With more than 5000 entries, from Abandon hope all ye who enter here to Led Zeppelin, this book explores the origins and meanings of allusions, words, names and phrases from the worlds of literature, politics and popular culture. The entries include contemporary references as well as information on classical mythology, saints' names, acronyms, collective nouns and pseudonyms. Nigel Rees is a writer, broadcaster and lexicographer whose other books include Bloomsbury Dictionary of Popular Phrases.