William Cantelo, a 19th Century inventor rumoured to be working on an early version of the machine-gun, left his house one day and never returned. In the early 1880s, the residents of Bargate Street, Southampton, were probably a bit fed up with one of their neighbours. From the cellar beneath the pub run by William Cantelo would come the sound of rapid gunfire. Cantelo, an engineer and gun-maker, was experimenting with a new type of gun. Nobody knew what it was, but it produced shots in quick succession. It was clearly not your average rifle. One day, Cantelo announced to...