Victoria's freak set

THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION REALLY WAS AN ODD PERIOD IN HISTORY

- JAMES MOORE

THIS month marks 125 years since the death of Queen Victoria, bringing to a close the age named after her 63-year reign. It was an era of industrial revolution, empire-building, amazing inventions and engineering masterpieces, but it also threw up plenty of oddball characters.

Here, to mark the anniversary, looks back at some of the greatest Victorian eccentrics...

A is for...ADVENTURER: Naturalist Charles Waterton once captured a caiman by jumping on its back and tying his braces around the critter's mouth. He actively tried to get bitten by vampire bats.

B is for...BED: PM Benjamin Disraeli placed all four feet of his bed in bowls of salt in a bid to ward off evil spirits.

C is for...CHEWING: PM William Gladstone, inset below, used to chew his food exactly 32 times. He also used to take a hot water bottle to bed filled with tea to drink in the night.

D is for...DICKENS: The famous writer Charles Dickens combed his hair 100 times a day, always slept facing north and believed he could cure people through mesmerism, a sort of hypnotism.

E is for...EXOTIC: Charles Jamrach kept a store in London where you could literally buy almost any type of wildlife. His menagerie included rhinos, lions, tigers and bears.

F is for...FOOD: Scientist William Buckland tried to eat every animal on Earth, gobbling everything from panther to crocodile. He even nibbled the mummified heart of dead French king Louis XIV.