Cabinet of Curiosities - Day 1

Cards on the table here. I sort-of nicked this idea from my good chum and former colleague at QI - historian Justin Pollard. Every year for the past few years, Justin has curated an unusual online advent calendar in which he's shown some of the extraordinary items in his vast collection of interesting objects. And another QI 'elf' chum, Dan Schreiber, does an occasional live show on Instagram called Show us your Sh*t in which he gets people to show off their treasures. I've appeared on the show twice.

So I thought I'd do the same thing on my blog throughout December this year - not so much as an advent calendar, but more like opening my own personal Cabinet of Curiosities to visitors. 

Cabinets of Curiosities (also known as Wunderkammer, Cabinets of Wonder, or Wonder-Rooms) were once very popular. They were collections of interesting objects - sometimes very large collections. The term 'cabinet' originally described a room rather than a piece of furniture. The classic Cabinet of Curiosities emerged in the sixteenth century, although more rudimentary collections had existed earlier. The most famous and best documented cabinets - usually belonging to royalty, aristocrats or rich business owners - became the bases for the creation of museums and galleries.

One of the most remarkable Wunderkkammers still on public view in the UK is the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford (see here). The whole room is kept in low light to preserve the exhibits - which is why these photos I took have a strange sepia cast to them.  

Most commonly these collections contained specimens of animals and plants, archaeological finds, rocks and minerals, objects from other cultures - such as costumes, masks, musical instruments and weapons -  and 'curios' such as animals born with extra limbs or even fakes like the mummified remains of so-called 'Feegee Mermaids'. If an object was an interesting talking point, it went into the cabinet regardless of monetary value.

And so, just as I curated a 'Leaf of the Day' during November, this month you'll see 31 interesting objects that I've collected during my 61 years on this planet. Some of them are from the natural world but you'll also see some from the world of folk art and traditional crafts. And maybe a few treasures and curios too.

We start with a Naughty Boy Stick that I was given in Sri Lanka in 2002.

I was given to me by a local guide who told me that, when he was a boy, the teachers would rap children over the knuckles or administer a sharp 'bop' to the head with the lumpy end to ensure discipline and concentration. I've tried it - and I can vouch for the fact that a child would want to avoid getting hit.

I stayed in contact with the guide - who was called Linton - for a couple of years after my visit and often sent him things like children's books and pens and pencils for his children. Sadly, however, all contact was lost after the tsunami of 2004. The hotel I'd stayed at was destroyed and the area around where Linton lived was devastated. I can only hope that he and his family escaped and are all safe and well. 

As for what the stick is made from, I'm not sure. I've found nothing online about 'Naughty Boy Sticks'. My best guess is that it's part of the Rattan Palm, which grows everywhere in Sri Lanka.

But I'm happy to be corrected.

As long as it doesn't involve being bopped with a stick.

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Footnote:

After I published this blog, a chap called Jim Walker brought to my attention a much more serious issue concerning the use of canes in Sri Lanka. It seems that the 'Naughty Boy Stick' is actually pretty mild compared to other forms of corporal punishment. 

There is a petition running to ban to making of canes for use in beating children. Such a ban cannot be a bad thing. Click here to read more.