The history of the humble Toilet is a long one. Presumably, since the start of civilization, humans have been going to great lengths to find ways to dispose of bodily waste - and away from where they live - because it's a health hazard as well as just plain gross.

Early latrines were basically just holes dug in the ground with planks or logs laid across them, either as seats or for people to stand on. These were often used by those who didn't have easy access to running water, such as soldiers or those trapped during sieges. The Romans built enormous sewers carrying waste far away from their cities and out into major rivers and estuaries so that any harmful bacteria wouldn't be able to accumulate in one place. Despite this, the Roman Empire collapsed in part due to a major epidemic of bubonic plague from infected rats carried by ships whose waste was dumped into the Mediterranean Sea.

In China, people used chamber pots underneath their beds and when they had to go out they would often just throw up an arm and let one loose wherever because sewage systems hadn't been invented yet. That or they'd relieve themselves in gutters or ditches beside roads that flowed right into rivers that provided drinking water for everyone downstream.

The modern flushing toilet as we know it today wasn't really invented until Sir John Harington created one for his godmother, Queen Elizabeth I of England, at Richmond Palace on the River Thames. A flushable toilet bowl sat upon a cesspool and was connected to a series of pipes that led into the main sewage system underneath the palace. However, Harington's invention didn't really catch on with the masses until Thomas Crapper improved it over 150 years later during the Victorian Era.

Crapper, who was an accomplished plumber as well as inventor, patented many things such as "Water Closets for Houses" and "Aerated Water." Even though he never actually made great amounts of money from his inventions or took out many patents at all - there's still a popular myth that King George V bestowed upon him a Royal Warrant which entitled him to display a coat of arms featuring three golden lions alongside his family motto: "Keep S**t At Bay."