The Odditorium is a celebration of history's lesser known creative mavericks; the tricksters, subversives and pioneers whose passion and obsession proved there are no limits or rules when it comes to human potential.

From the Victorian prankster who sent 30,000 objects through the Royal Mail (including his Irish Terrier) to the housewife who grew giant peanuts using atomic energy, you'll find inspiring stories of originality, energy and eccentricity, and learn how these heroic failures and visionaries re-invigorated culture and helped us find new ways to understand ourselves and the world around us.

Breakthroughs in thought, science, art and social organisation are rarely the product of rational thoughts - they are the children of obsession, forged in the place where curiosity and compulsion meet.

Outsider artists, linguists, scientists, time travellers and architects all feature in The Odditorium, each of whom risked ostracism, ridicule and even madness in pursuit of carving their own esoteric path, changing the world in wonderful ways.