‘Alan knows everything, knows everyone, and writes beautifully too.’
RICHARD OSMAN

‘The man with the contents of the Oxford English Dictionary stored just above his left eyebrow … and he’s quite funny too.’
RORY CELLAN-JONES

'A gorgeous, funny tour of the British Isles as seen from the clouds.’
KONNIE HUQ


For fans of THE ETYMOLOGICON and VERY BRITISH PROBLEMS, a delightfully damp tour of the British Isles.


Mizzle. Dreich. Raining knives and forks. A real mugga-fisty. A spot of plother...

We Brits love talking about the weather. So much so that our islands have hundreds of words and phrases for rain, some self-explanatory and others that really leave us scratching our heads. From a light smirr in Aberdeen to a "it's raining knives and forks!" in the Brecon Beacons, each type of rain tells a story about the people and places it falls on.

In this delightfully damp tour of the British Isles, writer and puddle-splasher Alan Connor digs deep into the meaning and quirky histories of over one hundred words for precipitation. He gets caught in a plash in Northumberland, crashes a fox's wedding in Devon and ponders the phenomenon of Brits-who-picnic-in-the-car, in this charming and witty celebration of our very British obsession.