Jan 1, 2018
One of Hull’s most revered fighters both in and out of the ring, Albert Shakesby was the last person you’d want to get on the wrong side of. While he had reportedly saved 30 lives from “violent death” by the age of 29, he also constantly thirsted for a row, whether squaring up to the nation’s best sportsmen or the band of the Salvation Army. So when Shakesby fell to his knees and declared himself saved at the pulpit of an evangelical church, he caused quite the stir across the world, and so the unlikely preacher’s story began. He continued to save lives not only from sin, but from the continuous stream of unfortunate circumstances that seem to follow him wherever he went. A coincidence? Maybe.
Also this week, Jim looks into the draws of Santa Cruz through poetry, and advertises Indian Blood Syrup, which is most definitely the cure-all you need in your life right now - unlike that dastardly Snake Oil.
Yesterday’s Chip Paper is a fortnightly history podcast that looks as strange, bizarre and macabre stories from historic newspaper archives across the globe. Your hosts, Jim and Violet, are two transatlantic amateur researchers who dig up everything from high sea mutiny to the Sausage King of London - the only limit to the stories that are told is that they must have been reported on sometime in the last few hundred years.
Sources used in this episode:
British Newspaper Archive https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/
Newspapers.com
TROVE (National Library of Australia) http://trove.nla.gov.au/
The Australian Star (Sydney, NSW : 1887 - 1909) Sat 31 Oct 1908
Hull Daily Mail - Monday 11 April 1949
Leeds Mercury - Saturday 01 June 1907
The Macon Republican (Macon, Missouri) Sat 19 Sep 1908
Nottingham Evening Post - Friday 31 July 1908
Sheffield Daily Telegraph - Monday 14 October 1907
Wharfedale & Airedale Observer - Friday 11 September 1908
Thanks to the Free Music Archive (http://freemusicarchive.org/) and Purple Planet (http://www.purple-planet.com) for the music in this episode.