The Berners Street hoax

NOV 27 1810

Theodore Hook, reportedly on a wager, sent thousands of letters summoning tradespeople and dignitaries to 54 Berners Street in Westminster on a single day. From 5am chimney sweeps, coal wagons, bakers, fishmongers, undertakers with a coffin and carts of furniture and pianos converged on the house of a Mrs Tottenham. The chairmen of the Bank of England and the East India Company and the Duke of Gloucester were among those drawn in, and police had to cordon the street.