I’m indebted to Stephen Fry for bringing this to my attention last night, during a recording of his TV show Qi.

We all know a geek is a slang term for someone overly obsessed with technology. An individual who is peculiar or odd, possibly a bit of a loner.

Well the term geek predates computers and mobile phones by some way.

The term formally referred to a carnival performer, often billed as a Wild Man, whose act usually included biting the heads off live chickens, bats or snakes. He would do this in order to entice the punters in to watch the rest of the carnival show.

The word derives from the English dialect geek, geck, fool or freak. The root Gek still survives in Dutch, meaning crazy.

The definition has changed much over the years and the terms Nerd, Gimp, Dweeb and Dork have similar meanings.

And the Rock and Roll hall of fame should credit Ozzy Osbourne as a pioneer Rock Geek.