Snake Oil Salesman

Royal Holloway College, University of London

I'm currently attending a conference here. It's one of the most astonishingly gorgeous Victorian buildings I know. The university knows it too and apparently the local fire brigade are retained primarily to protect the place. It was built by this man:


Thomas Holloway, 1800-1883

Thomas Holloway was a philanthropist and made his money in advertising, an industry in which he was a pioneer. He also made a pile by selling medications, notably this "general purpose ointment":


Holloway's General Purpose Ointment

Modern analysis of Holloway's medications have revealed that they contained no known efficacious ingredients. So there we have the secret to success in the pharmaceutical industry: identify a marginally effective (if at all) medicine and hype its properties to death through weasel advertising. I'm sure Mr Holloway must be laughing in his grave in the knowledge that nothing has changed since his era. But thanks for the building...

PS "Happy Birthday to Me, Happy Birthday to Me..."

Getting the Point

My martial pursuits have led to a couple of musculo-skeletal injuries that are reluctant to heal. I've thus resorted to acupuncture: a technique that has long interested me but have never used. So twice a week I lie on a bed while a very pleasant Chinese Doctor sticks about 50 needles in me and I end up looking like the character from Hellraiser. Results in the short term have been nothing short of amazing but I'm reserving judgement as to the long term efficacy. I'll keep you posted...