The Sultan of Zanzibar, By Martyn Downer

Your support helps us to tell the story

Support Now

Find out moreClose

My recent work focusing on Latino voters in Arizona has shown me how crucial independent journalism is in giving voice to underrepresented communities.

Your support is what allows us to tell these stories, bringing attention to the issues that are often overlooked. Without your contributions, these voices might not be heard.

Every dollar you give helps us continue to shine a light on these critical issues in the run up to the election and beyond

Eric Garcia

Washington Bureau Chief

Funny, fast-moving and astounding, this biography goes way beyond what would be considered feasible in fiction.

The Anglo-Irish oddball Horace de Vere Cole is best known for his hoax of 1910 when he and three blacked-up accomplices, including Virginia Woolf, toured the battleship Dreadnaught as the Emperor of Abyssinia and entourage.

This celebrated prank turns out to be only the tip of a fake iceberg. Cole also made a ceremonial visit to Cambridge as the "Sultan of Zanzibar", clogged Piccadilly with phoney roadworks, sabotaged a party with a tidal wave of ping-pong balls, disrupted a wedding by hiring a dozen women to shout "Don't leave me Eddy!" when the groom arrived and deposited manure under the bronze horses in St Mark's Square.