See, we weren't making it up
If you've ever stopped at Finsbury Park station, you may have clocked the mosaic tiles depicting vintage hot air balloons.
They look serene enough, but in truth they recall an age when
Londoners were foaming at the mouth over the latest daredevil craze. In September 1784, in Finsbury Fields, Vincenzo Lunardi became the first human to fly in England, accompanied by a confused dog, a puzzled cat and a seen-it-all-before pigeon.
After that, London was hooked.
Vincent Lunardi, the first human to fly in England, ready to ascend (1785), by John Kay
But if Lunardi's sounds like a perplexing floating menagerie, London had to wait another 68 years for the bizarrest — and perhaps cruellest — balloon stunt of all. It involved a seasoned French aeronaut, Madame Poitevin, and a bull — and it would put a stop to the frankly demented practice of forcing animals to fly.