What’s that in the room?

Today’s snippet of ‘couldn’t make it up’ comes from The Times…

A letter from 1705 has been unearthed in which a baker with a shop near the Royal Mile in Edinburgh complains that his shop is being damaged by his upstairs neighbour’s pet.

The upstairs neighbour, Mr Sever,  is Dutch and his pet is an Elephant.

If you know the tenements in Edinburgh, you should be boggling by now at the idea of it being possible to get an elephant  – even a very petite one – up a set of tenement stairs. Not only up, but down again: the elephant went on to have a (short) showbiz career in Edinburgh before dying in Broughty Ferry in 1706. She was a seasoned traveller, having spent 20 years touring Europe before being rented – yes, rented – by Mr Sever.

There has to be a book in that…

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