Previously Posted: I could eat a horse

For those new to CabbieBlog or readers who are slightly forgetful, on Saturdays I’m republishing posts, many going back over a decade. Some will still be very relevant while others have become dated over time. Just think of this post as your weekend paper supplement. I could eat a horse (13.03.13) The site of 37 Albany Street was once home to naturalist William Buckland Dean of Westminster, a fanatical animal collector and one of London’s strangest characters. To prove the efficacy of bird droppings as fertiliser he once used great quantities of it to write the word ‘guano’ on the lawn at his Oxford College. When the summer came and the grass had grown well the letters could be clearly seen. Buckland’s house was overrun with animals including two monkeys he let drink and smoke, some he slept with and others were kept till they died and then dissected or just left to rot. But Buckland’s taste for natural history extended further. He started the Society for the Acclimatisation of…