Gotham is known to modern culture as the fictional city in which writer Bill Finger’s comic character Batman fights crime.  The name was chosen by a random turn of the New York telephone book.  While random for Finger, the name has a curious history.

Gotham is a village in Nottinghamshire England.  The word itself might derive from the Anglo-Saxon name for goat, and mean goat dwelling- it is pronounced goat-ham.  The village is famous for the legendary actions of the ‘wise men of Gotham’ who, to avoid the imposition of King John, acted like fools. The intentions of the king vary with the tale being told; he attempts to impose more taxes, a road through the town, build a castle or create a park for hunting. No matter what the king demands of his subjects, their reaction is the stuff of legend.  The eight hundred year old tale, shares how…