Mini-Update (Week of October 12)

October 14 - Have you heard the latest buzz? For today, it's bee-master Wildman, famous throughout the west of England for his command over the honeysmiths.



On this day in 1766, Wildman demonstrated his prowess in handling bees, without harm to himself or the bees. Once provided with three stocks of bees, at the Wimbledon home of Lord Spencer in Surrey, he proceeded to show them hanging on his hat, with an empty hive in his other hand.

This was to show that he could take honey and wax without destroying the bees. [...] Then he returned into the room, and came out again with them hanging on his chin, with a very venerable beard.

He could make them enter and exit their hives, swarm in the air, and even "took them up by the handfuls, and tossed them up and down like so many peas." For the finale, he covered himself in bees and rode a horse around the grounds.

During the entire demonstration, no one at the Wimbledon estate even thought to swat at the bees. [EDBv2]

Image from ScienceDaily.com