In 1784, in the margin of a math notebook, English schoolboy Richard Beale drew a chicken wearing trousers.
The Museum of English Rural Life tweeted the find after acquiring 41 Beale family diaries in 2016. Program manager Adam Koszary told the Guardian, “When you see a 13-year-old from the 18th century doing the kind of doodles that kids are doing today, it is so relatable — there’s an instant connection. Also, there’s the fact it’s just so stupid.”
A (probably!) unrelated chicken in trousers. Homework doodles from 13th-century Russia.