Thunder, Flush and Thomas Crapper: J

^UP^ to Thunder, Flush and Thomas Crapper index.
Chapters: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V W Y Z

Extracts from Adam Hart-Davis's book.
(Buy the book from Micheal O'Mara Books, ISBN 1-85479-250-4 (Amazon.co.uk), hardback 1-85479-245-8 (Amazon.co.uk), or in the US, ISBN 1570760810 from Amazon.com.)

Jakes: Jakes was the normal word for lavatory or privy from the sixteenth century to the eighteenth. In King Lear II ii 74--6 Shakespeare wrote ``I will tread this unbolted villain into mortar, and daub the wall of the jakes with him.'' The origin is obscure, but may be from Jaques' or Jack's house; see Harington.
Japan: `Japanese-style' lavatories, designed for squatting rather than sitting, look rather like bidets sunk into the floor, and have been called `bombsites' by occidental travellers. However, the world's most advanced `western-style' lavatories are also made in Japan.
Jersey: The Territorial Army unit on the Channel Island of Jersey was looking for a useful community exercise in 1992; so at the request of the Customs and Excise Department they built a new water-tank and lavatory alongside the customs hut on the Ecrehous, a chain of rocky islets between the north-east coast of Jersey and France. It was the first flushing lavatory on the Ecrehous, and it raised a mighty stink among those with holiday retreats there. Brigadier Raoul Lempriere-Robin is quoted as saying ``Why can't they make do with an Elsan? ... The toilet is now the grandest structure on the Ecrehous... To put it bluntly, it has been a bugger's muddle all along.''

^UP^ to Thunder, Flush and Thomas Crapper index.
Chapters: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V W Y Z

Text extracts from ``Thunder, Flush and Thomas Crapper'' copyright Adam Hart-Davis 1997.
Images available from the DHD Multimedia Gallery.
Site content copyright Damon Hart-Davis 1997--2008 unless otherwise stated.