A lion was learning to ski : whymsical lines to brighten up your day

When he came across an old-English limerick that made him laugh, playwright Ranjit Bolt started writing nonsensical verse to entertain his friends.

On a whim he decided to staple some together and offer them at a market in his home town of Cambridge when not writing plays.

Readers would go away chuckling to themselves and the booklets flew away.

Their chuckling response led to A Lion Was Learning to Ski.