Mr Footes Other Leg Comedy Tragedy And Murder In Georgian London

When Samuel Foote was buried clandestinely in the cloisters of Westminster Cathedral he may or may not have been reunited with his missing leg. In eighteenthcentury London it was customary for amputees to be buried with their sawnoff limbs which were kept embalmed for this purpose. How Samuel Foote lost his leg is one of the many extraordinary and gruesome elements in the story of a unique character in the most colourful period of British history. Samuel Foote although forgotten now was a major figure of Georgian London. Friend of Johnson Garrick Fielding Goldsmith Sheridan Boswell and Franklin Foote was the most famous and the funniest man in England. He first made his name by writing a bestselling pamphlet about the family scandal that culminated in his uncles murder by another uncle. This story captivated coffeehouse London and helped him escape the debtors prison in which his decadence and debauchery at university had landed him. Footes subsequent life was full of infamy controversy and violence ending chaotically in two notorious trials encompassing bigamy buggery and defamation. But most importantly Foote is now reclaimed as a great actor dramatist impresario the first celebrity impressionist and Kelly argues the singular founding father of the British sense of humour.