The 15th century philosopher erasmus claimed that ‘In the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed man is king’. His argument was that if everyone around you were ignorant then even a little knowledge would make you significant in that community. But in a witty and perceptive short-story, the late-19th century novelist H.G. Wells shows how in a kingdom entirely peopled by the blind, that the one-eyed person is an aberration more likely to be regarded as mad than appropriate for high office.