From John Latimer, Priscilla Fry, The Annals of Bristol in the Eighteenth Century (1893). Courtesy of University of Bristol Special Collections.

Vincenzo Lunardi, secretary to the Neopolitan Ambassador in London, was England's first aerial traveller. Overnight the young Italian became a popular hero, with the ballooning craze in this country reaching its peak soon after. Balloons were all the rage, with Lunardi's ascent being depicted on Bristol Delft bowls, and other items of crockery, while similar designs figured on glasses, handkerchiefs, fans, head dresses, and clock faces, as well as on copper tokens.