As an occasional participant in quiz nights I do not recall ever having been asked a question about the armed forces, so I was surprised to find no fewer than seven out of the fifty cards in Do You Know? by Carreras were concerned with Army or Navy matters. Perhaps the compiler had a military background, or was it because the series was produced in 1939 just before war broke out? We will never know the answer to that one. Having said that, this is an extremely well-produced series with excellent illustrations and factual texts covering topics as diverse as the origin of bowler hats, sandwiches, ‘bobbies’, hallmarks, beefeaters, saluting, the sailor’s collar and horse-shoes for luck – plus some teasers like how much the value of the contents of the British Museum are insured for (answer : nothing), the history behind women wearing wedding rings (originally round the neck so she could be tethered as ‘property’) and how the length of a yard was determined (by Henry I, the distance from the point of his nose to the end of his thumb). Not a lot of people know that!

This set of 50 Do You Know? issued by Carreras in 1939 in finest collectable condition is catalogued at £15.00