Norris and Ross McWhirter were asked to put the book together. They ran a fact-finding agency in London. In August 1954 the first book was made. One thousand copies were printed and given away. The first 197-page edition was bound on 27 August 1955. It went to the top of the British bestseller lists by Christmas. The following year it went to the U.S., and it sold 70,000 copies. The book was very popular and the company decided to make one updated edition each year. They published in October to go with Christmas sales.