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A local legend in Southend-on-Sea, Essex. A small seaside town in South Eastern England.
The story of the Ratman has some variants but the core result remains the same.
That under a tunnel, sitting just near the residence of the Mayor, there looms a figure that resembles both a rat and a human being.
It will screech in the middle of the night and attempt to chase out people walking through there at night.
One version of the story tells of a local tramp and headcase. Who lived in the tunnel, being paralysed and unable to leave.
One night a group of drunken teenagers beat him to death and stole what little food and clothes he had. As he was freezing to death he could see rats scuttle forth to consume him. He swore revenge on the town that had abused him, and is now the Ratman of Southend, a vengeful spirit that hates the young and healthy.
The other version claims that the Ratman was the deformed son of an old Mayor of Southend. He was born hideously deformed, with a rodent-like snout, jagged teeth and a rotting stench about him.
The Mayor had the tunnel constructed to hide his secret, as the child was also the result of an adulterous relationship.
The Ratman still lurks there to this day, alone in the dark and waiting for any tasty humans to cross its path.
The story emerged years ago and reappears from time to time, via bizzare signs posted on lamp-posts and telephone poles.
Shaun and Craig ran under the tunnel of the Ratman, to see if he would try and eat them.
The story of the Ratman being the Mayors deformed son, shares some thematic similarities with the mythical tale of the Minotaur.
I have personally heard screeching in that tunnel and momentarily thought it was the Ratman.
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A Scottish rebel immortalised in the film Braveheart. Despite claims that he murdered men, women, children and religious figures there is no doubt that he fought bravely for his cause.
Eventually he was defeated and subjected to the worst form of capital punishment ever devised. Hanging, drawing and quartering. First dragged to the gallows. Then hung. Then cut down. Then gutted. Then beheaded and cut into quarters. However, this punishment did not have the desired effect and Scottish rebellions would continue for many years.
To this day Wallace remains both a national hero and, to some, an excuse for Anglophobia.
I hate the English. Look what they did to William Wallace!
The execution of William Wallace intensified the resolve of Scottish rebels.
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Emperor of Rome, succeded Tiberius.
When he was little, he was beloved by the Roman army. They nicknamed him "Little Boots" and made him their mascot.
Indeed, it appeared as though Caligula had it all. But Roman politics soon took it all from him.
Tiberius had most of his family killed and took little Caligula to live with him on the Isle of Capri.
It's hard to imagine how the young man felt, having to serve the same man who shattered his life.
But it seems likely that it left him with a lingering hatred of Rome, it's traditions and politicians.
So, when Caligula became Emperor, people initially rejoiced. But he soon ushered in an anarchic reign, designed to ridicule the establishment.
He made the army gather seashells, he threatened to make his horse - Incitatus - a senator, he dressed as Roman Gods.
The Roman elite would only take so much of this mockery. Eventually, they cornered Caligula in a hall way and hacked him to death.
Caligula is often portrayed as being insane. But it seems more likely that he was merely filled with a loathing of Rome because of his traumatic childhood.
Caligula's attacks on the establishment indicate that he was some form of primoridal anarchist. His actions were calculated, rather than being the random antics of a maniac.
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