A Brief History of Whistling

ISBN: 9781907869990

Format: Paperback, 164 pages,

Temporarily out of stock (Originally published: March 2018)

£7.99

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Book details

Whistling has been used for work, entertainment, self-expression and communication, including secret communication. The authors were inspired by the comment "You never hear anyone whistling nowadays," but is this true? Whistling appears in television advertisements and rap songs, and even provided a running storyline in Star Trek.

A Brief History of Whistling is the first popular book to examine whistling in all its forms, exploring folk traditions, music hall, the "whistling villages" and tribes in other countries, and the different varieties of whistling. The book attempts to answer the question of how exactly you do whistle, which is more complicated than "just put your lips together and blow," as Lauren Bacall said to Humphrey Bogart. Yes, whistling can also be to do with sex. It also appears throughout literature, from Homer to DH Lawrence.

The book is richly illustrated with folk customs, sayings, and the astouonding number of practical uses for whistling.

About the Author

John Lucas's recent books include the poetry collection Things to Say, and Next Year Will Be Better: a Memoir of England in the 1950s, both from Five Leaves, and World War Two Poetry in English and the novel Summer 1945, both published by Greenwich Exchange. He runs Shoestring Press. Allan Chatburn returned to his trade as a plasterer after taking a degree in English Literature at Loughborough University. He has a lifelong interest in working-class writing and art.

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