Boris Yeltsin

There are numerous bugbears in the profession of a politician. First, ordinary life suffers. Second, there are many temptations to ruin you and those around you. And I suppose third, and this is rarely discussed, people at the top generally have no friends.

Russian Statesman

Susie Dent

Unlike our neighbours on the mainland of Europe, we have resisted creating an academy to legislate over proper English. We each have our linguistic bugbear, but few of us would want to freeze our mother tongue.

English Scientist

James Purefoy

Airport security is a particular bugbear. At the risk of sounding like a grumpy old man, while I can see that averting terrorism is manifestly important, the measures taken seem, simultaneously, absurd.

English Actor

William Hazlitt

A nickname is the heaviest stone that the devil can throw at a man. It is a bugbear to the imagination, and, though we do not believe in it, it still haunts our apprehensions.

English Critic

Alun Wyn Jones

A bugbear of mine is bragging rights in regional derbies: it would be a lot more worth to the regional game if we did something special in European rugby.

Welsh Athlete

Chris Hoy

My big travel bugbear is Manchester Airport because getting through Terminal Three, as I have to do quite a lot, is a nightmare.

British Driver

Hugh Dennis

One of my travelling bugbears is just people-watching or sticking to a rigid to-do list without venturing further afield.

Penelope Keith

Language is my bugbear. Everyone says things now like 'I was sat' instead of 'I was sitting', which just sounds so ugly.

British Actress

Alice Eve

This has become a bugbear of mine: the difference between geek and nerd.

English Actress

Johnny Vegas

I avoid any kind of organised trips as that's one of my bugbears.

British Comedian

Use 'bugbear' to express regular frustrations or problems in daily life, especially petty ones.

Everyday Problems

'Bugbear' implies annoyance, but not anything deeply upsetting or life-changing.

Not Severe

Sometimes 'bugbear' is used in a light, humorous way to show that you're not seriously troubled.

Can be Humorous

Historically, 'bugbear' was used to describe imaginary fears, like a 'bogeyman' for children.

Imaginary Fears

In folklore, 'bugbear' can evoke a sense of adventure or an element of narrative danger.

Ancient Storytelling

Use 'bugbear' in creative writing to convey an old-fashioned or fantastical tone.

Literary Device

 But you can speed up the process if you grind up the rock and spread it on fields, and then you can speed it up to just a couple of years. And like biochar, it’s good for the soil. You get minerals in the soil where you need them. And when it washes off into the sea, it can also help with another big bugbear of climate ocean acidification.

What You Need to Know...

 we were really determined to capture life as it unfolded in front of us no matter how harsh and brutal and difficult it became. I have a bugbear about natural history films that