Robert Ripley was a highly talented artist in the early 20th Century. Born in California, he sold his first cartoon when he was just 14, and spent his life travelling all over the world. The centre in Blackpool houses a huge collection of optical illusions, freaks of nature and unusual artefacts, on two floors with 8 galleries and 10 televisions. The collection includes holographic skulls, a two-headed calf and a life-size waxwork of the world’s tallest man, at 8’ 11".