In the middle of the 1800s, Mrs Favell Lee Mortimer set out to write an ambitious guide to all the nations on Earth. There were just three problems: She had never set foot outside Shropshire; she was horribly misinformed about virtually every topic she turned her attention to; and she was prejudiced against foreigners. The result was an unintentionally hilarious masterpiece: 'The French like being smart but are not very clean.' 'The Japanese are very polite people - much politer than the Chinese - but very proud.' 'The Scotch will not take much trouble to please strangers.' In "The Clumsiest People in Europe", Todd Pruzan has gathered together a selection of Mrs Mortimer's finest moments, celebrating the woman who turned ignorance into an art form.