Yesterday, on a cold and frosty day in London, I visited the Victoria
and Albert Museum.  On the recommendation of Julian Dyer I went to see
the magnificent but sad and silent Tipu's Tiger.

This is an automaton of a life sized tiger savaging a man.  It was made
in India for Tipu (alternatively Tipoo) who ruled an Indian state in
Imperial times.  The accounts given describe Tipu as a modernising and
progressive leader.  The tiger contains an organ which is said to produce
the roars of the tiger and the groans of the man.

Julian tells me that there used to be regular demonstrations of the
tiger until he (the tiger, not Julian!) succumbed to sclerosis of the
bellows and fell silent.  The misguided conservation policy of the
museum ensures that the tiger will never roar again.  He sits, immobile,
in a glass case.

The museum shop sells a kit to make a cardboard model of Tipu's Tiger.
There was no indication on the packaging as to whether it could make
any noise.  I could not really find it in my cynical heart to buy one.
Maybe someone with a softer heart will find out...

PS: Tipu's Tiger, along with all other purely mechanical and pneumatic
instruments will not suffer from Y2K.  So happy pedalling and cranking
into the new year!

Jeffrey Borinsky

 [ Michael Woolf wrote in 961024 MMD:  'I asked Arthur Ord-Hume
 [ what it sounded like.  "Bloody awful!" he replied.  I asked
 [ if he'd had the sounds analysed by an expert Indian musicologist.
 [ Yes, he had.  And how did the expert think it sounded, I asked.
 [ "Bloody awful!" again was the reply.'   -- Robbie