However, lurking not far beneath the surface of both counties is a host of oddities and peculiarities that turn the apparently staid and conventional into something much more intriguing. Therefore even the Conventional Leicestershire & Rutland section sees its County History interspersed with the book’s idiosyncratic “Quirk Alerts”; like anecdotes covering Roman latrine management, how Robin-a-Tiptoe Hill became so-named, and the meaning of bizarre Leicestershire terms such as Gongoozlers and Yawny Box!

Naturally, though, it is the Quirky Leicestershire & Rutland section where things turn very strange, and where a seemingly random almanac of 55 Leicestershire and Rutland places have their quirkiest facts laid bare: like which village has a cow-milking organist, which had a beer-swilling fox, another a wig-detecting phantom, and yet another a parson who tied 58 bulldogs to 58 apple trees to prevent scrumping! Or what about which Leicestershire village was hit by a meteorite, which one saw doves dictate the build of a church, and which one still fights annually over a hare pie! Alternatively, find out which Rutland village had a 14th century rector involved in serious organised crime, which one is twinned with Paris, and which one is home to a truly mind-blowing historical revelation. If you think you know Leicestershire and Rutland, read this fascinating and profusely illustrated book and think again…