Conceived as a showcase for Britain's burgeoning manufacturing industries and the exotic products of its Empire, the Great Exhibition at the Crystal Palace was Britain's first national spectacle. This book examines the story of how the exhibition came into being; the key characters who made it happen (from Prince Albert, who was credited with the idea, to Thomas Cook, whose cheap railway trips ensured its accessibility to all); and the tales behind the exhibitors and exhibits themselves, from the Koh-i-noor diamond to the more quirky inventions on display - Queen Victoria was very taken with a bed that physically ejected its occupant in the morning, for example. One quarter of the British population had visited the exhibition by its close; this is the story of how it fired the imagination of the era.