How does Steve Brusatte describe William Buckland's eccentric habits?

Steve Brusatte calls William Buckland the original nutty professor: an Oxford lecturer who paced in academic robes, thrust skulls at students and impersonated animals. Buckland hoped to eat his way through the animal kingdom, serving mice on toast, porpoise and penguin, and historians now think the story that he ate the pickled heart of King Louis XIV is more likely true than not.

Buckland was an ordained minister and the son of an Anglican rector.
Brusatte says Charles Darwin found him a little vulgar and too much of a self-promoter.

▸In their words

“He had a pet bear at his house, which he dressed in academic robes.” Steve Brusatte · at 6:28 — open in the transcript →

Source: our own transcription of the episode. The full conversation is on In Our Time (2026-11-05). Read the whole episode summary →

▸More from this episode

Q1Who really came up with the name Megalosaurus, according to Emma Nicholls on In Our Time?Q2What did Emily Rayfield say William Buckland got right and wrong about Megalosaurus?Q4How did William Buckland reconcile Megalosaurus with the Bible, according to Steve Brusatte?Q5How fast could Megalosaurus move, according to Emily Rayfield's reading of the Oxfordshire trackways?Q6What did Emma Nicholls find at the Dewars Farm dinosaur trackway site?Q7Why is Megalosaurus less famous than T. rex, according to Emma Nicholls?Q8What is Scrotum humanum and why didn't it replace the name Megalosaurus, per Emily Rayfield?

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