Contents
Ealdor Byrhtnoth carries out a misguided act of chivalry
A sailor has an ear cut off (and possibly pickled)
Robert Clive reaches for an unreliable pistol
The freighter Vigilancia sinks off the coast of Cornwall
Leopold Lojka makes a wrong turn
A British soldier shows mercy to a future German Chancellor
A farmer shoots a potato-eating pig
A physicist demonstrates his invention for softening bones
The Duc de Richelieu’s chef cannot find any cream
An artist creates a lemon juice container that looks exactly like a lemon
A Spanish ship containing oranges is battered by a North Sea storm
A Mughal emperor fears chicken bones and a Glasgow bus driver makes a complaint
A nobleman doesn’t have the time for a formal dinner
Captain Robert FitzRoy is in need of a dinner companion
A veterinary surgeon cuts up a hose
A young artist moves into a derelict Lincolnshire lighthouse
Lord Byron’s daughter is taught maths to save her from becoming like her father
Three friends take a bet in a coffee house
A naturalist turns down an offer from Captain Cook
An English metallurgist aims to improve the rifle
A chemist standing by his hearth fumbles with a stick
A young woman misjudges the path of a horse
A king’s intemperate outburst is taken at face value
An MI5 officer forgets to renew his passport
The BBC postpones Steptoe and Son and David Coleman has an unlikely interviewee
A former colonel rides his motorbike through a dip in the road
An elderly Burmese woman falls dangerously ill just before a national uprising
A cyberspace prank is played on Prince Philip before the internet even exists
A mender of kettles refuses to leave prison
Two Liverpool teenagers are introduced after a church fête
The Duchess of Newcastle writes two remarkable addenda
Four young Germans make a two-minute appearance on a television show about cutting-edge technology
A publisher cannot find anything interesting to read for his train journey home
The people of Bradford briefly develop a taste for arsenic
Henry I indulges in a few lampreys too many
A key to a locker is accidentally taken off a ship
An insect conspires against an emperor
A bacteriologist sneaks off on holiday without doing the washing-up
No one remembers to steep some strips of gauze in alum water