Cecil Hunt's Howlers

YOUR COMMENTS... +++ Ian F: "Cool site!" +++ Britto B: "Cool page. Love it." +++ Bill L: "You crack me up!" +++ Fahad: "Fantastic group. The best group in Facebook!" +++ Shafaq S: "Ha ha ha, very funny" +++ Radika D: "This is cool... since my English full of errors :))" +++ Tracy N: "So useful and so funny!" +++ Samantha S: "I just love the many funny posts on this site :)" +++ Nie A: "Me too!" +++ Joanne B: "This page is so funny, keep it up" +++ Andrea T: "What a sense of humour we have. Love it." +++ Kara M: "He he, great site!" +++ Mike H: "Awesome site!" +++ Jubajo likes B25 (Sir Winston Churchill invented the V-sign to encourage people. It is different today): "Flip the fingers around and flip the message! Too funny!" +++ Loraine W likes B23 (Industrial revolution being special kind of pills to lazy people to make them work): "Absolutely adore this response. Only wish it were true! My 12 and 16 year old boys could do with a megadose." +++ Nicola D from Perth likes B44: "Funny as it is true ... Everyone I have showed it to has laughed. That's what makes a classic quote." +++ Virginia A from Brighton Qld likes B173 (Any one trespassing on these grounds, without permission, will be prosecuted): "LOL. Well, I mean, honestly: What is trespassing? Going on the grounds WITH permission?" +++ Phillip C from Mount Druitt NSW likes B21 (The King wore a scarlet robe trimmed with vermin): "It would have been a one of a kind robe. I wonder if it smelt?" +++ Barbara R likes B139 (For sale: Baker's business, good trade, large oven, present owner been in it 17 years. Satisfactory reasons for leaving): "Very good reason for leaving - 17 years in an oven. Well and truly baked!" +++ Gail D from WA likes B139 too: "Look out, the next generation of bakers will have to meet the challenges of business by putting their whole being into it!" +++ Sharon J likes B99 (Some women are pretty and some are teachers): "I just hope his teacher laughed!" +++ Karen W from Maitland NSW likes B94 (He tried in vain and was successful): "This cracked me up, it seems to be my motto for life or at least one I would strive to achieve." +++ Deb A likes B19 (B19 Columbus was a great navigator who cursed about the Atlantic): "The image of Columbus sailing around the Atlantic swearing away tickles me pink." +++ Cheryl D likes B68 (The earth holds on to everything with its grabity): "I've known men like that." +++ Gaye M likes B103 (No part of a cow is wasted; even the skin is used to put on the top of hot milk): "I will never look at a glass of milk in quite the same way. Milk and skin anyone?" +++ Diane G from Qld likes B142 (WANTED: A small pony belonging to a young lady with a silver mane and tail): "They do say that owners and their animals look alike and here is proof!" +++ Brooke S says "Absolutely hilarious... Loved reading it. Favourite would have to be the Wanted section. LOL funny." +++ Amanda S likes B66 (Gravity tells us why an apple does not go to heaven): "It is Isaac Newton's birthday today. I think he would have found it funny too!" +++ Chanteya says "B172 has to be my favourite hands down! 'Infringe our title to deceive the public'. Shameless but brilliant!" +++ Dianne M says "'Henry the Navigator sent out many navel expeditions to explore the lower regions'. What a difference an E makes!" +++ Melissa C says "B41 is a cute one: 'A curve is the longest way between 2 points'." +++ Deb D says she would use the news headline "Judge Dismisses Most Charges In Apple Suit" as "an example in junior English classes to highlight the importance of using correct language to convey a message" +++ Maneeha says "'Industrial Revolution is a special kind of pills which doctors give to lazy people to make them work'... I love this! :D" +++ Selena Z likes "A triangle is a square with only 3 corners." +++ Allen S likes "'An example of a collective noun is a garbage can' ... It plays on several levels." +++ T Phan from Qld: "'A verb is something to eat'. So funny when reading it. I guess a verb is similar to a herb?! :)" +++ Cheryl M: "When I read the following one, I truly broke out laughing ... 'James the First claimed the throne of England through his grandmother because he had no father'". +++ Katherine R from Qld says blooper number B14 "made me laugh out loud: 'In Russia there are vast carnivorous forests' ... Imagining this made me smirk for the rest of the afternoon". +++ Shane S from Australia also likes B14, adding: "The setting for the fourth installment of the Twilight movie series?" +++ Lorna S from VIC says she remembers interviewing a guy who proudly stated on his CV that he had been "ducks of his school" +++ Julia R likes "Proportional Representation is a system of voting always favoured by those who can’t get in otherwise" +++ Adrian G from Qld says "My favourite funny English error is b37. I am sure it is not the answer being looked for, but how can you argue with the logic!" +++ Joni H from NZ likes "A triangle is a square with only three corners" +++ Trina H from Australia: "I like 'In the Classroom: Vocabulary' where it says stars are the moon's eggs. I teach children and they would really think this!" +++ Selena Z says her Mum would love this howler: "Dear Mum, I could have eaten a dead monkey, so your cake came in very useful." +++ Jessica W says "My fav is 'Weight is the weight that a thing weighs'" +++ Raylee L says about this site: "Hilarious. I love it." +++ Liz J from NZ: "I like the press errors" +++ Sonia K from NSW: "B7 is my favourite. As a geography teacher I love it and can't wait to share it with my students." +++ Frances A from NZ: "My favourite is 'A criminal is someone who gets caught'; there are those who truly believe this!" +++ K Hill's favourite howler is "An island is a portion of land entirely surrounded by water except in the middle"; K Hill adds: "As a student teacher who's been informed 'Tasmania cannot possibly be an island because it's part of Australia', I would rejoice to hear this response!" +++ Veronica D likes "LOST: A small pony belonging to a young lady with a silver mane and tail"; Veronica says "As soon as I read this one I got an immediate visual image." +++ Shasi's favourite is "The imperfect tense is used in France to express a future action in past time which does not take place at all"; Shasi says "Like how I'm my own grandfather; trippy, confusing, hilarious." +++

Cecil Hunt's Howlers

Howlers (1928)

Cecil Hunt (1902-1954) wrote and compiled around 60 books. But he is most famous for his books of howlers. Hunt's first book of howlers, called simply Howlers, was published in August 1928 and became an instant bestseller. Howlers sold 10,000 copies even before the book had been published. Howlers was so successful that Hunt went on to compile and publish around a dozen more howlers collections. For more on Cecil Hunt, see Cecil Hunt's entry in Wikipedia.

We are delighted to be able to reproduce selected extracts from Hunt's Howlers books. The first selections come from the original Howlers book, arranged under the following headings:

Literature and Grammar Howlers

Science and Maths Howlers

Faith and Religion

Geography Howlers

Fresh Howlers (1930)

Fresh Howlers by Cecil Hunt Following the runaway success of Howlers, Cecil Hunt compiled a second volume called Fresh Howlers. Hunt received howlers from people in Italy, France, Malta, Jamaica, Sarawak, South Africa, Canada, China, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and other countries. We have uploaded an edited selection of the howlers from this book, under the following categories:

Politics

History

Music

Howlers Encored (1931)

Howlers Encored is Hunt's third book in the Howlers series. We have reproduced extracts from Howlers Encored on the following subjects:

Health and Medicine

Animals

Latest Howlers (1934)

Latest Howlers is Hunt's fourth book in the Howlers series. We have reproduced a small selection from Latest Howlers in the following categories:

Sport

Philosophy

Handpicked Howlers (1937)

Ten years after he compiled the original Howlers book, Cecil Hunt chose some "super-fine howlers" for illustration by the famous artist Edmund Blampied. In the foreword to Handpicked Howlers, Hunt writes: "The rich humour of many of the howlers can be fully relished by picturing the comicality conveyed". For copyright reasons, we are unable to reproduce Blampied's drawings (70 years have not yet passed since Blampied's death in 1966). But we can reproduce selected extracts from Hand-picked Howlers here.

More Handpicked Howlers (1938)

Following the success of Handpicked Howlers, Cecil Hunt published another "best of" collection, again with illustrations by Edmund Blampied. Hunt writes in the foreword: "It is something of a privilege in this harassed world to be able to offer a form of humour that is without malice and is alive with humanity." We are delighted to be able to once again share this form of humour with our readers by publishing some select extracts from More Hanpicked Howlers.

Ripe Howlers (1939)

Following the success of Handpicked Howlers and More Handpicked Howlers, Cecil Hunt compiled a fresh collection of howlers. The result was Ripe Howlers, published in the year that World War II started. In the foreword, Hunt writes: "We have enjoyed above all the receipt of letters of gratitude from people whose physical and mental suffering is such that they might be forgiven if laughter had momentarily forsaken them". We, too, have enjoyed the incredible response to our website, from people all over the world, and we are delighted to reproduce some extracts from Ripe Howlers (coming soon).

My Favourite Howlers (1951)

Some years after World War II, Cecil Hunt published My Favourite Howlers. In the foreword, Hunt writes: "Most of my collections of Howlers are out of print; indeed some were violently dispersed by a particularly humourless enemy during the war. But their refreshing fun, it seems, is still in the minds of many who inquire for them, so I am glad of this opportunity to present a full selection". Decades on, we are glad of the opportunity to present a selection from My Favourite Howlers, to an even wider audience (coming soon).

Important Copyright Notice

We have reproduced these extracts, and edited and rearranged them, for readers in countries where the Howlers books are in the public domain. This includes Australia because 50 years have passed since the publication of the Howlers books and Hunt's death in 1954; the change in the law in 2005 extending the period of copyright protection from 50 years to 70 years was not made retrospective in Australia. For other countries, please check your local copyright laws.