 Although the award was created by "The Bookseller", the idea of an award celebrating books with odd titles was proposed by Bruce Robinson and Trevor Bounford of the Diagram Group in order to provide entertainment during the Frankfurt Book Fair in 1978.Originally known as the Diagram Group Prize for the Oddest Title at the Frankfurt Book Fair, any book that was at the fair could be nominated, but other books outside of the fair were also included.In 1982, Horace Bent, diarist for "The Bookseller", took over administrative duties.