I decided in my teens not to pursue a career instead opting to be a sort of odd job man which I am to this day. On leaving school I could have done further education but didn’t like the idea of it. Instead I signed up for an apprenticeship but I tended my resignation before […]
On June 9th 2014 a lot of media carried the meeting in which Swedish Prime minister Fredrik Reinfeldt rowed German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the Prime Ministers of Britain and Netherlands – David Cameron and Mark Rutte – across Lake Harpsundssjon. “I have meetings all the time with people in rowboats, what’s strange about that?” […]
Folklore and pop culture are interchangeable in the rear-view mirror of history. It can be difficult to discern which if any were reality. Methods of storytelling have changed. For millennia the fireside tale ruled supreme. In the late 1970’s my Dad lamented the removal of the coal burner from our fireplace despite the savings that […]
“Myths and Legends of the British Isles” has been a favourite book since childhood and inspired many expeditions. It was the first I ever heard of the Loch Ness Monster. The five hour roadtrip returning home from the latest armwrestling event with Atom Bomb provided random chat including the possible existence of the Loch Ness […]
“You have to be sick to listen to me” was a strapline I used on my hospital radio talk show. The Sunday night 8 til 10 slot had weekly inspirational guests. They were strongmen, long distance swimmers, musicians, adventurers. Sometimes celebrities were lured from the local bookshop signings that had less interest than they had […]
I ran an outdoor swimming club for thirteen years before such things got popular. It was Sunday, Monday and Wednesday in the lake, two other days at an indoor pool and it was a hub of ambitions. We had a few English Channel Swimmers, lake challengers, some of us were extreme cold enthusiasts. The committee […]
My dad had an arc welder in his workshop when I was a kid and it was a thing of wonder. It made a buzzing sound like the black and white Flash Gordon spaceships on Saturday morning television and of course the warning not to look anywhere near it when he was using it was […]
I inherited a pile of archive materials which included an innocuous local newsletter from the early 1970’s. In one small a column a contributor lamented the beginning of mass car ownership noting that commuters taking short cuts across the estate were reducing safety for children playing in the streets. Where would it end? Perhaps there […]
Driving through Anglesey many times on the way to the Ireland ferry I’d often thought to visit the island properly. I did last week. The rocky north coast proved to be the place for adventure. Max and I had ambitions to build David Horne style stone thrones which we did in locations we named Monarchs […]
“Have you ever done a triathlon Dan?” In life’s top trumps I have a few cards to play and in answering that enquiry, yes I once did the London to Paris relay. Four of us ran from London to Dover in 1 hour rotations, took turns swimming to France followed by a cycle ride to […]
My mind is like a tour bus on a day trip to the seaside with noisy passengers. There are expectations, a route and a destination. Circumstances might dictate a detour and delays. Questions arise. Who decides which way to go? The passengers have opinions, the driver decides which gear to use and to steer left […]
Are you influenced by advertising? If you’re not actively resisting, you are. My late friend Fred Barnfield was an artist who spent a lot of time considering such things. His library was full of self help/get rich quick/win friends and influence people books, highbrow tomes on economics, autobiographies of people like PT BARNUM, and titles […]
A rare weekend of no action engulfed me with the start of it being breakfast at the sailing club with Angel who, like me is a veteran of the cold water rescue team. It was a perfect day to launch the rowboat – not much wind, strong sunshine – but Angel had to work later […]
Chopper and I met in the seaside town of Westward Ho! (the only UK town with an exclamation mark in its name.) I’d been here in ‘80 and ‘81 so recounted fond memories as we walked the cliffs to a deserted rocky beach. A few years ago Strongman David Horne built an elaborate Conan the […]
I never got to see the Camberwell Werewolf, despite travelling in that vicinity regularly for a few years, mostly after dark. It was a vague preposterous tale, a throwback of a bygone age that appeared in a national newspaper’s weird news section. I’m not saying I believe it, but I like the possibility. I’ve always […]
I read the Saga of Grettir the Strong around twenty-eight years ago. I was an aspiring strongman with a love of mythology. I’d been injured badly when I was 13, recovered and was still on the up with plenty of hope and ambition. It’s no spoiler to reveal that Grettir wasn’t the easiest to get […]
What else to do when fuel prices spiral upwards daily than take your friends on a long road trip? Odin and Chopper drove 325km to meet me, and continued 455km as passengers. Atom Bomb had been on night shift and decided to meet us there and ride back. It being a holiday weekend, traffic was […]
Cooking was not something that I thought highly of when I was a child. Eating, that was another matter but the corelation between the two was not obvious to me until later. I spent many Saturday mornings at my Nan’s house marvelling at the food she produced. Better than any restaurant then or since. Conversely, […]
Dragging the lump of tree through the woods was hard enough but brambles and briars pulling at my ankles gave some extra hinderance. My general strategy for manual labour is to move slowly with a big load, rather than make several smaller journeys. Another tug at the ankle made me think of dark horror movies […]
Twenty-seven years ago I was having fun in the heats of the UK Strongest Man competition where I was strong enough to move the kit about but never near to qualifying for the afternoon sessions. The best battled for a place in the finals to be held elsewhere. Britains Strongest Man on at the same […]
