* ALBERT EINSTEIN, * HOWARD HUGHES, * DR FRANKENSTEIN – three mad scientists. A history maker, an aeroplane maker, and a (fictional) monster maker. One of them was also an excellent fairy-cake maker, but I can’t remember which one.
* MAKING A HAMES OF – making a mess of. Named after Henry Hames, who was the clumsiest man in Ireland and spent most of his life trying to get his head out of a bucket.
* BURLETTA – a mix of comedy and classical music where stand-up comedians belt out powerful solos, and violinists tell rude jokes about three pianists who walk into a bar.
* BRONZE AGE – definitely one of the top three Ages. Just not quite as good as the Gold Age or Silver Age. (Although there’s rumours that Gold and Silver took Age-enhancing substances.)
* BONSAI TREES – tiny trees that are often grown by short people to help them feel larger and more confident.
* BANOFFI PIE – a pie made from bananas and toffee. Not to be confused with ‘Tofana’ pie, which is made from tofu and wrapped in a bandana.
* HARLEY-DAVIDSON – an iconic, powerful American motorcycle. Buyers are given a free tank of petrol, a patriotic bandana and a joke moustache with each purchase.
* LABRADOODLE – a breed of dog that has parents from the Labrador and Poodle families. This combination makes the dog very loyal, but too worried about ruining its hair to properly protect its owner.
* CARROT-AND-HORSE SCENARIO – holding a carrot in front of a horse, just out of reach, to make him go faster. It’s the original version of an ‘accelerator’, and to reverse, you’d simply switch to broccoli.
* NIGHT STICK – a baton carried by police and riot squads. It’s often called a ‘billy club’, after the more traditional way of dispersing riots, which was to release a herd of billy goats.
* NO DICE – no luck. Dice are considered lucky because they’re covered in spots, like ladybirds, chimneysweeps or a rabbit’s foot that’s gone mouldy.
* THE SUGAR CRAZIES – a form of madness that sets in after your ninth lollipop where you can’t decide if you want to dance, fight or puke, so end up doing all three at once.
* HURLEY STICK – a stick for playing the Irish game of hurling, which is a mixture of running, fighting and Kendo (the ancient art of wooden swordplay). A little ball is involved too – so there’s also a touch of golf.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Special thanks to:
Our editors Lucy Pearse and Venetia Gosling for all the cajoling, howls of encouragement, forceps and suction cups that helped us birth this book from our conjoined womb.
Our incredible illustrator, Walter Giampaglia of Cartoon Saloon, for filling these pages with his brilliant drawings that look exactly like they were done by a talentless twelve year old.
Our agent Robert Kirby for demanding that we get paid in crisps.
And to Nick’s brother-in-law, Brian Goodman, for helping us do the first sketches of Wilbert, based on his own close encounter with a Wonkey behind a wheelie bin.
Research on Harry Ferguson was done with the help of a fantastically detailed biography called Harry Ferguson: Inventor and Pioneer by Colin Fraser (Old Pond Publishing). If you want to find out more about him, his famous ‘Black Tractor’ can be found in the Science Museum, London. You can also visit the Ferguson Family Museum on the Isle of Wight.
The Invention Convention was inspired by the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition held in Dublin every year. To find out more, visit: www.btyoungscientist.com
If you’re in the UK, there’s the annual Big Bang UK Young Scientists and Engineers Competition. More information at www.thebigbangfair.co.uk
Or find your own science competition wherever you live. Invent, imagine, and if you explode anything, blame it on your IF.
ABOUT
CHRIS O’DOWD
Chris O’Dowd is an award-winning actor and writer from the barmy town of Boyle in Ireland. Chris did some good acting in Bridesmaids, The IT Crowd, Gulliver’s Travels, Of Mice and Men and The Incredible Jessica James. We won’t mention the films where he did bad acting. He has a dog called Potato and a cat who shouts at him for no reason. He studied at University College Dublin and the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. He graduated from neither. Chris created Moone Boy to get revenge on his sisters for putting make-up on him as a child. He co-wrote the Sky TV series and the Moone Boy books with his good friend Nick Murphy, who is a lot older than Chris.
ABOUT
NICK V. MURPHY
Nick V. Murphy is a writer from Kilkenny, Ireland. (The V. in his name stands for Very.) He went to Trinity College Dublin to study English and History, but spent most of his time doing theatre and running away from girls. This was where he bumped into Chris O’Dowd, who was out looking for pizza. After college, Nick focused on writing, which was the laziest career he could think of, as it could even be done while wearing pyjamas. He wrote a few things for TV, then a movie called Hideaways, before co-writing a short film with Chris called Capturing Santa. The pyjama-wearing pair developed this into the comedy series Moone Boy, which has won an International Emmy for Best Comedy.
Also available
Moone Boy: The Blunder Years
Moone Boy: The Fish Detective
Moone Boy: The Marvellous Activity Manual
First published 2017 by Macmillan Children’s Books
This electronic edition published 2017 by Macmillan Children’s Books
an imprint of Pan Macmillan
20 New Wharf Road, London N1 9RR
Associated companies throughout the world
www.panmacmillan.com
ISBN 978-1-5098-1865-5
Text copyright © Chris O’Dowd and Nick V. Murphy 2017
Illustrations copyright © Walter Giampaglia/Cartoon Saloon 2017
With thanks to Sky, Baby Cow Productions and Sprout Pictures
The right of Chris O’Dowd and Nick V. Murphy to be identified as the authors and Walter Giampaglia/Cartoon Saloon as the illustrators of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
You may not copy, store, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Visit www.panmacmillan.com to read more about all our books and to buy them. You will also find features, author interviews and news of any author events, and you can sign up for e-newsletters so that you’re always first to hear about our new releases.
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