Lovat's Puppet Theatre | Poster
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After public beheadings were banned in London, Mayfair's puppet beheadings helped families make the difficult transition to a future when people weren't routinely decapitated in public.
We get the phrase "laugh one's head off" from the last man who was beheaded in Britain, Lord Lovat. It seems he did just that—laughed his way through his own beheading.
It was precisely this act of laughing one's head off that was replicated by puppets and puppeteers at Mayfair. After laughing puppets were decapitated, children were given the severed heads as a souvenir of the good times they had at Mayfair.
But as the living memory of Lord Lovat laughing his own head off faded, and after the fair itself was banned, the tradition of puppet beheadings died out.
Relive those halcyon days again with the Lovat's Puppet Theatre poster.
• Giclée printing quality
• Paper thickness: 10.3 mil
• Paper weight: 5.57 oz/y² (189 g/m²)
• Vivid print
Available only at Jolly & Goode.
Hat tip, Ladies Who London history podcast, episode 10.