The Strongest Men on Earth

by Graeme Kent

  Chang (the Giant) 1, 2

  Chaplin, Charlie 1

  Charmion (Laverne Vallee) 1

  Cinquevalli, Paul 1

  Clayton Square, Battle of 1

  Coburn, Charles 1

  Cochran, C. B. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

  Columbian Exhibition, Chicago 1

  Costentenus, Captain 1

  Cross, Leach (the Fighting Dentist) 1

  Cross, R. A. 1

  Cyr, Louis 1, 2, 3, 4

  Danks, Alfred 1712

  Darnett, Miss (the Singing Strong Lady) 1

  Davis, Barney and Hiram (Waino and Plutanor) 1

  de Clifford, Lord 1, 2, 3, 4

  de Freece, Walter 1

  Deerfoot 1

  Degas, Edgar 1

  Desaguliers, John Theophilus 1

  Dinnie, Donald 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

  Dixie, Henry E. 1

  dockworkers’ strike 1

  Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan 1, 2

  Duger, Mlle (the Female Samson) 1

  Elise, Madame 1

  Elliot, Launceston 1, 2, 3, 4

  Emperor Maximus 1, 2

  Erius, King of Denmark 1

  Farini’s Friendly Zulus 1

  Fitzsimmons, Bob 1, 2

  Fleming, Albert 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

  Fleming, John 1

  Flynn, (Fireman) Jim 1

  Fox, Richard K. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

  Gans, Joe 1

  Garrud, Edith 1, 2, 3

  Gas House Gang, the 1

  Gilgamesh 1

  Gosse, Edmund 1

  Grand Theatre, Sheffield 1

  Grand Theatre of Varieties, Liverpool 1

  Grasmere Games 1

  Greek ideal 1

  Grim, Joe (Iron Man) 1

  Hackenschmidt, Georg 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

  Hall, Andrew 1

  Harrison, President Benjamin 1

  Hengler’s Circus 1, 2, 3

  Highland Games 1

  Holtom, John (the Cannonball Man) 1, 2

  Houdini, Harry (Erik Weiss) 1, 2, 3

  Hull, George 1

  Hunt, Aubrey 1

  Hurley, Alec 1

  Hurst, Lula (the Georgia Magnet) 1, 2, 3

  Inch, Thomas (the Scarborough Hercules) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

  Indian wrestlers 1, 2

  International School of Physical Culture 1

  Irn Bru 1

  Irving, Montgomery (Sandowe) 1, 2

  Ishamaelo, Yousouff 1

  Jackson, Peter 1

  Jenkins, Tom 1

  Jerome K. Jerome 1

  Joplin, Scott 1

  Jowett, George 1

  Joyce (or Joy) Richard (the Strong Man of Kent) 1

  ju-jitsu 1

  Kellerman, Annette (the Diving Venus) 1

  Kennedy, James Walter 1

  Koenig, Bottle 1

  Kryloff, Pyotr (the King of Kettlebells) 1

  La La, Miss (the African Princess) 1

  Langtry, Lily 1

  Le Roy, William (the Nail King, the Human Claw Hammer) 1

  LeMarr, Florence (Flossie) 1, 2

  Leitzel, Lillian 1

  Leslie, Amy 1

  Lloyd, Marie 1, 2

  MacAskill, Angus (the Cape Breton Giant) 1

  McCann, Louis (Hercules) 1, 2

  McCann, Henry (Samson) 1

  Mace, Jem 1

  Mace, Pooley 1

  Macfadden, Bernarr 1, 2, 3, 4

  Maciste, (the Italian Hercules) 1

  McKinley, William 1

  McLaglen, Leopold 1, 2

  McLaglen, Victor 1, 2

  MacLaine, Lord Kenneth Douglas Home 1

  Madrali (the Terrible Turk) 1, 2, 3

  Mahoney, Sam 1

  Maravian Wild Women 1

  Marx, John (John Gruen, John Gruenn) 1, 2, 3, 4

  Matthews, Charles 1

  Max Sick 1

  Miles, Young 1

  Miller, William 1, 2

  Miner’s Theatre, the Bowery 1

  Minerva (Josephine Schauer) 1

  Mishra, Shavat Kumar 1

  Mitchell, Charlie 1, 2

  Mohammad, Gulam (the Great Gama) 1, 2

  Moir, Gunner 1, 2

  Molesworth, Captain 1, 2, 3, 4

  Moss, Edward 1

  Moss, Staff Sergeant 1

  Mozart, George 1

  Muldoon, William (the Solid Man of Sport, the Iron Duke)

  youth 1

  takes up wrestling 1

  claims to military service 1

  joins police 1

  establishes New York Police Athletic Club 1

  opens saloon 1

  becomes wrestling promoter 1

  enters show business 1

  feud with Clarence Whistler 1, 2

  tours with Madame Helena Modjeska 1

  scandal over Californian wrestling promotions 1

  trains John L. Sullivan 1

  runs health farms 1

  influential friends and clients 1

  ‘Solid Man’ hoax 1

  tent shows 1

  final years 1

  Munro, Alec 1

  Murphy’s 1

  Murray, Billy 1

  ‘Music, Muscle and Mystery’ tour 1

  National Police Gazette see Police Gazette

  National Sporting Club 1, 2

  Noroatah, Hassan 1

  O’Connor, T.P. 1

  Olympic Games 1

  ‘Oofty Goofty’ (Leonard Borchardt) 1

  Padoubney, Ivan (the Russian Cossack) 1

  Padoubney, Sasha 1

  Pagel William 1

  Pandour, Bobby (Wladyslaw Kurcharczyk) 1, 2

  Paulinetti, Professor (Philip Henry Thurber) 1

  Pelican Club 1

  Pevier, Tom 1

  Phosferine 1

  Pierri, Antonio (the Terrible Greek) 1, 2, 3, 4

  Pleon, Alec 1

  Polias 1

  Police Gazette 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

  Polydance of Thessalonia 1

  Price, Joe (the Champion Blacksmith of England) 1

  Prince of Wales Theatre, Manchester 1

  Queensberry, Marquess of 1, 2, 3

  Quo Vadis production 1

  Ring 1

  Roberts, Arthur 1

  Roeber, Ernest 1, 2

  Roller, Benjamin, Dr 1

  Root, Elihu 1

  Royal Albert Hall 1, 2

  Royal Music Hall, Holborn 1

  Saldo, Monte 1, 2

  Salome’s Dance of the Seven Veils 1, 2, 3, 4

  Sampson, Charles Aloysius physical description 1

  circus days 1

  works in USA dime museums 1

  flamboyant publicity claims 1

  tries his luck in Britain 1

  challenged by Tom Pevier 1

  favourite cheating ploys 1

  contest with Sandow 1

  absconds without paying Sandow’s prize money 1

  appears at Albert Hall 1

  embarks upon provincial tour 1

  problems with act and other performers 1

  elephant-lifting trick 1

  altercation with John Marx 1

  tours world 1, 2

  in Australia 1

  meets Montgomery Irving 1

  advertises muscle-training equipment 1

  meets Georg Hackenschmidt 1

  final years 1

  Samson, Cowboy 1

  Sandow, Eugen (Friedrich Wilhelm Müller) defeats Cyclops 1

  physical description 1, 2, 3

  early career 1, 2, 3

  breaks into Imperial Theatre 1

  contest with Sampson 1

  ejected from London lodgings 1

  public’s reaction to Sampson defeat 1

  accepts Alhambra booking at £150 a week 1

  dismisses manager, Albert Fleming 1

  dismisses Louis Atilla 1

  tours provinces 1

  refines act 1, 2

  links up with Atilla 1

  arrested in Amsterdam 1

  tours as one of t
wo Rijos Brothers 1

  poses for Aubrey Hunt, 1

  arrives in London 1

  adds Karl Westphael (Goliath) to act 1

  lifts horse onstage 1

  competes against Louis McCann (Hercules) 1

  challenges Arthur Saxon 1

  sues Saxon in court 1

  organises ‘Great Competition at Albert Hall 1

  launches Sandow’s Magazine of Physical Culture 1

  recruited by Flo Ziegfeld in USA 1

  fights a lion 1

  marries 1

  sued by Sarah Woods (the Water Queen) 1

  lends name to commercial advertising campaigns 1

  business failures 1

  accused of being German sympathiser 1

  death 1

  Sandow’s Magazine of Physical Culture 1

  ‘Sandow’s Trocadero Vaudevilles’ 1

  Saxon, Arno 1, 2, 3

  Saxon, Arthur 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

  Saxon, Kurt 1

  Saxon, Oscar 1

  Saxon Trio 1, 2

  Schmidt, Adrian P. 1, 2

  Shaw, George Bernard 1

  Shidachi, Takashima 1

  Sieveking, Martinus 1, 2

  Slavin, Frank 1

  Smith, Jem 1, 2

  Society of Athletes 1

  ‘Solid Man’ hoax 1

  Sorakichi, Matsada 1, 2

  Spadoni, Paul 1

  Spinning Cyclists, the 1

  Stoll, Oswald 1

  ‘Strongest Man on Earth, The’ (song) 1

  strongman tricks 1, 2

  Suliman, Kara 1

  Sullivan, John L. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

  Szalay, Joseph 1

  Tani, Yukio 1, 2, 3

  tent shows 1

  Thompson, Lydia 1

  Thorpe, Jim 1

  Tilley, Vesta 1

  Tolson, J. C. (Apollon) 1

  Topham, Thomas 1

  training routines 1

  Treloar, Albert (Albert Toof Jenkins) 1

  Triat, Hippolyte 1

  Uni, Louis (Apollon) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

  Van, Billy B. 1

  van Eckenberg, John Charles 1

  Vigneron, Louis (the Cannonball King) 1

  Vulcan 1

  Wells, ‘Mexican’ Billy 1

  Westminster Aquarium (Royal Aquarium) 1

  Westphail, Karl (Goliath) 1

  Whistler, Clarence (the Kansas Cyclone) 1, 2, 3

  White, Sarah E. (Lurline, the Water Queen) 1

  Wilde, Oscar 1

  Williams, Kate 1, 2

  Williams, Sir George 1

  Windship, George Barker 1

  Wootwell, Tom 1

  Zaeo 1

  Zazel (Rosa Richter; the Human Cannonball) 1, 2

  Zazz, Alexander 1

  Zbysko, Stanislaus (Stanislaw Cyganiewicz) 1, 2

  Ziegfeld, Florenz (Flo) 1, 2, 3

  Described as having the perfect male body, Eugen Sandow was one of the most successful strongmen of his time. His challenge to Charles A. Sampson in 1889 kick-started the age of the professional strongman and earned him the title of world’s strongest man.

  Sandow showing some of the poses that made his postcards sell in tens of thousands. He was the first strongman to highlight ‘body beautiful’ posing displays in his act.

  Defeated by Sandow, Charles A. Sampson continued to call himself the strongest man on earth, despite all evidence to the contrary.

  Cyclops, Sampson’s partner. His claims to be able to break coins between his fingers and to be able to incapacitate opponents with his wrestling holds were treated with derision by his fellow strongmen.

  Louis Atilla (Louis Durlacher) was Sandow’s first trainer and had a claim to be one of the pioneers of modern physical education.

  The Saxon Trio, from left to right: Herman Saxon, Adolf Berg and Arthur Saxon. The personnel of the act varied but, when they were sober, they were the strongest conglomeration on the halls.

  Handbill displaying items from Sandow’s stage act. The strongman did his best to avoid weightlifting stereotypes and always strove to include more spectacular acts, culminating in supporting a horse on his shoulders.

  Advertising poster for the enormously popular ‘Sandow Trocadero Vaudevilles’, which toured the USA for seven months in 1894. The show cemented Sandow’s fame and made the producer, Florenz Ziegfeld, a wealthy man.

  Sandow lifting the ‘human barbell’ on his tour of the USA in 1894.

  The Flying Jordans supported Sandow on his tour of the USA. A well-known trapeze act, they claimed to have been the first performers to bring off a double somersault into the arms of a waiting catcher.

  Originally billed as the ‘Wild Men of Borneo’, Hiram and Barney Davis were a pair of very strong dwarfs from Connecticut. They toured with circuses for decades as Waino and Plutanor, exhibiting feats of strength and wrestling all comers.

  Georg Hackenschmidt, ‘the Russian Lion’, the first freestyle wrestling champion of the world and a genuinely strong man. His producer, C. B. Cochran, had to persuade him to go easy when he wrestled challengers on the halls.

  Advertising bill for Hackenschmidt. Cultured and well-read, and a friend of George Bernard Shaw, he wrote a number of books on philosophy after his retirement.

  A circus poster from 1898, advertising the mighty Louis Cyr and his partner Horace Barre. Included in the strongman stunts illustrated is Cyr’s documented feat of supporting on his shoulders a platform containing twenty-five men.

  Although he was probably the strongest man of his time, Louis Cyr’s act tended to be repetitious and uninteresting. He set weightlifting records but hated touring and retired early.

  Launceston Elliot took first and second places in weightlifting competitions in the 1896 Athens Olympics. Four years later he was unsuccessful in the Olympic discus event and ventured into the world of professional strongmen.

  From 1911, Edward Aston held the title of Britain’s strongest man for twenty-three years. He was the first Briton to lift 300lbs above his head with one hand and later retired to become an adagio dancer on the music halls.

  Sandow the businessman. In addition to designing and selling bodybuilding equipment and postal courses, he produced his own magazine, advertised various products and manufactured cocoa, cigars and corsets.

  Also available from The Robson Press

  LONDON’S OLYMPIC FOLLIES

  GRAEME KENT

  The London Olympics of 1908 were supposed to display the glories of the Britain Empire at its zenith, but they ended in uproar – everything that could possibly have gone wrong did so.

  London’s Olympic Follies, packed with fascinating historical facts and trivia, is a wonderfully entertaining and timely account of the most bizarre Olympiad ever held. Hopefully a saga never to be repeated!

  256pp hardback, £8.99

  Available from all good bookshops or order from

  www.bitebackpublishing.com

  Also available from The Robson Press

  MUCKRAKER

  W. SYDNEY ROBINSON

  A major work by a brilliant young biographer, Muckraker details the tenacity and verve of one of Victorian Britain’s most compelling characters. Credited with pioneering investigative reporting, W. T. Stead made a career of ‘muckraking’: revealing horrific practices in the hope of shocking authorities into reform. Revealing a man full of curious eccentricities, W. Sydney Robinson charts the remarkable rise and fall of a true Fleet Street legend in this enthralling biography.

  304pp hardback, £20

  Available from all good bookshops or order from

  www.therobsonpress.com

  Also available from The Robson Press

  GILDED LIVES, FATAL VOYAGE

  HUGH BREWSTER

  Gilded Lives, Fatal Voyage takes us behind the panelled doors of the Titanic’s elegant private suites and introduces us to her most celebrated passengers. The intimate atmosphere on board is re-created as never before.

  Employing scrupulous research and featuring
rarely seen photographs, Gilded Lives, Fatal Voyage accurately depicts the ship’s brief life and tragic denouement, presenting the very latest thinking on everything from when and how the lifeboats were loaded to the last tune played by the orchestra.

  352pp hardback, £20

  Available from all good bookshops or order from www.therobsonpress.com

  Copyright

  First published in Great Britain in 2012 by

  The Robson Press (an imprint of Biteback Publishing Ltd)

  Westminster Tower

  3 Albert Embankment

  London SE1 7SP

  Copyright © Graeme Kent 2012

  Graeme Kent has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the publisher’s prior permission in writing.

  This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition, including this condition, being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.