Fascinating Footnotes from History

Unearthed from the vast collection of the National Archives by Giles Miltonâ€s ‘metaphorical metal detectingâ€, here are 100 nuggets of almost – but not quite – forgotten history and an astonishing cast, including dictators, adventurers, criminals and heroes, a war dog and the last Chinese eunuch. Among the footnotes are the shipwrecked Dutch mariner who ate the last dodo; a kamikaze pilot who survived; and the mystery of the lighthouse men who disappeared from the Flannan Isles.