Who was it (was it the late C.E.M. Joad?) who paraphrased the 2nd law of
thermodynamics as, "You don't get nothing for nowt... and precious
little for 2/6" (2shillings and 6 pence)

No luck finding your quote, I'm afraid, but some people on the net
describe the first law as "you can't/don't get owt for nowt"

://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=thermodynamics+%22owt+for+nowt%22+OR+%22owt+fer+nowt%22&btnG=Google+Search&meta=

I hope someone will be able to take this further!

Leli

Thanks, Leli. I would have thought the 2nd law was more apposite since
you have to do work to push energy up hill, however, I defer to your
sources. Maybe Joad just added the "... and precious little for 2/6"
bit to an ancient anonymous piece of scientific Joulery.

FWIW:
Law 1:  You can't win.
Law 2: You can't even break even.
Law 3: You can't even get out of the game!

Thanks to xarqi, for the neat summary. Apparently, this originated
with CP Snow:

"The British scientist and author C.P. Snow had an excellent way of
remembering the three laws:
   1. You cannot win (that is, you cannot get something for nothing,
because matter and energy are conserved).
   2. You cannot break even (you cannot return to the same energy
state, because there is always an increase in disorder; entropy always
increases).
   3. You cannot get out of the game (because absolute zero is
unattainable)."

http://www.physlink.com/Education/AskExperts/ae280.cfm

Still no trace of the origin of "owt for nowt" or the two and sixpence
embellishment.
But my meanderings reminded me of the Flanders and Swann song:

"....you can't pass heat from the cooler to the hotter
Try it if you like but you far better notter
'Cos the cold in the cooler will get hotter as a ruler
'Cos the hotter body's heat will pass to the cooler
Oh, you can't pass heat from the cooler to the hotter
You can try it if you like but you'll only look a fooler
'Cos the cold in the cooler will get hotter as a ruler
That's a physical Law!"

more at:
http://www.columbia.edu/itc/chemistry/chem-c140498/jack/ch11.html