Mark Forsyth on the Origins of Valentines Day

1,469 views · Published 14 February 2012 · 1:37 · Indexed 6 November 2026

Channel: Waterstones · 2012 · Entertainment

Watch on YouTube

Mark Forsyth, author of the Etymologicon, knows who to blame for Valentine's Day.

The Etymologicon springs from Mark Forsyth's Inky Fool blog on the strange connections between words. It's an occasionally ribald, frequently witty and unerringly erudite guided tour of the secret labyrinth that lurks beneath the English language, taking in monks and monkeys, film buffs and buffaloes, and explaining precisely what the Rolling Stones have to do with gardening.

Buy The Etymologicon at your local Waterstones bookshop (http://bit.ly/s6sdlu) or online at Waterstones.com today (http://bit.ly/tGrcPo)

More from this channel

• 1:37 Seeing Redd by Frank Beddor - Waterstone's

  Waterstones

  1,467 views · 31 August 2007

• 0:22 Peter Robinson crime book, Friend of the Devil - Waterstone's

  Waterstones

  736 views · 18 April 2008

• 0:49 Jacqueline Wilson children's book Cookie - Waterstone's

  Waterstones

  4,857 views · 1 October 2008

• 1:21 Alan Titchmarsh (Ground Force, Alan Titchmarsh Show) Folly book - Waterstone's

  Waterstones

  4,699 views · 3 October 2008

• 1:37 Jeffery Deaver book - The Bodies Left Behind (Bone Collector) - Waterstone's

  Waterstones

  2,818 views · 17 December 2008

• 0:47 Eoin Colfer Airman book - Waterstone's

  Waterstones

  1,161 views · 17 December 2008

• 2:08 Jodi Picoult - Change of Heart book - Waterstone's

  Waterstones

  1,958 views · 17 December 2008

• 3:25 Costa Book Awards - Winners - Waterstone's

  Waterstones

  393 views · 8 January 2009