was Catherine Morland at ten. At fifteen appearances were mending; she began to curl her hair and long for balls...' (Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey) 'Will it jerk me off?' (Margaret Thatcher, inspecting a field gun in the Falklands) 'You know, animals are very psychic. I mean, the least sign of danger and my pussy's hair stands on end' (Mrs Slocombe, Are You Being Served?) From the unwittingly filthy, to the gleefully subversive, double entendres have been making us laugh for centuries. In this hilarious survey, Russell Ash uncovers some of history's dirtiest double meanings. From the smut lurking between the polished lines of literature's most revered writers, to the public innuendo accidents that have tripped up even the most respected of politicians, right through to the sly innuendo that has characterized some of our best-loved comedies, IT JUST SLIPPED OUT has it all.