The blacksmith felt his organs clench as the first of the dogs, the bravely stupid, half-blind shepherd, reached the tiger and immediately went end over end as the big cat lashed at and then pinned him with all its enormous weight.

NEWYORKER: The Tiger��s Wife

Strangely, for all the species of cat said to be roaming the Surrey hills, no-one has ever reported seeing a tiger or a full-size lion.

BBC: The Surrey puma: Fact or fiction?

It is hard now to believe that in 1902 a tiger was shot under the billiard table (that the big cat emerged from a circus rather than virgin rain-forest, and was shot by a school headmaster, makes the story no less exotic).

ECONOMIST: Pukkah hotels