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Dr. Fegg's Encyclopedia of All World Knowledge: Formerly the Nasty Book
An illustrated compendium of humorous facts such as the recipe for oxygen tart and an explanation of how man evolved from small rocks.
96 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1976
About the author
Terry Jones
166 books269 followersLibrarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
Terence Graham Parry Jones was a Welsh actor, comedian, director, historian, writer and member of the Monty Python comedy troupe.
After graduating from Oxford University with a degree in English, Jones and writing partner Michael Palin wrote and performed for several high-profile British comedy programmes, including Do Not Adjust Your Set and The Frost Report, before creating Monty Python's Flying Circus with Cambridge graduates Graham Chapman, John Cleese, and Eric Idle and American animator-filmmaker Terry Gilliam. Jones was largely responsible for the programme's innovative, surreal structure, in which sketches flowed from one to the next without the use of punch lines. He made his directorial debut with Monty Python and the Holy Grail, which he co-directed with Gilliam, and also directed the subsequent Python films Life of Brian and The Meaning of Life.
Jones co-created and co-wrote with Palin the anthology series Ripping Yarns. He also wrote an early draft of Jim Henson's film Labyrinth and is credited with the screenplay, though little of his work actually remained in the final cut. Jones was a well-respected medieval historian, having written several books and presented television documentaries about the period, as well as a prolific children's author. In 2016, Jones received a Lifetime Achievement award at the BAFTA Cymru Awards for his outstanding contribution to television and film. After living for several years with a degenerative aphasia, he gradually lost the ability to speak and died in 2020 from frontotemporal dementia.
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
Terence Graham Parry Jones was a Welsh actor, comedian, director, historian, writer and member of the Monty Python comedy troupe.
After graduating from Oxford University with a degree in English, Jones and writing partner Michael Palin wrote and performed for several high-profile British comedy programmes, including Do Not Adjust Your Set and The Frost Report, before creating Monty Python's Flying Circus with Cambridge graduates Graham Chapman, John Cleese, and Eric Idle and American animator-filmmaker Terry Gilliam. Jones was largely responsible for the programme's innovative, surreal structure, in which sketches flowed from one to the next without the use of punch lines. He made his directorial debut with Monty Python and the Holy Grail, which he co-directed with Gilliam, and also directed the subsequent Python films Life of Brian and The Meaning of Life.
Jones co-created and co-wrote with Palin the anthology series Ripping Yarns. He also wrote an early draft of Jim Henson's film Labyrinth and is credited with the screenplay, though little of his work actually remained in the final cut. Jones was a well-respected medieval historian, having written several books and presented television documentaries about the period, as well as a prolific children's author. In 2016, Jones received a Lifetime Achievement award at the BAFTA Cymru Awards for his outstanding contribution to television and film. After living for several years with a degenerative aphasia, he gradually lost the ability to speak and died in 2020 from frontotemporal dementia.
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
October 6, 2009
I bought a copy of this marvelous book when I was a first-year undergraduate, and it became a favorite in my circle of friends. We would frequently quote from it. There is a decent article in Wikipedia. Here are the first two paragraphs:
Bert Fegg's Nasty Book For Boys And Girls is a humorous book first published by Methuen in 1974 which purports to have been written by a psychopathic character, Dr. Fegg. In fact, the book is the work of Terry Jones and Michael Palin, who adapted a range of material from scripts written for the television comedy series, Monty Python's Flying Circus. Some material was later used in Palin's 1977 TV series, Ripping Yarns. The first edition was sold bearing a sticker on the front cover which read "A Monty Python Educational Product".It had some rather fine bad poems, which I have been attempting to reconstruct. Here is what I can recall of Depravo the Rat, who, I now learn, is one of the two official mascots of Grizedale College, Lancaster. Clearly more famous than I'd thought, which makes it all the more mysterious that the poem is not in fact easy to locate:
The book may be seen as a satire of children's education literature; whether it is actually written for children or is intended as a parody aimed at adults is open to interpretation. It satirises elements of educational text books, as well as annuals, which were popular hardcover publications for children featuring short stories, comic strips, and games, often based upon television series and films of the day.
... I like being very rudeWell, I'm glad to see that other students loved him too. And here's about half of A Garden is Rather Like a Poem, which I am also surprised not to find at once on Google:
Eating half-digested food
And seeing ladies in the nude.
Even nasty little frogs when little girls look in their minces
Tend to go all soppy and turn into handsome princes
But there's no chance of that with Depravo the Rat
I'm a loose-living, dirty little scab
So stay away do-gooders, don't do being nice to me
Or I'll make your life real hell
I'll slit your face I'll wet your bed I'll wrap your nostrils round your head
I'm Depravo, Depravo the Rat
The filthiest creature that could be!
(The first verse has explained that gardens and poems have a lot in common)But how did it start and end? If someone can enlighten me, I'll be pathetically grateful.
Instead of metre, there's something neater, i.e. rows of pretty things!
Instead of rhyme, there's parsley and thyme
And the sound of the lawn-edger sings
My garden has a compost-heap, and herbaceous borders as well
And where a poem has a thought
My garden has a smell
June 3, 2013
Undoubtedly the most important document ever written in English.
May 17, 2014
Disgusting and hilarious. One of the few comedy books that I loved and quoted as a kid that I still love and quote (though nobody gets the references) as an adult. A necessity for Monty Python fans.
April 11, 2008
I read this back it when it was Dr. Fegg's Nasty Book of Knowledge. It is a sick, weird book of funny psychopathological ramblings about rats and the Bournemouth killings. There are songs, too, I think. It's the perfect gift for that maladapted teenaged relative with a crepuscular sense of humor.
August 2, 2012
My mum bought this book for me the Christmas I was twelve, in 1988. At that time, we didn't know it would be our last Christmas together. She died of cancer in October 1989. I am thankful that one of my mum's last gifts to me was such a perfect exemplar of all I loved best about her.
February 12, 2008
Dr Fegg’s Encyclopeadia of all World Knowledge was originally published in 1974 as Bert Fegg’s Nasty Book for Boys and Girls, it was re-published in 1976 and then revised Dr Fegg’s Encyclopeadia of all World Knowledge in 1984 when I bought it.
I think I know why it was written, after the success of ‘Monty Python’s Big red Book’ and ‘Another Monty Python Papperbok’ Jones and Palin realised that if they put some more of this rubbish out as a Jones and Palin they would be in for a two way rather than the six way split of Python.
What is more of a mystery is why anyone would buy it. I would hide behind the foolishness of youth but since I also read ‘1984’ and ‘Animal Farm’ in 1984 I’m not sure that it cuts any ice. I can only think that since I enjoyed the Python films buying crap books was a worthwhile pastime, I’m not sure that cuts any ice neither. Anyway it makes my book case a quarter of an inch longer than it would otherwise have been, If only I measured books by the mile.
I think I know why it was written, after the success of ‘Monty Python’s Big red Book’ and ‘Another Monty Python Papperbok’ Jones and Palin realised that if they put some more of this rubbish out as a Jones and Palin they would be in for a two way rather than the six way split of Python.
What is more of a mystery is why anyone would buy it. I would hide behind the foolishness of youth but since I also read ‘1984’ and ‘Animal Farm’ in 1984 I’m not sure that it cuts any ice. I can only think that since I enjoyed the Python films buying crap books was a worthwhile pastime, I’m not sure that cuts any ice neither. Anyway it makes my book case a quarter of an inch longer than it would otherwise have been, If only I measured books by the mile.
December 24, 2021
Seriously, I read this book 40+ years ago and it made me laugh so hard! It never fails to do that. I will admit that it is very politically incorrect nowadays, but if you read it to do the puzzles and remember that it was written when times were not as aware, allowing you to be more forgiving, you will enjoy this book.
August 8, 2022
I ‘discovered’ Monty Python back in the late 90’s when I was a student, and let’s admit it. Monty Python is perfect for those student years. That random humor, silly puns and clever sketches just still well with the burgeoning young university mind.
Their ’empire’ is not only restricted to television but there are the films, games, albums and books. All containing their irreverent jokes.
Dr. Fegg’s Encyclopaedia of All World Knowledge was originally published in 1974 as Bert Fegg’s Nasty Book for Boys and Girls but then got a makeover and title change in 1984. Apparently some information from the previous book was carried over onto this volume. In a way it’s a typical Pythonian move. As a plus Terry Jones and Michael Palin wrote the more memorable Python sketches so the book’s jokes should be good.
I admit I was a bit hesitant when going in to this though because I thought that I outgrew that type of humor. In fact last summer I tried re-watching the show (it’s on Netflix) and I just couldn’t but thankfully I did chuckle here and there with this book.
The Encyclopaedia is divided into different subjects such as animals, cooking etc with interjections by Bert Fegg to extricate money from the reader. There’s also false pages , a ton of wrong information and some rude jokes but the essence of comedy is to balance the bawdy with the brainy so it works.
However, this is not a book to read cover to cover. Just dip into it once in a while and have a laugh. With just a variety of topics there’s bound to be something for the reader. If one is a Monty Python fan then there’s a lot to laugh about here. A word of information; the book is not in print but it’s easy to find and cheap. A must for the MP fanatic.
Their ’empire’ is not only restricted to television but there are the films, games, albums and books. All containing their irreverent jokes.
Dr. Fegg’s Encyclopaedia of All World Knowledge was originally published in 1974 as Bert Fegg’s Nasty Book for Boys and Girls but then got a makeover and title change in 1984. Apparently some information from the previous book was carried over onto this volume. In a way it’s a typical Pythonian move. As a plus Terry Jones and Michael Palin wrote the more memorable Python sketches so the book’s jokes should be good.
I admit I was a bit hesitant when going in to this though because I thought that I outgrew that type of humor. In fact last summer I tried re-watching the show (it’s on Netflix) and I just couldn’t but thankfully I did chuckle here and there with this book.
The Encyclopaedia is divided into different subjects such as animals, cooking etc with interjections by Bert Fegg to extricate money from the reader. There’s also false pages , a ton of wrong information and some rude jokes but the essence of comedy is to balance the bawdy with the brainy so it works.
However, this is not a book to read cover to cover. Just dip into it once in a while and have a laugh. With just a variety of topics there’s bound to be something for the reader. If one is a Monty Python fan then there’s a lot to laugh about here. A word of information; the book is not in print but it’s easy to find and cheap. A must for the MP fanatic.
November 30, 2017
Python-esque in its surrealism and commitment to overly long bits, but far to many reactions are disappointed grimaces as opposed to hearty laughs.
September 20, 2022
A great book full of useful knowledge written by educational legend Bert Fegg, who has nothing to do with the Bournemouth killings.
February 15, 2017
подрывная мурзилка, кое-что отсюда потом реализовано в пост-питонье
June 16, 2014
Maybe it's me, maybe it just doesn't stand the yes of time, or (most likely) maybe it simply wasn't all that good to begin with. Very Python-esque of course, yet in a very one-note way. Despite the variety in format, there's little variety in humor. Which is not to say I didn't smirk my way through much of it or snort a few times - Jones and Palin do a style that's fun and essential to the formula. But they were only one of the three writing teams, and that's pretty much what it feels like: a one-ring Flying Circus.
November 28, 2021
I really like Monty Python......the BBC series, the dead parrot, the cheese shop, fish slapping, the silly walks, the lumberjack song, the CDs of the songs and skits, The Holy Grail, Life of Brian.....everything......except this book. It was just not funny! Oh, there was a mild chuckle here and there, but in general it was a waste of time.
January 1, 2022
There are some really good bits in this but it's not aged especially well. I can definitely imagine loving it if I'd come across it at age 13, and maybe it would still be a pleasure now, like the Goodies annual or the Monty Python Big Red Bok, but coming to it for the first time as an adult, it didn't speak to me at all.
September 9, 2009
Here's an old classic from my high school and college days. Dr Fegg continues to influence my life, but mostly in terms of wondering exactly where Bournemouth is and wanting to call pianos "painos". Not to mention an appreciation for a good looking fish.
December 17, 2007
Hilarious. Yerluvinunclebert.
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September 17, 2012I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/11394585
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/11394585
February 1, 2020
Simply put, if you love Python, you'll love this book. If you don't love Python, you won't.
July 21, 2016
Absolutely hilarious.
October 14, 2014
I read this many many years ago. along with Dr Feggs pop-up book (I think)
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews