Tossers and Arseblowers: An Alternative Romp Through Europe

Not all Spaniards are Goat Tossers, not all Frenchmen are Arse Blowers, and not all Portuguese are Penis Cake Eaters. But JR Daeschner knows quite a few who are. In Tossers and Arseblowers, he picks up where he left off with True Brits and crosses the Channel in search of Europe's most surreal traditions. From the far west of Ireland to the Continental divide in Istanbul, he ventures where few foreigners have gone before, witnessing spectacles such as the Baby Jumping Festival and the Rigor Mortis Procession in Spain, Snake Handling and Fire Dancing in Greece, Cow Fighting in Switzerland and the celebrations in honour of England's patron saint in the heart of the EU. Along the way, he's inducted into the Order of the Priceless Sardine and catches countless characters in action, including a German detective turned 'love spy', the last of the Irish matchmakers, a Sicilian coprophile and a gay Turkish 'Bear'. Whether it's the furore over the camp following for Oil Wrestling in Turkey or the controversy surrounding the Dutch 'Santa' and his black sidekick, Daeschner finds that these centuries-old events reveal surprising insights into our Continental neighbours.