Having recently visited the little known Booth Museum of natural history, what greeted me was nothing short of a bizarre nightmare. Inside, hall after hall of exquisitely stuffed animals holds testament to the well esteemed Victorian craft of taxidermy. What results for the visitor is a brief step back in time to 19th Century Britain. Whilst wondering its eerie halls one eventually stumbles upon a reconstructed (but apparently accurate) Victorian sitting room which holds testament to the most gruesome treasure of all…..

An apparently fossilized merman. So it would appear that those traditionalist Victorians  have a sense of humour after all! This merman looked like he would have been a delightful chap in his day, full of nautical tales and stories for all his grandchildren. Why a Victorian would want this in their sitting room is anyone’s guess. Apparently they were transfixed with discoveries from the New World and liked to show their exuberance by displaying as many artifacts as possible to frequenting visitors. It seems one upstanding Victorian made a bit of a blunder with this acquisition.

In fact there general taste in art is just a bit too dark. Lions mounted on walls? Eagles stuffed in cabinets? Crazy smoking card-playing squirrels! It looks like one generation was at the Opium a bit too much. Victorians are plain weird.

 A Golden Eagle - everyone’s favourite mantlepiece decoration.

 Lions heads - available in Matalan and all good department stores.