There is an assortment of calamities which include strange and unusual crimes, devastating fires, rail crashes, explosions, disasters, mysteries, freak weather and a plethora of uncanny accidents. Generously illustrated, this chronicle is an entertaining and readable record of Oxfordshire's grim past.

Nicola Sly teaches criminology and is the author of, more than 20 true crime titles, including Murder by Poison: A Casebook of Historic British Murders.