Francis Grose's A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, first published in 1785, is a collection of London slang and underworld language that Samuel Johnson had left out of his great dictionary. Grose gathered words in the taverns of Covent Garden and the East End, with help from his assistant Tom Cocking. Many entries are colourful: 'blue ruin' and 'cobbler's punch' meant gin, 'to kick the bucket' meant to die, and 'to box the Jesuit' meant to masturbate. Much of this slang would be lost without his record.

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.