The Sultan of Zanzibar…

(Plus a quick dabble on the DNB...)

What ho, Blogfollowers!

I was browsing among Bexley’s excellent `Quick Choice` reading matter recently, when I saw this book and was struck as if by lightning.
“By Jove!” I gasped, “what an absolute corker!”…
How could anyone fail to be impressed by a book jacket such as this?...
And how many of us must have longed to dress up in such exotic finery at some stage?...I know I have… I must ask the name of his tailor.

Here, dear readers, lies the story of one Horace de Vere Cole – “the greatest practical joker who ever drew breath”.

“Perhaps his greatest triumphs were simplicities like donning corduroy, providing a few poles for red lamps, and pulling up a stretch of Piccadilly, while policemen diverted traffic; or challenging conceited athletes to midnight races in the streets, and shouting ‘stop thief’ when they were well ahead” …
Contemporaries particularly admired his amusing jape involving a cow’s udder, but the Blogbrary is reluctant to repeat this anecdote in polite company…

However, dear reader, should you be in possession of a Bexley Library card, you can discover more about our hero on the excellent Dictionary of National Biography…Just type your ticket number into the appropriate thingummy where it says `Library card login’ and you’re away!
But why just stop there?...You will, I am certain, be keen to read his life story in full.
What more could you want of a chap?...
And what more could you possibly want from a book?...The Sultan of Zanzibar: the bizarre world & spectacular hoaxes of Horace de Vere Cole.

One can merely speculate…If only he’d have devoted his talents to the arcane world of librarianship?...

TTFN