Mortal Monarchs

...a bracing adventure, and one where our ancestors are not reduced to characters of myth and legend, but real people of flesh and blood. It is through this most intimate dissection that the past is brought so vividly to life - The Telegraph<BR><BR><BR>It's an incisive book (pun intended) that will leave you with a newfound appreciation of the vessel that carries you through life - Irish Independent<BR><BR><BR>The remarkable stories of the world's most famous body parts.<BR>Louis XIV's rear end inspired the British National Anthem.<BR>Queen Victoria's armpit led to the development of antiseptics.<BR>Robert Jenkin's ear started a war.<BR><BR><BR>All too often, historical figures feel distant and abstract; more myth and legend than real flesh and blood. These stories of bodies and its parts remind us that history's most-loved, and most-hated, were real breathing creatures who inhabited organs and limbs just like us - until they're cut off that is.<BR><BR>Medical historian Dr Suzie Edge investigates over 40 cases of how we've used, abused, dug up, displayed, experimented on, and worshipped body parts, including why Percy Shelley's heart refused to burn; how Yao Niang's toes started a 1000 year long ritual; why a giant's bones are making us rethink medical ethics; and the strange case of Hitler's right testicle.

What's that smell? It's HISTORY - and it STINKS!Did you know that you can discover loads about history just from the loo? Or piles about the past just from a poo? If not, then get ready to discover everything from Henry VIII's dodgy diet and Aztec poop canoes to giant, fossilized Viking plops, poo-tastic Roman plumbing, the stinky secrets of Victorian sewers, smelly cesspits, medieval muck and more.From Saxons and Tudors to ancient Greece, the Indus Valley and beyond, Poo Through the Ages features mighty monarchs, bonkers battles, deadly diseases, foul-smelling faeces and poo, poo, poo. Packed with fascinating facts, hilarious illustrations and the smelliest stories from our pongy past, get ready to dive into the smelliest corners of history!'My child can't wait to go to bed every night to read the 'poo book'. It's easily the best book I've read to my kids in a while!' - Amazon Reviewer