大象传媒

In 1882, the threat of assassination was in the air. The year before, Tsar Alexander II was killed by an assassin鈥檚 bomb, then in July, American President James Garfield was also murdered. Queen Victoria, on the throne for 45 years seemed vulnerable. The final attempt on her life was from a young man named Roderick Maclean. His father Charles was the owner of a satirical magazine called Fun, but Roderick鈥檚 life was anything but that. Roderick grew up dreaming of a literary career, but the family lost its fortune and an accidental blow to the young MacLean鈥檚 head caused a marked change in personality. Roderick began to see enemies everywhere and became fascinated by the colour blue and the number four. Unable to hold down a job, Roderick tramped around England from one workhouse or asylum to another.

Dr Bob Nicholson visits the Punch Tavern in central London and describes the Victorian love of satire and comedy in such publications as Punch and Charles Maclean鈥檚 Fun. As he finds out more about Roderick Maclean鈥檚 story, Bob throws a light on the life of the Victorian wanderer, and the asylum system and Victoria鈥檚 later life. He traces Roderick鈥檚 final journey as a free man, from Southsea where he had befriended a landlady named Mrs Sorrell, up through Hampshire and into Windsor, where he waited, armed with a pistol, for the Queen to arrive.