Intro; Title Page; Copyright Page; Table of Contents; Introduction; War; 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; Food; 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 lemonA 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; Mr Bird loves his wife; A nobleman doesn't have the time for a formal dinner; Science; 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 CookAn English metallurgist aims to improve the rifle; A chemist standing by his hearth fumbles with a stick; Politics; 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 existsMusic & Literature; 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; Health & Safety; 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 shipAn 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; Index
