{"product_id":"9781910198278","title":"The Burglar Caught By A Skeleton: And Other Singular Stories From the Victorian Press","description":"'If you like black humour you will like Clay's eclectic compilation.'\u003cp\u003eThe Times\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e'It's a fun account of the more lurid side of Victorian life that, if you'll forgive me for mentioning Christmas this early, would make a good stocking filler.'\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLiverpool Echo\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA summer's afternoon, 1889. In a hotel in the sedate Welsh resort of Llandrindod Wells, holidaymaker Mr T.J. Osborne is preparing to catch the train home. The day is warm. The window is open. A fully-grown African lion leaps in.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn the animated few minutes that follow, a startled Mr Osborne gets a crash-course in lion-taming, and after holding the ferocious beast at bay with a chair, becomes the star of a brisk article in the next morning's newspapers.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe report of this unlikely encounter is just one of countless extraordinary tales which have lain unseen and unknown in the dusty recesses of newspaper libraries across the nation.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eJournalist Jeremy Clay has delved into the British Library archives to find the long-lost stories that enthralled and appalled the Victorians. The result is The Burglar Caught By A Skeleton and Other Singular Stories from the Victorian Press, a treasure trove of bizarre, quirky, pathetic and grisly stories from the newspapers of the age. They include:\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e• An unseemly brawl between a bearded lady and a snake charmer.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e• A fisherman who netted the body of his long-lost brother.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e* A dozy inventor, killed by his own Wallace and Gromit-style contraption.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e* A widow living with a corpse, to claim his pension.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e* A python, stoned to death by boys in Middlesbrough.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e* A cricket match setting a team of one-legged men against players with one arm.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e* A drunk monkey, that smashed up a bar after being refused more booze.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Thistle Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47062405316848,"sku":"9781910198278","price":14.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781910198278_p0.jpg?v=1763626494","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781910198278","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}