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Paper describing Tarrare's medical history

Tarrare was a French showman, soldier and spy noted for his unusual appetite and eating habits. Able to eat vast amounts of meat, he was constantly hungry; his parents could not provide for him and he was turned out of the family home as a teenager. Tarrare travelled around France in the company of a band of prostitutes and thieves before becoming the warm-up act for a travelling charlatan. In this act, he swallowed corks, stones, live animals, and a whole basketful of apples. He then took this act to Paris, where he worked as a street performer. At the start of the War of the First Coalition, Tarrare joined the French Revolutionary Army, where even quadrupling the standard military ration was unable to satisfy his large appetite. He ate any available food from gutters and rubbish heaps but his condition still deteriorated through hunger. He was hospitalised due to exhaustion and became the subject of a series of medical experiments to test his eating capacity. (Full article...)

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On this day

December 31: Saint Sylvester's Day (Western Christianity)

Roberto Clemente

1759 – Arthur Guinness signed a 9,000-year lease at £45 per annum to the St. James's Gate Brewery in Dublin and began brewing Guinness.
1775 – American Revolutionary War: At the Battle of Quebec, British forces repulsed an attempt by the Continental Army to capture Quebec City and enlist French Canadian support.
1950 – Korean War: North Korean troops attacked United Nations forces in the first of two battles at Wonju.
1965 – Central African military officers led by Jean-Bédel Bokassa began a coup d'état against the government of President David Dacko.
1972 – Puerto Rican baseball player Roberto Clemente (pictured) died in a plane crash en route to deliver aid to victims of that year's Nicaragua earthquake.

Carlo Gimach (d. 1730)
C. D. Howe (d. 1960)
Richie McCaw (b. 1980)
Gabby Douglas (b. 1995)

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Today's featured picture

The Iberian lynx (Lynx pardinus) is one of the four extant species of lynx, wild cats in the family Felidae. The Iberian lynx is endemic to the Iberian Peninsula, in which it was once widespread, but it is now restricted to a small number of regions in Spain and Portugal, and is listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. Fossils suggest that the species has been present in Iberia since the end of the Early Pleistocene, around one million years ago. The Iberian lynx has a short bright yellowish to tawny coloured spotted fur. Its body is short with long legs and a short tail, and its head is small with tufted ears and a ruff (hairs under the neck). It preys foremost on the European rabbit for the bulk of its diet, supplemented by red-legged partridge, rodents, and to a smaller degree also on wild ungulates. The Iberian lynx marks its territory with its urine, scratch marks on the barks of trees, and scat. The home ranges of adults are stable over many years and both males and females reach sexual maturity at one year old, although they rarely start breeding until a territory becomes vacant. This wild female Iberian lynx was photographed in Almuradiel, in the province of Ciudad Real, Spain.

Photograph credit: Diego Delso

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