You
learn something new every day. Today, for example, I learned that 28 year old Virginia
Woolf helped perpetrate a hoax on the British Navy that got attention around
the world. Not merely as a planner or supporter, mind you, but as a
cross-dressing imposter prince in black-face. That’s right. Take a closer look
at that sleight fellow on the far left below. That is not
an Abyssinian prince. But the officers
of the HMS Dreadnought thought it was. And hilarity ensued.
You
can read more about the Dreadnought Hoax here and here. But my favorite detail
is this: the Navy couldn’t scrounge up an Abyssinian flag anywhere, so the Honor
Guard used the flag and national anthem of Zanzibar. Naturally.
—Via
Retronaut
