Berners Street hoax

In eighteen ten, a bored Theodore Hook bet a friend that he could turn any house in London into the most talked about residence in the city within a week. He chose the home of Mrs. Tottenham at fifty-four Berners Street for his experiment. Hook spent days writing thousands of letters to local tradespeople, shopkeepers, and professionals, all sent from the house and requesting urgent deliveries or appointments for the exact same morning.