CREDITON and District Third Age Group has a membership of more than 200 members.

Membership is for the retired or semi-retired and costs just £12 per year.

We are still, in these unusual times, “zooming” our general meetings but this does have its advantages as we can invite speakers from across the country.

This month we were lucky to have Ian Keable, who is based in London, speak about “The Century of Deception: Birth of Hoaxes in the 18th Century”.

Hoaxes, of course, pre-dated the 18th Century, but it was from 1700 onwards that information about hoaxes can be tracked by using, for example, newspapers, leaflets and court papers and established, or verified, by evidence and witnesses.

Ian, who is also a magician, spoke about three hoaxes in depth although many more are to be revealed in a book to be published in 2021.

The first hoax was entitled “Rabbit, Rabbit”. Mary Toft, a lady from Godalming in Surrey, gave birth, apparently, to rabbits! John Howard, a male midwife, was present at the birth of 17 bunnies who were all “born” dead and sometimes in pieces - the skin following rabbit feet etc.

These amazing events came to the attention of George First who sent his surgeon and anatomist, Nathaniel St Andre, to visit Mary. Nathaniel was convinced that Mary was giving birth to rabbits and brought her and John Howard to London. Unfortunately just after a book was published about these miraculous events Mary confessed that it was all a hoax and she had carried out the deception for financial gain!

The second hoax was called “Living a Lie”.

George Psalmanaazaar, who was born to a poor family in rural France, firstly travelled between his parents by pretending to be an Irish pilgrim and so received free board and lodging on his journeys.

His mother did not seem pleased to see him and sent him onwards to Germany whence he joined firstly the Dutch Army and eventually a Scottish regiment.

When George was there he pretended to be from Japan but later modified this to be a resident of Formosa which is now known as Tawaiin. He took this deception so seriously that he wrote an extremely detailed book describing all aspects of Formosa - which he had never visited! He claimed that the inhabitants sacrificed 18,000 small boys every New Year’s day - this did cause quite a stir among the readers and when questioned George modified this as the maximum number required. George had an excellent memory (a requirement for serial deception) and was able to follow stories through! He was seen as a fine up-standing young man.

This story was followed by Ian’s favourite - “The Bottle Conjurer”.

The Haymarket Theatre advertised and sold all the tickets to a show where a man was to demonstrate that he could get into a wine bottle and sing whilst inside it. The audience arrived at the advertised time and, strangely, the man who could climb into a bottle did not show up!

The audience rioted, pulled down theatre fitments and burnt them outside.

This hoax was solved a few years later when it was revealed that the Duke of Montagu had made a bet that he could dupe the general public.

He was a well-known prankster - he used to spray house guests with water and regularly put itching powder in their beds. He was not vindictive, however, as he paid for the refurbishment of the theatre.

These three hoaxes were testing the public’s credulity. Credulity is the tendency to be too ready to believe that something is real or true without any real evidence to prove that it is.

Perhaps some of the public are still drawn into this with fake news and conspiracies? All stories should have triangulated evidence and primary data from trusted, peer reviewed sources. Don’t believe everything you receive via social media - let the receiver be aware!

A highly interesting and very amusing talk, Ian, thank you so much! A Happy, Healthy and Safe New Year to all!

For more information please visit our web-site: U3asites.org.uk/crediton .

Jo Poulton