Hidden Killers

Suzannah Lipscomb's `Hidden Killers' series continues with a further exploration of the deadly must-have items of the Victorian and Edwardian eras. Suzannah shows how the Victorians' pioneering use of food additives ultimately had devastating results, how fashion jewellery and hair combs that were extremely popular with the middle classes proved to be deadly, and how the Victorian obsession with cleanliness and fear of germs made the age a golden era for the poisoner. And the Edwardians, Suzannah explains, were a creative lot, but their desire for the latest amenities meant negotiating death traps such as electricity, asbestos and arsenic soap.