Mr Foote's Other Leg

In 1776 Foote's was the most talked-of name in the English speaking world. By 1777 it was almost unmentionable. Samuel Foote, friend of David Garrick and Dr Johnson, is the greatest lost figure of the eighteenth century; his story defies belief and has only been forgotten for reasons both laughable and shocking. Foote's rise to fame was based on three unrelated accidents: the loss of his leg after a disastrous practical joke, his extraordinary gifts as an impressionist, and a murder within his family which he turned into a true-crime bestseller. Out of this was born the most singular career in stage history. He flouted convention in transvestite roles, evaded the censors by selling his scurrilous satires as 'tea parties', wrote a series of plays for one-legged actors - accordingly not much revived - and established London's Theatre Royal, Haymarket. Then came two scandalous trials that rocked Georgian high society. From Sheridan to Dickens to Dudley Moore, Foote's influence continues, but Mr Foote's Other Leg is not just a tragicomic biography of this Oscar Wilde of the eighteenth century, it is also the story of the first media storm, the first true-crime bestseller, the first victim of celebrity culture and a joyous hop around the mad theatre of London life - high and low.