Jumbo: The Unauthorised Biography of a Victorian Sensation
The first comprehensive 'biography' of one of the first celebrity animals who gave us one of our favourite words.



Jumbo, Victorian England's favourite elephant, was born in 1861 in French Sudan, imported to a Parisian zoo and later sold on to London, where – for seventeen years – he dutifully gave children rides and ate buns from their hands, all the while being tortured at night to keep him docile. Worldwide fame came when he was bought by the American showman and scam artist P.T. Barnum in 1881, despite letters from 100,000 British schoolchildren who wrote to Queen Victoria begging her to prevent the sale. Barnum went on to transform Jumbo into a lucrative circus act and one of the most loved animals of all time, establishing elephants as a regular feature of funhouses and menageries the world over.



Using the heartwrenching story of Jumbo's celebrity life, tragic death in Canada in 1885, and his enduring cultural legacy, Jumbo is personal and fascinating reflection on our cultural elephantiasis by one of our most distinguished literary-critical detectives, which is guaranteed to amuse, stimulate, provoke and delight in equal measure.
1117736960
Jumbo: The Unauthorised Biography of a Victorian Sensation
The first comprehensive 'biography' of one of the first celebrity animals who gave us one of our favourite words.



Jumbo, Victorian England's favourite elephant, was born in 1861 in French Sudan, imported to a Parisian zoo and later sold on to London, where – for seventeen years – he dutifully gave children rides and ate buns from their hands, all the while being tortured at night to keep him docile. Worldwide fame came when he was bought by the American showman and scam artist P.T. Barnum in 1881, despite letters from 100,000 British schoolchildren who wrote to Queen Victoria begging her to prevent the sale. Barnum went on to transform Jumbo into a lucrative circus act and one of the most loved animals of all time, establishing elephants as a regular feature of funhouses and menageries the world over.



Using the heartwrenching story of Jumbo's celebrity life, tragic death in Canada in 1885, and his enduring cultural legacy, Jumbo is personal and fascinating reflection on our cultural elephantiasis by one of our most distinguished literary-critical detectives, which is guaranteed to amuse, stimulate, provoke and delight in equal measure.
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Jumbo: The Unauthorised Biography of a Victorian Sensation

Jumbo: The Unauthorised Biography of a Victorian Sensation

by John Sutherland
Jumbo: The Unauthorised Biography of a Victorian Sensation

Jumbo: The Unauthorised Biography of a Victorian Sensation

by John Sutherland

eBook

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Overview

The first comprehensive 'biography' of one of the first celebrity animals who gave us one of our favourite words.



Jumbo, Victorian England's favourite elephant, was born in 1861 in French Sudan, imported to a Parisian zoo and later sold on to London, where – for seventeen years – he dutifully gave children rides and ate buns from their hands, all the while being tortured at night to keep him docile. Worldwide fame came when he was bought by the American showman and scam artist P.T. Barnum in 1881, despite letters from 100,000 British schoolchildren who wrote to Queen Victoria begging her to prevent the sale. Barnum went on to transform Jumbo into a lucrative circus act and one of the most loved animals of all time, establishing elephants as a regular feature of funhouses and menageries the world over.



Using the heartwrenching story of Jumbo's celebrity life, tragic death in Canada in 1885, and his enduring cultural legacy, Jumbo is personal and fascinating reflection on our cultural elephantiasis by one of our most distinguished literary-critical detectives, which is guaranteed to amuse, stimulate, provoke and delight in equal measure.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781781312469
Publisher: Aurum Press
Publication date: 02/06/2014
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
File size: 22 MB
Note: This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

John Sutherland is Lord Northcliffe Professor Emeritus, UCL. He has taught at the Universities of Edinburgh, London and at the California Institute of Technology. He is the author of many books on many subjects. He is well known as a journalist (of a high and low kind) and reviewer and was the Chair of the Man Booker Prize committee in 2005.

Table of Contents

A Note on the Text xi

Jumbo: Private Passion, Local Pride 1

Blazing the Trail for Jumbo 7

The Many Lives of Jumbo 28

The Middle Passage and Middle Men 39

Jumbeau 48

The Battle for Jumbo's Soul 64

The Name's Jumbo 75

Evolution or Intelligent Design? 79

Jumbo: The Greatest 'Show' of London 86

Jumbo's Lucky Escape 94

Jumbo's Private Life 99

Enter the Greatest Showman on Earth 104

Jumbomania 111

Farewell to England 118

Yankee Doodle Jumbo 124

The Death and Afterlives of Jumbo 131

Jumbo Goes to College 157

Bigger Than Jumbo: The Death of Jingo 161

Bigger and Better Than Jumbo: The White Elephant 170

Gray Elephants, Pink Elephants and Blue Elephants 180

Airborne Jumbos 189

Topsy 198

But Sometimes the Hoof is on the Other Foot 213

Biblical Jumboism 228

Big Game, Big Men 232

Jumbo Dung and Jumbo Sex 243

Jumbo Exiled 256

Epilogue: Elephant Miscellany 262

Notes 278

Index 285

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