The English Eccentric

Goo goo ga-joob! Sir George Reresby Sitwell (1860 – 1943) was a Conservative politician, writer, inventor, and largely unsuccessful husband and father. Despite urging his – much more successful – children to abandon their literary ambitions on the grounds that writing is ruinous to the health, Sir George penned several intriguing works of his own. Titles of his unpublished books include Wool-Gathering in Medieval Times (And Since), The History of the Fork, Domestic Manners in Sheffield in the Year 1250, Acorns as an Article of Medieval Diet, and, of course, the classic Lepers’ Squints. When not writing, Sir George divided his time between travelling Europe, eating chicken, neglecting his wife, antagonising his children, attending to his (and other people’s) gardens, and painting cattle. As an inventor, Sir George is credited with the creation of a musical toothbrush, a pistol for shooting wasps, and an egg, that he named after himself. Subscribe. Follow. Rate. Patreon. @eohiggins @fogsbeefandbeer www.englisheccentric.co.uk

This human form, Where I was born, I now repent... Caraboo! On an April morning in 1817, a cobbler in Almondsbury, Gloucestershire, encountered an exotically attired – and apparently disoriented – woman, who spoke at him in a way that was both urgent and entirely incomprehensible. The woman was subsequently placed into the care of Samuel Worrall, the local magistrate, who determined that she referred to herself as ‘Caraboo’ – though the rest of her story remained a mystery. Fortunately for the Worralls, a Portuguese sailor named Manuel Eynesso offered his translation services – and returned to them with the most singular tale. According to Eynesso, the mysterious woman was in fact Princess Caraboo, of Javasu in the Indian Ocean. After witnessing her father’s murder, she had been captured by pirates and brought to England, where she finally escaped by jumping overboard in the Bristol Channel. Why is this story being covered in The English Eccentric? More to the point, why would you ever trust a Portuguese sailor? Tune in now… Subscribe. Follow. Rate. Patreon. @eohiggins @fogsbeefandbeer www.englisheccentric.co.uk

Lieutenant Commander Bill Boaks (1904 - 1986) was a bluff old seaman, decorated war hero, and frequent – though never successful – political campaigner. An officer in the British Royal Navy, he took part in the sinking of the German battleship, Bismarck; and was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his part in the Dunkirk evacuation. Returning to London after the war, Boaks took his fight to politics. In 1951, he ran for parliament (very nearly in the sitting-Prime Minister’s ward) on a ticket that advocated equal pay for female workers. Clearly, this was never going to be a winner in London in the ’50s. And so, for the next thirty years, he campaigned on a subject that touches every British voter’s heart – road safety. Over the course of his political career (such as it was), Boaks ran for elected office 28 times over 35 years, never receiving a vote share exceeding 0.5% – and, consequently, lost all of his paid deposits. A pioneer of British eccentric political campaigning, he holds the record for the fewest votes recorded for a candidate in a British parliamentary election, taking just five at a by-election in 1982. After years of campaigning about road safety, Boaks was injured in a traffic accident in 1984 whilst alighting a bus. He was buried at sea with full honours in the naval graveyard outside Portsmouth Harbour. Subscribe. Follow. Rate. Patreon. @eohiggins @fogsbeefandbeer www.englisheccentric.co.uk

In this special Halloween episode of The English Eccentric, we’re going into darkness… Introducing Aleister Crowley, (1875 – 1947), English occultist, ceremonial magician, poet, painter, novelist, mountaineer, and occasional haggis hunter. After a university career spent writing wanky teenage poetry, in 1898 Crowley was inducted into London’s secret occult society The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, where he was trained in ceremonial magic by S L MacGregor Mathers and Allan Bennett. (No, not that one.) Before leaving…due to some unpleasantness. Undeterred, Crowley headed to Mexico where he quickly learnt to make himself invisible; and, after that, to Cairo, where he became the prophet of the Thelema religion – entrusted to him (whilst off his tits on Class-A drugs) by the entity Aiwass, the supernatural spokesman of the Ancient Egyptian deity Horus. Crowley’s spirit-channelling provided him with The Book of the Law, Thelema’s sacred text – which famously pivots on the fundamental tenet: ‘Do What Thou Wilt’. In 1920, Crowley established the Abbey of Thelema, a religious commune in Cefalù, Sicily, where he lived with various followers – before being thrown out of the country three years later by Benito Mussolini for his attempted sexual outrages with a goat. By the mid-1930s, Crowley was a rather tragic figure. He had lost his looks, most of his teeth, and almost all of his money – and was reduced to shambling about cheap hotels and bedsitting rooms. Crowley died of a respiratory infection in a Hastings boarding house in December 1947, at the age of 72. According to popular myth, his last words were: “I am perplexed”. Though this was later denied by the woman that was beside him in his final moments, who claimed he gasped: “Sometimes I hate myself”. No Haggises were harmed in the making of this podcast. Featuring Andrew Sharman playing his own grandfather ‘PC Alfred Richard John Sharman’. Subscribe. Follow. Rate. Patreon. @eohiggins @fogsbeefandbeer www.englisheccentric.co.uk

The first patron-inspired episode of The English Eccentric. This episode was requested by the excellent Claire Rowe. William John Cavendish-Scott-Bentinck (1800-1879), the 5th Duke of Portland, was born in London, the second son of William Bentinck – and known by his middle name ‘John’. In fact, all the males in his family were Christened ‘William’ – and, thus, it was customary for them to take their middle names. Presumably, because otherwise, it would’ve made it quite difficult for their mum to call them each in for their tea. Having inherited his family seat, Welbeck Abbey in Nottingham, Bentinck spent vast amounts of cash ‘improving’ it. This mostly involved letting the abbey fall into a state of disrepair, whilst he created a peculiar network of tunnels and strange rooms underneath it. After his death, the reclusive duke – and his strange interest in false whiskers – caused his successor, William Bentinck, 6th Duke of Portland, problems when another claimant to the estate came forward and his known predilection for disguises and tunnelling suddenly got a whole new focus... Subscribe. Follow. Rate. Patreon. @eohiggins @fogsbeefandbeer www.englisheccentric.co.uk

Lieutenant Colonel A. D. Wintle (1897 - 1966) was a British military officer in the Royal Dragoons, who served in both World Wars. Never without his trademark monocle, service revolver, and trusty umbrella, Wintle wasn’t the master of disguise he thought he was – but he certainly wasn’t going to let that stop him from having a go. A decorated war hero, Wintle also saw the inside of a surprisingly large number of prison cells. Most of them in England. However, Wintle was also the first non-lawyer to achieve a unanimous verdict in his favour at a trial in the House of Lords. Clearly, every man jack of them agreed with Wintle that the debagging of crooked solicitors is every Englishman’s duty. Subscribe. Follow. Rate. Patreon. @eohiggins @fogsbeefandbeer www.englisheccentric.co.uk

Phyllis Pechey – better known as Fanny Cradock ­– was an English television chef and writer. Her popular BBC TV show, Kitchen Magic, saw her providing cookery demonstrations in company with (sometimes) husband Major Johnnie Cradock – who played the part of a dull-eyed, swaying, junior partner – whilst she snapped her fingers at her terrified assistants.  After a successful stint as British television’s top chef, soon the bottom seemed to fall out of the market when it came to irascible, chiffon ballgown-wearing cooks with a penchant for piping bags and vegetable dyes. Though celebrated for her abrasive style and haughty demeanour, it was later to prove her undoing ­– when she guested on an episode of the early reality show The Big Time in 1976, and openly chided a farmer’s wife from Devon for her rubbish menu, all the time mugging furiously at the cameras, rolling her eyes and pretending to retch. Despite all this, for many, Cradock remains the ultimate Fanny! Subscribe. Follow. Rate. Patreon. @eohiggins @fogsbeefandbeer www.englisheccentric.co.uk

The Reverend Frederick Densham was Rector of St. Bartholomew Church in Warleggan, Cornwall, from 1931 until his death in 1953. A cleric with unusual ideas in interior design. That thought – possibly correctly – that organ music was the work of the Devil. And who spent most of his time railing about the ills of humanity to small pieces of cardboard. In an unusual move, upon becoming the vicar at the remote parish, Densham spent considerable time and industry alienating his entire congregation – doing such things as erecting an 8-foot barbed-wire fence around the rectory, banning whist drives, Sunday school, and the choir. But, then, realising that no one was listening to his sermons, he fashioned his own paper and cardboard congregation and installed a Tannoy system at the front of the church so that he could bark out angry homilies about booze, beef, and his own organ. Featuring Elizabeth Troake as Daphne du Maurier. Subscribe. Follow. Rate. Patreon. @eohiggins @fogsbeefandbeer www.englisheccentric.co.uk

The 1970s were the heyday of the ‘character footballers’ – the likes of Georgie Best and Charlie George. With popstar haircuts and dangerous playing styles, they were famed for their womanising and hard living. Yet, there’s a footballer that was head and shoulders above them all – and though you’ve probably never heard of him, he really wouldn’t have cared. A man of many parts, Robin Friday could’ve played football for England – but, instead, preferred drinking Dry Martini with asphalters. An off-pitch lifestyle that comprised largely of heavy smoking, drinking, drug taking, womanising, and petty criminality, Friday was also one of the few professional sportsmen to miss several important fixtures because they’d been arrested for impersonating a policeman. Despite Friday’s remarkable ball skills and prolific goal-scoring, he retired after just four years as a professional player – because he was bored with people telling him what to do. Sadly, therefore, his mark on the beautiful game is often less celebrated than the mark he (allegedly) left on TV pundit Mark Lawrenson’s kitbag… Subscribe. Follow. Rate. Patreon. @eohiggins @fogsbeefandbeer www.englisheccentric.co.uk

In 1792, Joanna Southcott joined the Wesleyan Church in Devon – and announced to the congregation that she was ‘The Woman of the Apocalypse’, as described in the Book of Revelation. When many of her baffling visions proved accurate, Southcott then decamped to London and picked up more than 100,000 disciples. She later prophesied that in her 64th year, she would give birth to the new messiah. When Southcott died in 1814, she left behind a sealed trunk – containing many wonderous things that she believed would save England in its darkest hour. Depending on who you believe, her ‘box’ (as it is known) was either manhandled by a famous ghost-hunter – or, remains locked up at the location of the Garden of Eden. In Bedford. Subscribe. Follow. Rate. Patreon. @eohiggins @fogsbeefandbeer www.englisheccentric.co.uk