The “Talking Fish” was a performing seal called Jenny

Posted in Animals, Fish, Historical articles, History, Leisure, London, Oddities on Tuesday, 18 February 2014

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The Talking Fish

The Victorians were fascinated by natural oddities, and exhibitions of Unnatural Wonders and Freaks of Nature were very popular. In The Times of April, 1859, there appeared an advertisement for one such event: “THE TALKING AND PERFORMING FISH will arrive at 191 Piccadilly, early in May. Complimentary cards to naturalists and gentlemen of the press will be issued for private performances three days before public exhibition.” This turned out not to be a fish but a pet seal called Jenny, which had been taught by her keeper to perform various tricks and make suitably speech-like sounds when required. Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species was published in November of the same year, 1859, and the subsequent interest in evolution would give rise to many bizarre ‘entertainments’ mocking the scientific attempts to find human characteristics in the animal kingdom.

Many more pictures relating to London entertainments can be found at the Look and Learn picture library.

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