William Buckland was born in Axminster in 1784, only a few miles away from the fossil-rich coasts of Dorset and East Devon.

Buckland was elected to the Royal Society in 1818, and the same year managed to convince the Prince Regent to endow an additional Readership upon him. This time, in what he termed ‘undergroundology’ – later renamed ‘geology’. He was the first holder of the new appointment.

To make his lectures more interesting, Buckland brought in his adopted pet bear, Tiglath Pileser to prowl about the stage whilst he talked, dressed in a cap and gown. And performed some questionable bird impressions.

As the first Professor of Geology at Oxford University, Buckland spent a considerable amount of time digging around in mud and sand – and was, consequently, responsible for excavating the world’s first recorded dinosaur fossil. Though the term ‘dinosaur’ had yet to be coined, in 1824 Buckland published a monograph entitled Notice on the Megalosaurus or Great Fossil Lizard of Stonesfield.

Sunday lunch at the Buckland household comprised of some very odd dishes indeed – ranging from exotic meats shipped from abroad to things he and his son dug up in the garden. Meals comprised of such tasty treats as panther, rhino, elephant trunk, earwigs, slugs, and…erm, puppies. Mice on toast was a favoured amuse-bouche in the household. Buckland said later that he thought that mole was the most unpleasant thing he’d ever tasted – until, that was, he sampled stewed bluebottles.

During a dinner at his friend Lord Harcourt’s house, the guests were treated to an intimate viewing of the strange object – the mummified heart of the late French King Louis XIV. In what seems to have been the work of a moment, as the object came into his grasp, Buckland remarked: “I have eaten many strange things, but I have never eaten the heart of a king before.” And with that, he snapped the box open, grabbed the heart, and swallowed it whole.

This is a bonus episode made especially for my Patreon master – and brother with the same mother – Gaston Fulano.

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