A sadly neglected part of our cultural heritage. Unfortunately, bottoms are rarely mentioned in Shakespeare, and it appears that Dickens never once used the word "arse". Virginia Woolf, in a prolific writing career, never wrote any novels with buttocks as their heroes, and even Chaucer is believed to have refused to dedicate any of his works to his down-trodden anus. This is clear evidence of a conspiracy of silence about bottoms, one that I discovered when I tried to find a publisher for my definitive 1500-page "Derriere: An illustrated history of the bottom from prehistoric times to the present day".