Madder than the maddest scientists, eccentric travellers made exploration popular. Who could resist the naturalist who wrestled with boa constrictors, the evangelist who stomped the Hindu Kush stark naked, or the vitriolic 'Governor Gallstone' who forsook the American Indians for a horse-drawn odyssey with monkey, parakeet and long-suffering family? show more
"A free citizen" - Captain Philip Thicknesse; "I anxious" - Thomas Mannering; "A humble and aflicted individual" - James Holman;; "A white man from Yorkshire" - Charles Waterton; "That sublime vagabond" - Joseph Wolff; "So many vicious characters" - William Gifford Palgrave; "A mistake to take any notice of him" - Dr G.W. Leitner. show more
Review quote
'The world loves an oddball and the seven famous eccentrics memorialized here... were very, very peculiar.' Jan Morris show more
About John Keay
John Keay's recent books include Sowing the Wind: The Mismanagement of the Middle East 1900-1960 and Last Post: The End of Empire in the Far East. He lives in Scotland and is married to the author Julia Keay. Together they edited the Collins Encyclopaedia of Scotland and are now revising the London Encyclopaedia. show more
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