 |
| Abbey ruins, St Omer |
…acrobat, tightrope walker and circus performer…
Born Jean-François Gravelet on
February 28th, 1824 in St Omer in northern France, Charles Blondin became a world-renowned
performer. From the age of 5, he
attended the École de Gymnase in Lyon where he trained as an acrobat,
making his first public performance within a year under the stage name of 'The
Boy Wonder'. As a performer, of course,
he had several personas, one of which was Charles Blondin. Over here and in the United States he became
known as 'The Great Blondin'.
Charles Blondin came to the UK in
1861 after having toured America, and Ireland.
His walks across the Niagara Gorge in 1859/60 were all over the
newspapers on both sides of the Atlantic, because of his dangerous and
theatrical settings. Apparently on one
trip, at 49m (160 feet) above the water, he stopped mid-way to cook and eat an
omelette!
His first appearance here was in
London at Crystal Palace (October 7th, 1861). The rope was stretched across the central transept about 21m (70
feet) from the ground. He startled his
audience with somersaults on stilts as he crossed from one end of the rope to
the other. He went on to perform at
venues across the country, in Ireland and Scotland.
Next time you're in Birmingham,
take a trip along Ladywood Middleway and look out for a statue of Blondin that
commemorates his crossing of Edgbaston Reservoir on September 6th, 1873.
Blondin and his family settled in
Ealing in the family home he referred to as 'Niagara House'. After a period of retirement, Blondin
returned to performing in 1880 both on ropes and on the stage - he took a role
in the 1883/4 pantomime season at Crystal Palace. He continued to work until 1896, and his very last performance
was in Belfast. He died at home in
Ealing on February 22nd, 1897 and is buried in Kensal Green Cemetery, London.
 |
| Crystal Palace |
I first came across Blondin while
I was researching my family tree. A
chance remark made by my dad when I was a teenager had stayed with me, and when I
started the research, I had convinced myself that somewhere in my distant
London ancestry there were other performers, maybe even circus people. It was a myth that took me quite a while to
bust, and the discovery was nowhere near as romantic or dashing as the life of
Charles Blondin.
But for at least three generations of my distant history, life was just as dangerous as Blondin's. Some of my distant relatives worked on the docks, and they moved
lengths of timber from the wharfside into the vast warehouses that lined the
Thames. These men, Deal Porters to give
them their correct job title, were often referred to as Blondins. That nickname coming from the nature of
their work. The men carried lengths of
cut timber, usually about 4 battens each of 3m to 3.6m (10-12ft) in length, along planks
that were stacked across the piles of wood that needed to be shifted. As the stack on the dockside lessened, so
the pile in the warehouse grew. They
could be carrying their load - 'a turn' - up flexing planks to a
height of 15 or 20 feet by the end of the day.
When you consider that a 'turn of
deal' would weigh about 120lbs, that they would be running backwards and
forwards for a full shift of up to 8 hours, you realise that these men had to
be strong and deft. One wrong
footstep and anyone of them could have been hitting the wharfside or warehouse floor 20 feet
below with fatal consequences. It was this research that inspired my completely imagined scenario in my story 'Treading' in the Dark London anthology.
about the books...
Dark London Volume One : nine gripping short stories that leave you gasping for breath as London’s dark side is revealed!
Authors featured : Miriam Drori, Jess Popplewell, Ted Bun Anne-Marie Ormsby, Kate Braithwaite, Donna Cuttress, Sue Barnard, Sam Hall and Cathie Dunn
With a foreword by Alice Castle, author of the bestselling London Murder Mysteries series.
Dark London Volume Two : nine intriguing short stories that leave you reeling!
Our authors are : Chris Dommett, Alice Castle, Richard Savin, Alan Taylor, Marie Gault, Tom Halford, Denise Bloom, Harper Channing and me!
With a foreword by Mark Patton, historian and author of historical fiction.
You can get the books using the following links : Volume One Volume Two
All proceeds go to London Charities and you can read more about the books Here
No comments:
Post a Comment