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| John Damien
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| Abbot of Tungland and Alchemist
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It should be obvious to all good Scots that
this guy wiz a foreigner. There is no mention of drink spurring
him on to his absurd place in history.
It, it happened in Stirling Castle in 1507,
and that's good enough for the FirstFoot history department.
John Damien, Abbot of Tungland,
an Italian alchemist and a court favourite of James IV, was responsible
for Scotland's earliest recorded attempt to fly.
He announced that due to his
prowess in alchemy, he had discovered a method of flying through
the air. Believing his own propaganda, he foolishly claimed that
he would prove this in a public demonstration by flying to France
from the ramparts of Stirling Castle.
There may not have been any
drink concerned, but FirstFoot has a wee sneaking suspicion that
magic mushrooms might have been involved somewhere.
On the appointed day, the Abbot
appeared on the battlements complete with outsize wings made from
chicken feathers. Having launched himself on his epic journey to
France, he immediately crashed to the ground.
Luckily for the good Abbot,
he fell into the communal pig shit heap and escaped, somewhat lightly,
with a broken leg.
His excuse for his failure was
that he should not have used chicken feathers, as chickens could
not fly.
Maybe he should have thought
of that first.
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