Typewriters

A long time ago I was told that the QWERTY layout of keyboards was designed so that, for some obscure reason, typewriter users could spell the word "typewriter" using just the first line.

I've accepted this for a while not bothering to look but today I took a look at my keyboard and found that it's got FAR too many letters for this.

I mean what sort of twat spells "typewriter" with a Q!?

And why the fuck would you want to write "typewriter" anyway! Do normal writers write the word "pen" all day long?

I think not.

Looking through the wikipedia entry for QWERTY on alternative layouts could it be that the Italians, Czechs, Hungarians and Germans spell it "TZPEWRITER" and Lithuanians "TYPEŽRITER"?