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Legacy of the loo examined at Sitting Pretty exhibit

Toilets are all the talk at the Regina Plains Museum, where an exhibit called “Sitting Pretty” looks at the legacy of the loo.

REGINA — Toilets are all the talk at the Regina Plains Museum, where an exhibit called “Sitting Pretty” looks at the legacy of the loo.

The exhibit, on tour from the Guelph Museums in Ontario, features an interactive display, a section on the evolution of toilet paper, an exploration of the history of public washrooms and examples of various chamber pot designs.

“Since man has existed we’ve needed to find ways to cleanly dispose of our waste,” says museum spokeswoman Jan Morier.

There are plenty of fun facts included — what’s now jokingly called “the throne” was installed in the palace of Greek King Minos some 4,000 years ago.

In 1596, Sir John Harrington built the first flush toilet for his godmother, Queen Elizabeth I. A British plumber named — that’s right — Thomas Crapper was the first to mass-produce toilets.

From outhouses to chamber pots, the exhibits covers all the bases.

“Hearing about the history of toilet paper was very surprising to us, and all of the different methods that they used before the actual soft, fluffy tissues that we know today,” said Morier. “It’s really evolved.”

Some of the alternatives? A goose neck — feathers and all — or the Roman method of a sponge on a stick, left in salt water to sanitize between uses.

There were also corn husks, coconuts, mussel shells, and the old Eaton’s catalogue.

The first public washrooms were built for London’s great exhibition in 1851, where a pee for a small fee changed the shape of social outings forever.