TORTOISE TESTIMONY

http://monsterusa.blogspot.com/2010/07/stafford-castle-tortoise.html

Nick writes: England's Stafford Post newspaper reports on the engaging story of Stafford Castle's pet tortoise, who appeared to have lived and died at some point in the 19th Century, but who - in 2010 - is once again in the news! If only he or she knew!

However, interesting though the story is, the Stafford Post seem to be making somewhat of a journalistic mountain out of a molehill, because over 100 years before, Gilbert White (18 July 1720 – 26 June 1793) had a pet tortoise, and there is anecdotal evidence for pet tortoises in quite a few books published in, or written about, the late Victorian era, such as Stalky and Co by Kipling, and E Nesbit's The Five Children and It.