3rd June 2010
Doors at 6 pm, Talk commences at 7 pm
Using hitherto unseen letters and diaries and resting on the personal recollections of people who knew him, Martyn Downer will tell the tales of Horace de Vere Cole, the world’s greatest ever prankster. Cole was born into a life of great wealth and privilege, yet he dedicated his life to pricking pomposity in other people through a series of extraordinary jokes and hoaxes. His most famous escapade was the "Dreadnought Hoax" in 1910 when Cole led a party of friends, including a youthful Virginia Woolf, on a tour of the Royal Navy’s greatest battleship dressed as Abyssinian princes. The successful hoax sealed Cole’s reputation making him one of the greatest celebrities of his day. Downer will chart Cole’s jokes; his love of poetry, art, theatre and music hall and his many tempestous love affairs until his tragic early death in abject poverty in France.
Martyn Downer is a writer and expert of antiquities who is currently the director of the jewellery department at Sotheby's. His books include Nelson's Purse, the story of his discovery of a remarkable treasure trove which had once belonged to Britain's greatest naval hero and the Queen's Knight, a moving account of life inside the Court of Queen Victoria.
Talk at 11 Mare Street - please click here to buy tickets
