Reblogged from Two Nerdy History Girls
Isabella reporting,
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With April Fools still prowling about, it seems like appropriate to mention one of the most outlandish pranks of the Edwardian era. (Remember this earlier hoax from 1809?) In our time of hyper-security and identity checks, it’s impossible to imagine a group of artists and writers in cheesy costumes bluffing their way onto a royal navy ship – but that’s exactly what happened in what became known as the “Dreadnought Hoax.”
On February 7, 1910, six members of the Bloomsbury group planned an elaborate lark. Dressed in improvised costumes and with fake beards pasted on their faces, they presented themselves as a party of Abyssinian princes with their Foreign Office guides to the crew of the HMS Dreadnought, flagship of the home fleet. The costumes were not particularly good – see the photograph above - and one fake beard even disguised a woman, the writer Virginia Woolf (far left in the photo).
Yet they succeeded in fooling not only the captain and crew of the Dreadnought, but an admiral as well. They were welcomed on board the ship with full honors, marines at attention, the band playing, and African flags flying. The ship’s officers invited the visitors to dine with them, which the visitors politely declined, claiming the food and drink would be inappropriately prepared for their diets. In reality, they feared the glue holding their beards in place would not survive a meal.
Continue reading Two Nerdy History Girls: Fake Beards & Face-Paint: the Dreadnought Hoax, 1910.
Heh !
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