‘Who? Never heard of him.’ ‘Who? Never heard of her.’
Many remarkable people (for better or worse) are often over-shadowed by shallow celebrities, and Donough O’Brien has worked to uncover and expose those who have accomplished so much but have been long forgotten – or never known.

This book brings the unrecognized to recognition – over 200
names that should trip off the tongue, but don’t.
Who was John Kennedy’s first dangerous lover?
Who made rock music possible?
Who created the ‘Green Revolution’?
Who was Simon Cowell’s mentor?
Who stopped Catholic priests marrying?
Who inspired the Red Cross?
Who saved us from diabetes and malaria, and really made penicillin work?
Whose hand does the Foreign Legion salute?
Who built the first bra?
Whose driving error started World War I?
Which doctors finished off Elvis and Michael Jackson?
Who first broke the sound barrier?
Whose blood cells are ’immortal’?
Who brought us jazz, swing, country and rock ‘n’ roll? And the Tour de France, and the Olympics?

Do you use deodorant? Zip up your trousers or skirt? Get cash from a hole in the wall? Own a leotard? Use lifts? Listen to weather reports? Enjoy a hamburger? Who’s to thank for all that? Who really shaped our world?

Find out with this eclectic and engaging series of brief biographies, highlighting the men and women who should be famous, but aren’t!

“Most of us are intrigued by the question ‘Whatever happened to...?’ Donough O’Brien has hit on another splendid idea: ‘Whoever was . . .?’, listing and describing scores and scores of extraordinary people who played an important but hidden task in the story of our times, but whom we probably have never heard of in the first place!” Frederick Forsyth, Foreword

Donough O’Brien, an experienced broadcaster and media commentator, has lived in Putney for nearly thirty years, having moved from Chelsea and then Fulham. He thinks Putney is one of the very best places to live in London. He is married to writer, Liz Cowley. Donough, before turning to writing, enjoyed a successful marketing career in Europe and the US. His previous ‘quirky history’ books include Fame by Chance, Numeroids, In the Heat of the Battle and Banana Skins which covered the secrets of the slips and screw-ups that brought the famous down to earth.(quirkyhistory.com)

Donough likes to look at the quirky and unusual, whether in people, places, numbers or even machines. (At one stage he was a prominent motor-racing artist) He is also fascinated by arrogance, foolishness, over-confidence and false celebrity, and this is reflected in his book BANANA SKINS, The slips and screw-up that brought the famous down to earth. Jonathan Aitken, rather sportingly, wrote the Foreword.

He admires the pioneering spirit of inventors, explorers and scientists who break through barriers and defy conventions, particularly in life-saving areas like medicine, and many such heroes feature in WHO?

This book would be a hit under the Christmas tree this year for those fact/trivia obsessed members of your friends and family!