A Cambridge university academic who became trapped in the bathroom of a medieval tower for seven hours used a cotton bud and an eyeliner pencil to eventually escape.
Dr Krisztine Ilko lives in the tower in rooms which were the former lodgings of Desiderius Erasmus, the 16th century philosopher.
The 33-year-old feared she would die after facing the prospect of being trapped for days after the lock broke on the bathroom’s heavy wooden door.
She believes it was broken by a plumber working on her shower earlier that week, and locked her in once she entered the windowless lavatory on Thursday.
With the rooms not due to be cleaned until Monday, she was facing the possibility of four days without food.
She used a cotton bud and an eyeliner pencil to pick her way out of the locked bathroom
(Dr Krisztina Ilko )
Ms Ilko, a junior research fellow and director of studies at Queens’ College, said: “I was trying to remember how long a person can survive on just water and hoping that I wouldn’t die there.
“If people came looking for me would they check the bathroom, or would I have to wait for Monday.
“I tried to bang the shower head on the door, break it with brute force, and shout for help but nothing worked and no-one could hear me”.
After attempting to break down the door, she turned to her eyeliner and a cotton earbud which she managed to use to push down the latch. Making a hook out of the earbud, she was able to unlock the door and free herself after seven hours.
Ms Ilko said: “Sometimes when I hear sounds around here I joke that it it is the ghost of Erasmus, then I thought I was going to join him and become a Cambridge legend.
“When I eventually got out and the door opened it was exhilarating because I didn’t think it would work.
“I expected to be there for five days or longer, but I made it out.”
The lock has since been taken off the bathroom door.