Take, for example, that the Dowager Lady Tichborne (Roger's mother) welcomed Tom Castro as her son despite the fact that he'd forgotten his and her native language, French, and had reverted to semi-literacy in written English - she attributed this to his having lived among 'savages', read Australians, for 12 years! There are some truly unbelievable aspects. Did the prosecutors now have to prove that the claimant was Arthur Orton, or simply that he was not Roger Tichborne? His legal defence did try the 'Tichborne until proven Orton' line! The claimant was eventually tried for perjury and the case dragged on with its new slant. The claimant's opponents identified him as Arthur Orton, a butcher's son from Wapping who had also gone missing in colonial Australian action. Amassing supporters in both hemispheres, Castro went to London to claim his inheritance, thus instigating what stood as the longest trial in English legal history until 1996 (when it was surpassed by the 'McLibel' case). Twelve years later, Tom Castro, a butcher from Wagga Wagga, recognised himself as the lost heir.

However, there were rumours that survivors made it to Australia. In 1854, Roger Tichborne, heir to a baronetcy and substantial estates in England, disappeared in a shipwreck off South America. Annear untangles the knotty history of the Tichborne case with a lightness of touch that belies the exhaustive research undertaken.

Bearbrass by Robyn Annear