NOTHING TO DECLARE

On 6th April 1895, the Irish poet and playwright Oscar Wilde was arrested following reports of an a air with Lord Alfred Douglas. Journalists initially reported that under his arm was a copy of The Yellow Book, an avant-garde British magazine that took its name from the illicit French novels of the time. The papers were wrong, but Britons were appalled that such a respectable figure could be seen in public with a sinful book, and immediately declared Wilde guilty.