Eighteenth-century schoolboy's doodles uncovered as library is restored

William John Chute – ‘not known for his academic prowess’ – is believed to have scribbled in the margins of a Euripides book when he was 15

A centuries-old doodle of a cyclops has been discovered in a study-shy teenager’s book of ancient Greek plays by conservation staff restoring his family’s library in a Hampshire mansion.

William John Chute, who lived at The Vyne between 1757 and 1824, was the owner of the book and is believed to have drawn the sketch when he was 15. The National Trust has identified it as the cyclops Polephemus, from Homer’s Odyssey.

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