Futility Closet

Birmingham, England, faced a surprising crisis in 1889: A lion escaped a traveling menagerie and took up residence in the city's sewers, terrifying the local population. In this week's episode of the Futility Closet podcast we'll descend into the tunnels with Frank Bostock, the 21-year-old manager who set out to capture the desperate beast. We'll also revisit a cosmic mystery and puzzle over an incomprehensible language. Intro: Historian Bell Wiley collected the misspellings of Confederate soldiers. The minuet in Haydn's Piano Sonata in A Major is a palindrome. Sources for our feature on the Birmingham lion escape: "The Escape of Lions From the Menagerie at Birmingham," Graphic, Oct. 5, 1889, 412. "A Lion Hunt in Birmingham," Graphic 40:1036 (Oct. 5, 1889), 407. "Hunting a Lion in a Sewer," New York Times, Oct. 20, 1889, 9. "Lion Hunting in Birmingham," Scientific American Supplement, No. 724 (Nov. 16, 1889), 11568. "Lion-Hunting in Birmingham," Poverty Bay (New Zealand) Herald, 16:5625 (Nov. 21, 1889), 3. F