Over the centuries lavatories have played a vital role in human life. In the stone-age mankind had already invented an indoor lavatory at Skara Brae on Orkney. There were traces of toilets in ancient Greece and rich ancient Egyptians enjoyed indoor toilets with limestone seats that were emptied by their slaves.
The purpose of this book is to recount the next great phases of development beginning with the ancient Romans and continuing through the medieval period to the present day. The story is illustrated by thirty colourful pictures.
Early mankind quickly came to realise that they had to keep what happens at the top end of their bodies: Namely eating and drinking with their mouths; away from what happens at the lower end of their bodies: Namely urinating and defecating. If they got that wrong they risked serious illness, and even death!
Passengers on commercial aircraft today suffer unhygienic and smelly toilets where all equipment is hand-operated. But Boeing has invented a toilet that is fully automated. Doors, seats, the basin hot water system, and waste disposal facility need not be touched by hand. It provides 99.99% hygiene in seconds.
The installation of a private room in our abodes dedicated to personal hygiene is not a recent idea. Queen Elizabeth1 had such a facility in her palace in 1596.
As we advanced from ancient Rome to medieval times in the 12th century AD you would expect that lavatories might have become more sophisticated. But the opposite was true. Fortress and castle toilets comprised a stone seat called a garderobe that evacuated straight onto the ground or splashed ignominiously into the moat. For the heavily-armoured soldiers of the garrison the exposure of their seat to the cold and rain made undressing a very unpleasant experience.
In Roman times the best-quality public lavatories sold their customers sticks with soft woolly heads to clean their backsides. But some unscrupulous owners then washed these sticks and sold them on at cut-price rates to new customers.
Some famous names associated with lavatories include Samuel Pepys the diarist, who moved into a new house in July 1660. He complained: “Going down into my cellar I put my foot into a great heap of my neighbour’s turds. I like it not.”And Thomas Crapper was a renowned lavatory manufacturer. Unfortunately his name has been slightly blemished by the modern sobriquet: The word to crap.The invention by the Victorians of a toilet connected to a communal sewage system has made possible the modern bathrooms that the masses enjoy today, and take for granted!
The book is refreshingly politically incorrect, and is the ideal hilarious read for Kindles, iPads, Tablets, e-Readers, and mobiles: On planes, trains, beaches, hotels, pubs, and in bed!
The purpose of this book is to recount the next great phases of development beginning with the ancient Romans and continuing through the medieval period to the present day. The story is illustrated by thirty colourful pictures.
Early mankind quickly came to realise that they had to keep what happens at the top end of their bodies: Namely eating and drinking with their mouths; away from what happens at the lower end of their bodies: Namely urinating and defecating. If they got that wrong they risked serious illness, and even death!
Passengers on commercial aircraft today suffer unhygienic and smelly toilets where all equipment is hand-operated. But Boeing has invented a toilet that is fully automated. Doors, seats, the basin hot water system, and waste disposal facility need not be touched by hand. It provides 99.99% hygiene in seconds.
The installation of a private room in our abodes dedicated to personal hygiene is not a recent idea. Queen Elizabeth1 had such a facility in her palace in 1596.
As we advanced from ancient Rome to medieval times in the 12th century AD you would expect that lavatories might have become more sophisticated. But the opposite was true. Fortress and castle toilets comprised a stone seat called a garderobe that evacuated straight onto the ground or splashed ignominiously into the moat. For the heavily-armoured soldiers of the garrison the exposure of their seat to the cold and rain made undressing a very unpleasant experience.
In Roman times the best-quality public lavatories sold their customers sticks with soft woolly heads to clean their backsides. But some unscrupulous owners then washed these sticks and sold them on at cut-price rates to new customers.
Some famous names associated with lavatories include Samuel Pepys the diarist, who moved into a new house in July 1660. He complained: “Going down into my cellar I put my foot into a great heap of my neighbour’s turds. I like it not.”And Thomas Crapper was a renowned lavatory manufacturer. Unfortunately his name has been slightly blemished by the modern sobriquet: The word to crap.The invention by the Victorians of a toilet connected to a communal sewage system has made possible the modern bathrooms that the masses enjoy today, and take for granted!
The book is refreshingly politically incorrect, and is the ideal hilarious read for Kindles, iPads, Tablets, e-Readers, and mobiles: On planes, trains, beaches, hotels, pubs, and in bed!
