Didapper
Recent stories
Wee, piddle, pee, golden liquid, biofluid: are you extracting the urine?Subscription
Last Word contributor Didapper examines the medicinal uses of urine, including the growing practice of swigging one’s own for its alleged health benefits
Recent blog posts
False hero
Thomas Midgley Jr, born 125 years ago last Sunday, was a US chemist who was feted in his lifetime but now has a darker reputation because of the impact of his work on the environment and on human health.
London’s funereal railway terminus
Brookwood Cemetery was established by a special Act of Parliament in 1852 because of the growing difficulty of finding burial space within London. When it opened two years later, it was the world’s largest burial ground. At 500 acres, it is still the largest in the UK. The facilities at the London terminus included funerary workshops, mortuaries and a private chapel of rest. Initially funeral trains set off once a day, although by the 1930s they rarely ran more than twice a week.
Reminder of typhoid risk
Britain’s last major outbreak of typhoid fever occurred 50 years ago this summer. The first two cases were identified on 20 May 1964. Eventually some 500 victims were diagnosed.
