In April 1907, Grimsby mayor Jacob Pickwell was probably one of the few in the town who possessed a telephone.

At 6am one day in April that year, it rang, rousing him from his slumber.

Who was the caller at such an early hour?

The man pronounced himself to be Prince Makaroo, a Zulu chieftain!

What happened next makes up one of the chapters of this publication which recounts many strange events as recorded in newspaper accounts of the time.

Also explored are the landing of a giant cod, a bizarre shooting accident, a case of baby 'farming', the mayhem that ensued when a fisherman's sweetheart ditched him for a footballer, the bizarre and macabre slaughter of dozens of sheep on the East Marsh and the afternoon when Grimsby Town scored seven against Manchester United.

Grimsby has always been a proud Lincolnshire town - it is also one where extraordinary event often occur.