I Didn't Get Where I Am . . .

Countless revealing and entertaining glimpses into the methodsand sometimes madnessof many of the world's most famous figures Did you know that Beethoven made every cup of coffee with exactly 60 beans? Or that Shirley Temple always had precisely 56 curls in her hair? Or that the young Frank Sinatra practiced underwater swimming as a way of developing his ability to hold long breaths? This book brings a blend of gripping trivia and incisive humor to the question of how famous high achievers reached those heights. Readers will see Chopin sleeping with wedges between his fingers to increase their span, learn how P.G. Wodehouse reminded himself which pages of a manuscript still needed work, and find out why Thomas Edison chose his research assistants on the basis of their soup-eating habits. From ancient Egypt to the modern day, here are the secrets of their success.

Charlie Croker is the pseudonym of Mark Mason, a former BBC producer and the author of Screwed Up English.