PECULIAR POSTCARDS

JAN BONDESON shares another deltiological discovery from his prodigious collection of postcards. This month’s pictorial blast from the past explores the life and times of a Man Chimpanzee trapped in a world he never made!

52. CONSUL, THE MAN CHIMPANZEE In December 1902, the Daily News could announce that a grand novel attraction was coming to the Royal Aquarium in London: ‘Consul’, the Man Chimpanzee. On stage, Consul wore faultless evening dress complete with a tall silk hat, smoked large cigars and drank quantities of beer and champagne. Only his simian features, an enthusiastic journalist wrote, distinguished him from his human brethren. According to an article in the Graphic newspaper, Consul shook hands with visitors, smoked, danced, ate with knife and fork, played football, rode a tricycle and drank various alcoholic beverages. After his lengthy sojourn in London, Consul went to New York, and then to Paris, where he was very popular. In November 1903, Consul was back in London, this time at the Hippodrome.…

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Fortean Times (Digital) - 1 Issue, 456

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