Inside this small (but perfectly formed) hardback there lurks some of the most devilishly difficult mathematical brainteasers human beings have yet devised.

Woven into them are marvellously witty introductions to some of the key numerical mysteries and paradoxes. Along the way, we meet Klephtnose, the geometrical Pharoah, Stacey Ermine, the winner of the Turnip Prize, the members of Wackingham Cricket Club, the villagers of the town of Much Grumbling and the eponymous Mayor of Uglyville, each of whom present us with a mind-bending mathematical problem. But never fear. The answers are at the back of the book.