Curing Hiccups With Small Fires

by Karl Shaw

      They always say that the British love an eccentric, and here is a whole bookful of them. Read about the titular man who set himself on fire to cure an attack of hiccups, Darwinfs very interesting relatives, the real Basil Fawlty, the first TV celebrity chef and more.

This is one of those bedside/coffee table books that it is fun to dip into at odd moments. These moments can be guaranteed to be very odd indeed and, at times, it is tempting to wonder how much is fact and how much pure conjecture. Many of the people in here are virtually unknown even in the UK but some are very famous indeed and I couldn't help wondering whether the likes of Charles Babbage, Captain Fitzroy, Thomas Hardy, Dean Buckland, Alexander Graham Bell and Dr Johnson were really quite that barmy. But even if we are not being told quite the whole story behind some of the remarkable things in this book it still makes for very entertaining reading. The author has managed to write short, pithy articles about each person ranging from half a page to several pages long which seem somehow to be an ideal length for a quick read. People are grouped under various headings such as sporting, scientific, religious, military, aristocratic etc and although there is not an index (a great pity in my opinion) there is a bibliography to give the skceptical reader a chance to read the whole story elsewhere. If you are looking for a laugh or to read about some truly jaw-dropping insanity then you have come to the right place.