Caractacus Phelps (b. 1937) was a wizard from Staines, Surrey. On 1 April, 1979, he (a forty-two year-old, at the time) exploded no less than eight-hundred Stink Pellets, by dropping them en-masse from the roof of the Daily Prophet building in Diagon Alley. The resultant gas cloud caused untold discomfort throughout London, and approximately five-hundred cases of Stinkitus were reported. The Muggle authorities explained the stinking cloud away as an unpleasant emission from a nearby factory.