Susan Howe – “Animals in the lives of their famous owners.”

While in Athens in 1850, Florence Nightingale saw some boys playing with a ball of fluff, which turned out to be a baby owl. She rescued the owlet, named Athena, and hand-reared her, carrying her around in her pocket. After Florence left for Crimea, the poor creature was neglected and died. The bird was later stuffed.

Many other famous people had deep relationships with their pets. The Duke of Wellington rode his beloved horse throughout the Battle of Waterloo and designed a monument in St Paul’s. Oscar Wilde took his pet lobster for walks around Oxford.

Fact or fiction? Come and find out!

The full write-up of this talk is in the April 2022 TADS Newsletter