27 Astonishing Things You Didn't Know About London
23. Sir Walter Raleigh Was Once Drenched In Beer To Stop Him Burning To Death
The Elizabethan courtier, Sir Walter Raleigh, was almost as famous for smoking as he was for exploring. In fact, he was considered by many to be the patron saint of smoking! But his expensive hobby came with some unexpected health risks. While living at Durham House on the Strand, Raleigh was caught puffing away by a servant. The servant wasn't well acquainted with the newfangled habit and assumed his master was on fire. So he did what any good servant would do and tried to put out the fire by drenching Raleigh with the nearest liquid at hand. Which was, as it turned out, beer. History does not record whether Raleigh was grateful for the attempted rescue. Or the waste of beer.
Mike has lived in the UK, Japan and the USA. Currently, he is based in Iowa with his wife and 2 young children. After working for many years as a writer and editor for a large corporation, he is now a freelancer. He has been fortunate enough to contribute to many books on Doctor Who over the last 20 years and is now concentrating on original sci-fi & fantasy short stories, with recent sales including Flame Tree, Uffda, and The Martian Wave. Also, look for his contribution on Blake's 7 to "You and Who Else", a charity anthology to be released later this year.
You can find him on Tumblr at https://www.tumblr.com/blog/culttvmike
