No Absolutes!

When I first made the decision that my story, "The Legend of Salt and Sauce", was going to be a book I thought it would be finished by 2002. Sure enough, by this time we had enough information to produce the life story of these two famous elephants. We knew where they started off, the names of all their owners, how one of them died and, so we thought, how the other died. We also had some good photos. However, as I sent off my proposals to various publishers we started to uncover yet more information. The story changed - not only the content, but my writing style too. As time went on I started hearing words of advice like "you must have a cut off point" - mind you, this was coming from someone who had surpassed Dr. Johnson's ten years in writing his book and five years on he still hasn't had it published! I began to realize that writing an historical book despite having its strict parameters was a completely organic process and one where it was not easy to estimate when its "life" would end.

As time went on I met some terrific writing coaches who helped me develop my writing style. As in the writing of any book, a huge amount of time was put into refining my writing style and then into editing. Please read my friend Geoff Thompson's philosophical article on this particular area, "There is No Such Thing as a Locked Script" http://www.geoffthompson.com/detailArticles.asp?id=86 My book changed from its initial conception, as a type of "Pulp Non-Fiction" (this style is retained in the book's prologue), to being a first person narrative of my father and my investigation into the story of Salt and Sauce (this is retained in the book's footnotes, introduction and afterward), and then finally into the book that it is today - a straightforward fact-based biography. The people who enabled me to take this route were Jonathan Burt, a social historian and author, Laura Longrigg, a literary agent who noticed that I had become infected by the Victorian writing style of the material I had been researching, and Ian Lewis, a retired teacher who did a tremendous amount of kind work for me.

Now, this is just the writing side of things. The trouble with history is that the content is also very temperamental. New evidence crops up all the time. And it was this side of things that became a constant source of jubilation and frustration. By October 2007 I was happy that I had researched all that needed to be researched. I had covered every important area of the elephants' lives that needed to be covered and I had all my sources noted and verified as far as practicable. The story was completely finished. I was happy with how it read. Now my father and I were completing the final tasks. We were listing all the photographs, putting a timeline together for the elephants lives and writing the introduction and afterward. We had a deadline and we were assembling everything to be sent off on time. The book was scheduled to be published by March with the first proofs through by January. Then, the emails came in. Emails from family connected to people who had owned the elephants. These people had more information that filled in gaps, presented new interesting and related anecdotes, and even new photographs. They had to go into the book.I worked hard to include the new material and photographs and still felt that I would make the deadline. As it turned out my publisher moved the deadline back, so I need not had worried at that time. After doing all this I began work on this blog with the very kind help and coaching of historian/author, Heather Vallance of http://www.penandspindle.blogspot.com/ I also started promoting elsewhere to garner local support. The next thing I knew Robin Stott a local historian was in contact with me regarding Sam Lockhart, the elephant training brother of George Lockhart, one time owner of Salt and Sauce. He gave me more information for my appendix on Sam, which I hurriedly included and begged my publisher to include. It made it to him on the eleventh hour. I sent Robin my completed appendix, but there was yet more information he had and a few errors in the appendix. This time my publisher could not allow it and this will be reserved for the second edition of the book.In my introduction to "The Legend of Salt and Sauce" I wrote that my book was not intended to be the "final word" on the lives of Salt and Sauce. Now I realize the weight of that statement. Over the past two years I have become more sceptical in my nature, which has been quite a liberating process. I have come to understand something that I have pondered for most of my life: there are rarely any absolutes in anything. It is a bitter pill for many people to swallow, but when you are in the field of history or science it is essential that you understand that research goes on and that even so-called facts are temporary conclusions. We need to embrace the idea that our work will attract constructive critics who will add to our research and present new information.

I carry this same concept over to my martial arts/self-defence classes. By not listing any techniques in my grading syllabus we have created an atmosphere of constant questioning, researching, testing and individualistic development. Nature seems to tell us that everything changes and develops or it dies. The same goes with history and science, however, this changing should only happen through objective research and the presence empirical evidence. Therefore it is fine to say "that's just a theory", but the theory with the most evidence temporally prevails.

The human desire for knowledge, however, is all too often checked by the human desire for assurance. This is why it is very easy for scientists, historians, religious people, politicians, philosophers and academics of all descriptions to rest on their laurels or become immovable in the face contradictory evidence. The same passion that drives assurance appears to be similar to the passion that drives belief in the improbable. Conspiracy theorists, alternative historians, pseudoscientists and their ilk are all driven by the need of wanting something to be true. We can all empathise with this feeling, so we should perhaps be a little wary of being too scornful of such "believers". I doubt there are many people who hear about the latest reports from Mars and don't get excited about the idea of there perhaps being "signs of life" - anything, please, a fossil of an amoeba will do.

However, being sceptical and accepting the concept of change is exciting too. In fact, it is through this questioning and progressing procedure that exciting prospects and new levels of awareness are initiated. An old maxim of mine was "love the flower but respect the root" and now I see that perhaps I might become a root. I remember getting quite frustrated with a lot of my original sources - books like George Lockhart Jnr's "Grey Titan" - and say "this bloody thing led me completely down the wrong road altogether". However, looking back it did present me with some fairly sturdy facts that actually gave some structure and helped fill the first third of the book - which doesn't even cover a decade - with vivid first hand accounts that were rarely equalled. There may come a day when an historian, who is interested in the areas of my research, picks up a copy of "The Legend of Salt and Sauce" and says "look how far we've come on from this". Putting my ego to one side that is a day the true historian in me wants to happen.

Update on Elephant Circle and Signing

Today I heard some rather bizarre news regarding the sculpture "Elephant Circle" by Nicholas Dimbleby. Apparently despite the many direct connections Leamington has with Sam Lockhart (featured in my book "The Legend of Salt and Sauce"), Dimbleby's sculpture was not influenced by Sam or his "Three Graces" elephants. The sculpture apparently told the main organizer for the event I will be attending to sign copies of my new book, "The Legend of Salt and Sauce", and answer questions on Sam Lockhart's elephants, that the sculpture was inspired by the idea of the British Empire, heavily connected to Royal Leamington Spa. Other parts of Leamington Spa clearly wear their association with the elephants with pride and on purpose: The Three Graces Luxury Appartment Development, which was built on the demolished former house of Sam Lockhart and the grave of one of his elephants, Wilhelmina Close, named after one of Sam's Three Graces elephants, the elephant logo that is used to promote Leamington's historical past and, of course, Elephant Walk, the slipway, where Sam Lockhart famously lead his elephants down to bathe in the river near the old suspension bridge.

What is remarkable about the sculpture's coincidental features is not only that it features elephants, but that it feature THREE elephants, which is what Sam Lockhart was famous for, as seen in the title "The Three Graces".

First signing date for "The Legend of Salt and Sauce"

I am happy to announce that "The Legend of Salt and Sauce" will be launched at Blackpool in conjunction with the Circus Friends Association AGM and rally on Saturday 7th June. I will be reading an extract from the book accompanied by my father, who helped me out on a lot of research, and will also be giving a Power Point display of photographs. The exact venue has not yet been confirmed - I was hoping and partly assuming it was going to be at Blackpool Tower Circus (as reported in the above link). Further details will follow in future blogs.

Blackpool is a great location for the launch of the book, as the elephants worked there at the Tower Circus at various times. The Tower was also the place where Lockhart Jnr. continued to cement his reputation as the "Doyen of ringmasters".

Circus and Other "Low" Arts: A Defence

Joseph Carey Merrick "The Elephant Man" (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I recently re-watched one of my favourite films, “The Elephant Man”. Released in 1980, this is perhaps one of director David Lynch’s most conservative pieces. The director’s notoriously surreal style is restricted to short dream sequences instead of dominating the piece as he is often want to do. I like some of Lynch’s work, particularly “Lost Highway”, and I am also an admirer of the two stars of the film, Anthony Hopkins, who plays the compassionate Dr. Treves, and John Hurt, who plays his most famous patient and the film’s eponymous hero, the tragically disfigured and disabled John Merrick (actually a portrayal of the real-life Joseph Carey Merrick). When I saw this film as a child it was the first feature I ever recall moving me to tears. Imagine my horror years later when I heard a rumour that Mr. Merrick was once an employee of my Victorian ancestors. Later on I found that this rumour was suspicious at best, but what I did uncover was a very different story about the life of Joseph Merrick. I also had to face the fact that a loved film “The Elephant Man” reflects much of the Edwardian snobbery that set a firm divide between the “high art” of straight theatre, a representative of dignity in the film, and the "low art" of sideshows, which the film depicts as the representative humiliation and exploitation.

Myths, Faction and Pulp Nonfiction

If you are an avid reader with a loose discrimination over what you read you will understand that there is something excitingly decadent about visiting “The Works” discount book store. Don’t get me wrong I love second hand bookshops too, but they seem to have a different level of dignity that rises above the brand new miscellanea of cut-price paperbacks. Recently I browsed in a “The Works” shop and caught a glimpse of a series of books I hadn’t properly flicked through for years: The “World’s Greatest” series for Chancellor Press. These sensationalist factual books are the embodiment of what the great historian Robert Lacey called “Pulp Non-Fiction”.

Each book centres on a sensational subject from paranormal case studies to criminal biographies to the most celebrated stories of physical abnormalities, often bearing the title “The World’s Greatest-“or “The World’s Most-” prefixing the subject matter. Each chapter is a short self-contained account of a particular type of event or a particular person’s biography. There are no endnotes or bibliographies like you would find in most historical books, hell, they don’t even credit the actual book’s author in most of them (although you can find the names through simple internet searches). However, it is the content that says it all. These are the sensational stories that astound us, titillate us, intrigue us and terrify us in the manner of a Victorian penny dreadful, but have one supposed advantage over even the most engaging of literary works: they tell the truth. Or so you would think.

Pulp Non-Fiction is really a tabloid newspaper in book form. It sensationalizes true facts, mixes in rumour and produces light reading material for the mass market. Robert Lacey sees the beginning of the mass market of Pulp Non-Fiction coming from the 1950s publication of books on the mafia. These books mixed documented facts with a prose style that resembled a novel. The books Lacey refers to contained descriptions of what the authors imagined the gangsters had thought or even said, relayed like facts. Such aspects went unchallenged and became “anecdotal evidence” when later True Crime historians cited them for their books and thus certain myths were born. The old maxim “if a myth is repeated often enough it becomes the truth” was never more aptly applied than with Pulp Non-Fiction.

Pulp Non-Fiction, for all its myth-making and sometimes dubious pseudoscientific slant is essentially an account about true events, however, amid anthologies like “The World’s Greatest” series we find that there is the odd account, which is actually a complete fabrication. Take, for example, the story of the notorious Alexander “Sawney” Bean. “The World’s Most Evil Men” gives a single page account of this man monster and his grisly incestuously-bred family of sixteenth century cannibals who terrorized South Ayrshire. The tale has no historical basis whatsoever. In fact, despite it cropping up in many a Pulp Non-Fiction compilation of True Crime, there is virtually no mention of Sawney or his gruesome family before the publication of 18th century periodical “The Newgate Calendar”. The collections of these periodicals read like an early edition of “The World’s Greatest” series and, it could be argued are the Georgian prototype of Pulp Non-Fiction.

As I have discussed, the danger with Pulp Non-Fiction is that a lot of its dubious areas are repeated in future accounts and therefore become accepted as facts. The case of Sawney Bean is a perfect example. On the odd occasion I have even read historians actually referencing the case to show parallels with their subject matter despite the story’s undisputed debunking by Ronald Holmes in his “The Legend of Sawney Bean”. The story lives on and it appears as a self-contained appendix in another type of historical book that takes the style of Pulp Non-Fiction into the realm of complete pseudohistory.

This is the subgenre known as Faction. Truman Capote’s “In Cold Blood” has been considered to be an instigator in this type of popular Non-Fiction, although I see it as coming more under the Pulp Non-Fiction heading, as it essentially deals in primary source facts yet written in the style of a novel. Faction differs from Pulp Non-Fiction in that its core is not true despite being surrounded by historical facts and historical figures. There are two types of Faction: intentional and unintentional.

Intentional factional books knowingly mesh well researched historical facts with clever fiction – this form has its roots in plays and ballads of antiquity. The 12th century clergyman, Geoffrey of Monmouth, is cited as a good example of a Faction writer. One that was so good that his writings, a la Pulp Non-Fiction, were taken by the historian Raphael Holinshed to be the literal truth. There is obvious danger in this, but the intentions of the author – who is essentially an historical novelist – should not be called into question.

Unintentional Faction is an historical book that tries to earnestly prove the validity of a mythical story. The author, in this case, actually believes in what he is writing despite the evidence against his claim. It can be quite contentious as to what we call unintentional Faction, as the authors often hold onto their beliefs with a lot of passion, a passion that is then reinforced by their converted readers. However, passion alone is not enough to get the historical majority to accept your conclusions.

The Myth element, when isolated, is what surrounds a lot of Pulp Non-Fiction, adding to it and distorting the overall picture. The Myth element in Faction, whether intentional or unintentional, runs straight through it and decides the actual plot. As previously mentioned, there are completely mythical characters that have somehow found their way into both Pulp Non-Fiction and Faction. Sawney Bean and Sweeney Todd are good examples of this. Bean cropped up in Pulp Non-Fiction because he is often found in anthologies that contain accounts of real people, but essentially, like Todd, he is more suited for the Faction category. However, because of the lack of actual real events or any form of actual evidence weaved around the various accounts of Bean it would appear that he is far closer to being a pure Myth than actual Faction.

Myths, of course, are believed by many people and that is why they have their own class away from straight fiction unless someone decides to develop the myth into an historical novel (a genre that has a passing resemblance to some Faction). We may talk of the “mythology of super heroes” or fictional adventurers, but I don’t see a tidy historical comparison between a fictional character like Marvel Comics’ Spider-Man and Ancient Greece’s divine hero, Heracles. The reason being that we know who created the former and there are no allusions of his actual existence whereas the latter was a religiously and historically venerated figure.

The urban myth or legend is the modern evolution of what used to be referred to as “Old Wives Tales”. They thrive so long as people want to believe despite the growing army of scientific and historical sceptics producing volumes of well researched and proven material through every conceivable media.

In the world of martial arts, where I spend a lot of time teaching and training, there is a terrible mess of misinformation and misdirection thanks to a combination of propaganda, mysticism, religion, business policy and the “cult of personality” that has built up around the various fighting disciplines. The pseudohistory, such as the myth that all martial arts stemmed from yogic exercises introduced to the Chinese Shaolin temple, is taken as fact and then influences modern development and research. Following the premise “it all comes from Buddhism” or “it all comes from Yoga” it is easy for the modern practitioner to believe that this is at the core of what they are doing rather than the clear objective of developing a “combative craft” (one literal translation of martial art). The trouble with Myths, Faction and Pulp Non-Fiction is that it only takes a relatively intelligent, passionate and influential person to invest in a false idea for it to become a part of volumes of fundamentally erroneous work. In its most extreme cases it can contribute to the creation of dangerous ideologies. The Myth and the ideology will attract followers and very soon we have passionate supporters following and adding to what is essentially a wrong map.

When I embarked on my historical investigation into the lives of two famous circus elephants that became my book, “The Legend of Salt and Sauce”, I was responding to an inaccurate account given in a magazine. Every step of the way my father, an avid circus and zoo historian, and I found variations on the elephants’ story. The whole story had become modern folklore in the way it had been passed by word of mouth around the circus community both during the elephants’ lives and afterwards. Early in my research I went straight to the most well known primary sources on the topic: a book, a radio broadcast and a newspaper article written by George Claude Lockhart, the son of the elephants’ most famous trainer, George William Lockhart. G.C. Lockhart was the first man to wear the “pink” coat and tails that is now so closely associated with his profession. Being a hugely successful public speaking entertainer he also could spin a good yarn, and it was this personality trait that would also inevitably help lead me completely on the wrong track.

G.C. Lockhart’s book and his other works were essentially Pulp Non-Fiction. He embellished the past, removed certain important details, like the fact the elephants had been trained before G.W. Lockhart took ownership of them, and added in new ones, such as the unsupported reports of the elephants’ destructive stampedes around the UK. As our research progressed we found further myths regarding the elephants told by other people and some built on the original myths told by G.C. Lockhart. In the end we endeavoured to objectively research every important apparent “truism” on the Salt and Sauce story. On the plus side the whole experience taught me to be a better historian and a better researcher. It was certainly a contributory factor that pushed me towards the approach of reasoned historical scepticism.

Having said all this, I cannot completely deliver the killing blow to Myths, Faction and Pulp Non-Fiction in terms of research. I would certainly advise that a researcher applies a great deal of discretion when he uses the obvious sensationalist accounts of historical figures and events, but let us not forget that these imaginative and colourful stories are often what draws us into doing research on a subject in the first place. In fact, in an interview with Radio 4, historic author Philappa Gregory, of “The Other Boleyn Girl” fame, remarked how her historical novels are often starting points for future researchers.

On a personal note I would have never read such thoroughly well researched and lengthy books on true crime as Robert Lacey’s “Little Man” or John Dickie’s “Cosa Nostra” if I hadn’t first read about organized crime in a “World’s Greatest” anthology. For that matter I wouldn’t have picked up on that if I wasn’t reading about the adventures of those now forgotten “fowl fiends”, “Budgie Malone and Owl Capone” in a British comic-book when I was ten years old. Such affectionate memories will always ensure that my nose will never be moved to jerk upwards from a discount book store.

If you enjoyed this article please vote for it on Dooyoo

The Museum of Missing History

Please click on the title to the Pen and Spindle's announcement regarding the new online "Museum of Missing History". It is a pretty essential tool for online researchers who are after primary source historical material.

A Touch of Puritanism

Don't worry I haven't gone all 16th century Protestant on everybody. This article was written to address our natural urge to "spring clean" aspects of our life. I have noted that from democratic initiator/all round killjoy of Cromwell and Church of England Puritans to the individualist philosopher/cult-like personality of Ayn Rand and her Objectivists, there have been people and movements keen to strip back life to its essential principles and basics. In this article I look at the pros and cons of such movements and how I believe we can learn from them.

A Woman's Book Of Allegory by Heather Vallance

Heather Vallance is a thorough historian whose interest in the more obscure areas of history has led her to unearth some amazing stories about some incredible people. This new book, written by her, is a more personal contribution, collecting together various pieces she written regarding women: "our purpose, place, and propensity to betray ourselves".

This book is also available as a paperback on http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1434830071/ref=cm_plog_item_link

The Death of George William Lockhart, Elephant Trainer

One hundred and four years to this very day a terrible accident in the circus world decided three different fates. For one individual it brought an end to an exciting, prosperous and famous life. To another it prompted a new career path that would see him become the "Doyen of Ringmasters", the first circus compare to wear the top hat and "pink" huntsman tails that would be associated with his profession up until the present day. And to two elephants in particular it would mark them in infamy for the remaining five more decades of their lives and make become a part of circus folklore as they passed through the hands of some of the most famous elephant trainers and circus impresarios in history.

On the morning of 24th January 1904 the famous elephant trainer George William Lockhart arrived at Hoe Street Station Walthamstow with his four elephants, "The Cruet", "Salt", "Sauce", "Vinegar" and "Mustard". He had previously been engaged at a venue in Norwich and was now booked at the local "Palace of Varities" for a week. The engagement was not to be. After unloading the elephants the group would stampede down the station goods yard and George William Lockhart, the toast of Victorian Music Hall entertainment and internationally famous elephant trainer, would be dead. The details of his death would be obscured through the constant re-telling of the story and the blame that would be placed on one elephant would often be shifted to another: was it Salt or was it Sauce? A single fact would remain unchanged, George William Lockhart was crushed against some rolling stock when the elephant he was trying to control ran down a narrow channel between stationary vehicles.

George's son, George Claude Lockhart was assisting his father on the day and witnessed the tragedy unfold. Over the next fifty years he would re-tell the story on radio broadcasts, in newspapers and even in his own book "Grey Titan". The information would change, which would add to the folklore that would forever surround the elephants, Salt and Sauce. Meanwhile George Jnr would pursure a career that would see become the world's most famous ringmaster. On the instructions of the great Bertram Mills he presented their famous circus at Olympia wearing a costume that would become the standard uniform of the traditional ringmaster. Lockhart's lengthy career would see him become a celebrity at Belle Vue in Manchester and at Blackpool Tower before his retirement in 1970. He died in 1979.

As for "The Cruet" and the fates of the elephants, Salt and Sauce, their careers too were only just beginning. My book "The Legend of Salt and Sauce" gives the full facts regarding the elephants' career with the Lockharts, including the revelation of who killed George Lockhart, and their long and exciting life afterwards. The book is due out in March. Please check this blog's side bar for ordering information.

A Year in Review

My round-up of 2007.

Ivor Rosaire: Hero of "The Legend of Salt and Sauce"

The 24th December 2007 marks the second anniversary of the death of Ivor Rosaire, a legendary figure in the circus world and a key character in my book “The Legend of Salt and Sauce”.

In 2002 I finally made the decision to meet Ivor Rosaire. Ivor was the last living person to have been involved in the presenting and training of Salt and Sauce the elephants, the focus of my book “The Legend of Salt and Sauce”. By all accounts he was an extraordinary individual, even by the standards of his profession and the circus family he was born in to. According to the author, Rupert Croft-Cooke, who spent a great deal of time on the Rosaire’s Circus and wrote three books on the family; Ivor was “the best showman of Rosaire’s Circus. Confident, with a little amiable vanity, as though he is aware that women in the audience consider him a handsome fellow, he yet succeeds in getting everyone’s attention for Salt and Saucy, who move with trundling certainty through their series of tricks. They stand on two legs, squat on their vast haunches, and one of them, to the delight and alarm of the audience, carries Ida round the ring in her mouth. Ivor, in breeches and a sun-helmet, directs them coolly and takes his applause as his two lumbering charges leave the ring”.

My father and I went to visit Ivor when he was still living at Billericay at the Rosaire’s old circus winter quarters, now the permanent home of his niece Joan, a hugely respected horse trainer in her own right. Joan set the meeting up for Dad and me. Dad knew “uncle” Ivor, as did most circus people of his generation. Ivor had always been seen as dynamic figure in the circus world. He was known to be very amiable and with a good sense of humour, but also a straight talker and a tremendous fighter. He and his brothers had boxed in the circus ring since the age of eight, often having to fight each other when no other youngsters came forward for a bout – this would have been in the very early 1920s.

After settling down to tea with Joan, a loud and expressive voice heralded the arrival of Uncle Ivor. My first impression of him was of a man who had lived life to full and, now in his nineties, had no intention of letting anything get in his way. He had recently broken his hip, but this did little to worry him. His walk was confident, even if slippers adorned his feet. He was smartly turned out. “Do you like my shirt?” he asked not long after we exchanged greetings. It was in the cowboy style, a fashion very common with circus artistes throughout the Salt and Sauce era. His long grey hair was pulled back into a ponytail: “I am an old age pensioner”, he proclaimed in defiance, “and they wanted to charge me £9”. After a few jokes and the obligatory teasing that goes on amongst any close-knit culture, we got onto the business of the interview, the full results of which you can read in “The Legend of Salt and Sauce”.

Here is a short excerpt:

“Ivor Rosaire was born on 8th July 1911 in Pontefract, where Rosaire’s Circus was showing. Ivor grew up into a proud, powerfully built, chestnut haired man who seemed as much at home walking into an acrobatic act, stripped to the waist, as he did when immaculately attired in safari style breeches, long boots, shirt and pith helmet. e was never photographed in the circus ring nor on stage without a confident showman’s smile stretched across his face. It was such charisma that made him shine out even among his colourful signally impressive brothers and sisters.

He claimed he was never taught anything in his life. The only person he ever credited for influencing him in any way was Jimmy Fossett, who was the son of the original ‘Sir’ Robert Fossett, the founder of Sir Robert Fossett’s Circus. Ivor claimed Fossett had helped get him over his hesitation in throwing a back somersault off a table”.

Ivor was already an accomplished artiste by the time John “Broncho Bill” Swallow joined Rosaire’s circus as a business partner in 1933. Swallow brought along his two elephants as a major incentive to help the small family circus grow, one of the very few things left over from the weekend he auctioned off his circus in 1930. Before Swallow joined Rosaire’s Circus they had been an almost completely family-run enterprise with members of the family working in nearly every single act. This was the way Rosaire’s circus had formed. The “Count” and his “Countess” had grown their circus from a small sideshow act, appearing in music halls and on fairs into a full family affair, bringing all their children up in their enterprise. They had suffered incredible hardships, losing plenty through the First World War, but had persevered and attracted the attention of two very notable authors, Ruth Manning-Sanders and Rupert Croft-Cooke, both who spent a considerable amount of time living on their show.

Ivor took over the handling of Salt and Sauce when one of John Swallow’s grooms left his employ to start a family – in fact, according to Uncle Ivor, the family had already started ahead of time and the groom had to rush back home and do the decent thing! It wasn’t long before Ivor was presenting the act, as Swallow’s health deteriorated and he lost his main presenter the South African sharpshooter, Charles Van Niekirk. Presenting and eventually training elephants would become Ivor’s niche. He always remembered Salt and Sauce as his favourite elephants, even after the day Salt killed one of her grooms in 1937. Ivor also influenced John Swallow to adopt a new routine for Salt and Sauce to perform: the tableau act. This classy performance involving dancing girls (Ivor’s sisters and later Clara Paulo) had been inspired by an act given by Charles Schmidt at the Agricultural Hall Islington.

Not long after Swallow left Rosaire’s Circus, Ivor joined him on Paulo’s Circus in 1939 and continued presenting the elephants before his papers came in and he was sent to fight in the Second World War. Ivor was made a sergeant and a PT instructor. However, he was to see Salt and Sauce again. After being discharged he worked in a barrel act (an acrobatic number) on his parents’ show before being employed by “Long” Tom Fossett to bring his old friends out of retirement. John Swallow had died in 1945 and his elephants had passed to his son who donated them to Dudley Zoo. For a year they had stayed at the zoo, where no-one had been able to handle them and legends amount their infamy had spread. Then Tom Fossett had decided to bring them back out on the road again. He bought them from Dudley Zoo and Ivor Rosaire was brought in take them back through their old routines. It was a successful move and Ivor presented them on Fossett’s Ringland’s Circus before Tom Fossett’s son, Dennis took over.

From the postscript of “The Legend of Salt and Sauce”:

“[Ivor] went back to work with his sister Zena again in 1948 as a barrel jumper in the act “Jumping Ross and Partner”. He also became a part of the aerial act, “The Flying Desmonds” that same year. His skills as an elephant trainer were required again when Chipperfield’s Circus booked him that Christmas at Bingley Hall in Birmingham. He took the group on the continent for the next three years and worked with Chipperfields in England until 1954. During his time there he worked an act of sixteen elephants and also, at one time, a group of five bull elephants. In 1957 he was back working for another branch of the Fossett family presenting five elephants. Their show was known as ‘Sir Robert Fossett’s Circus’. He worked there until 1965.

This act became one of Britain’s most famous elephant acts and Ivor one of Europe’s most celebrated elephant presenters. Knowsley Safari Park called upon his skills and knowledge in elephant care some years later. He eventually retired to Billericay, Essex when his wife, Lucy, became ill. He celebrated his ninetieth birthday in 2001. He won the Circus Friends Association Lifetime Achievement Award that very same year. In 2003 he was interviewed at the Circus Friends Association’s annual general meeting, where he gave a talk in front of a packed house on his experiences with elephants.

He later broke his hip and moved to live in a nursing home close to his daughter, Juliet, in South Harrow. Despite suffering a few health problems, Ivor continued to be a stubbornly independent and a hugely respected man in the circus industry. He eventually died on Christmas Eve 2005”.

I feel very privileged to have met Ivor Rosaire. He was the only person I have seen who corrected my father – “shoulders back!” was his remark to Dad just before we went to leave Billericay. Dad laughed and agreed he needed to work on his posture. A year later I would feel like a bodyguard to “Uncle” Ivor at the Circus Friends Association AGM. We had our only photograph taken together, where I too sported a ponytail – it was purely a coincidence (the hairstyle was a leftover from when I presented my Gothic martial arts act), but it felt like a type of tribute to this heroic figure in the circus world. Looking at the lawn outside the venue where the photograph was taken, on a sunny day, Ivor remarked “a few years ago and I’d have thrown a roundoff/flipflap/back somersault over there”. It was a sweet reminiscence, but I never felt that Ivor neglected the present. At the time of the interview Ivor had already been training his granddaughter tumbling and a year previously he had visited his brother Derrick in America. Ivor Rosaire was an example to us all, a man who exemplified Timothy Leary’s “correspondence theory”: he lived for the present, eyes towards the future, but with a firm grasp on his past.

Interview with Heather Vallance, author of "An Unconventional Soldier"

The following is an interview I conducted with Heather Vallance, an exemplorary historian and co-founder of the Pen and Spindle historical blog http://penandspindle.blogspot.com/ This blog is an excellent source for specialist historical information and research, promoting lesser known aspects of history and obscure yet significant characters of the past. My interview focused on her new e-book, "An Unconvential Solidier", which appears to be the embodiment of the Pen and Spindle's mission.




Jamie Clubb: Where did you first hear about John Young Filmore Blake?



Heather Vallance: I first came across John Blake around 1997 or 1998. I was helping Cathy Barrett with some research on Texas Jack, the Wild West Show proprietor who gave Will Rogers his entertainment break in South Africa in 1902. As you know, Cathy has spent the last 12 or so years trying to piece together the real Texas Jack because he left us with no memory of himself. Every once in a while she calls on me for research back up. This was one of those occasions. I was scanning material from the early 20th century and I happened on John Blake's book, *A West Pointer With The Boers*. I remembered the stories that had been handed down to me about the Boer War, and the Irish and Americans who fought for the Boers. I was intrigued, but at first I accepted what everyone else said, that John Blake was a bit of a loser and a mercenary.





Jamie Clubb: Outside (and inside) America, the South and the Confederates are often presented as the suppressors. In many ways "An Unconventional Solider" turns this on its head, both in the way that Blake's Confederate family are persecuted and in the way that Blake fought for the suppressed. Please could you elaborate on this?



Heather Vallance: The Civil War symbolizes two clear-cut viewpoints. For those who still embrace the Confederate flag, it represents a very deep cut. For the remainder of Americans, the Civil War and the period prior to it represent the struggle to return dignity to an enslaved people. But, wars are complex and messy things, and at the time they happen the reasons for fighting are very personal and often unrelated to the causes we later associate with them. For a body of Southerners the Civil War was not about the right to own slaves, it was about the right to own the land that they, their fathers and grandfathers had been awarded in government treaties when Indian ancestral lands became fair game for settlers and prospectors. This has been forgotten. General Stand Watie led his volunteer Native Americans into battle during the Civil War because he believed that the Union government was once again going to strip Indian land from the Five Civilized Nations.



Even those Native Americans who fought for the Union were fighting for the same reason. The Indian factor in the Civil War was about protecting what little they had left of their share of America. Stand Watie was Cherokee and most of his men were Cherokee, the rest came from other Indian Territory nations. The letters from well-placed Arkansas men pleading with Watie to lead the Cherokee into battle were not about slavery. These letters were about the preservation of Indian Territory lands. What the Native Americans perceived in the run-up to the war was yet another betrayal, another whole scale land theft in motion. Some may have conjoined racial prejudice to their land struggle, but in the story I am telling, this was not the case.



Jamie Clubb: The Clan-na-Gael was a Masonic/terrorist organization that is virtually unheard of today, but at the time they were clearly a feared and influential group, comparable to the "Scowerers" in Arthur Conan Doyle's 1914 Sherlock Holmes novel "The Valley of Fear". Could you provide a little background on them and the role they played in the South African gold mine situation in the late 1800s?



Heather Vallance: The Clan-na-Gael, like all Irish rebel organizations, was created as a response to the British imperial confiscation of Ireland. Members saw themselves as exiles whose only way to get at their enemy was to take the other side, no matter what that 'other side' was. The Irish rebellion motto was *England's disadvantage is Ireland's advantage*. Of course, this is the idealism that drives rebel membership. Beneath the membership lies the politics. The Clan-na-Gael was an incredibly powerful political organization, as you say. It was powerful because its executive was made up of Irish Americans with formidable networks and often high profile positions in government and in the military and it was tied, in many ways, to the early rise of America as an imperial power. For a period of thirty years, from the 1870s through to the turn of the 20th century, the Clan-na-Gael dictated policy internationally.



The intriguing thing is that British Intelligence only recognized the threat the organization posed in the 1880s. Before that, the Clan-na-Gael seems to have been lumped into the same pot as the 'Fenians' who were perceived as a bunch of loose but controllable Irish canons. I am not even sure if the financial and advisory contribution made by the Clan-na-Gael to the first Anglo-Boer War registered as a warning signal. It seems that those in the British government responsible for security issues were somehow blinded by confidence in their own ability to read the Irish. That, of course, was a huge mistake. They weren't technically dealing with the Irish. They were dealing with Americans some of whom were first generation Irish. Southern Africa was mineral rich and all organizations whether they are government or rebel organizations need money to stay afloat. Gold had been discovered in the 1850s on Boer lands known as the Transvaal Republic. The Boer executive did everything short of murdering those who mentioned 'gold' to keep the discovery under wraps.



The British annexed the Transvaal Republic at the end of the 1870s but their surveyors could find no trace of gold. So, try to imagine a chess board with randomly animated pieces and a gaggle of players with hands raised in anticipation, waiting from any sign of movement on the board. That is what conditions were like before the official discovery of gold in the 1880s in the Transvaal Republic. The Clan-na-Gael was one of the players at the table.



Jamie Clubb: You say the material was "hard-to-access". Do you feel that it was suppressed in some way or is this so much "conspiracy theory" for the "buffs"?



Heather Vallance: *Suppressed* is a loaded word. Information about this period in history was written by those who took control of African gold under the banner of an Anglo-American alliance. By the very laws that govern the nature of information, sources that do not support the dominant written history of an epoch carry little or no value. Information that carries little or no value, in turn, is 'weeded' – a perfectly legitimate archival process of keeping for posterity documents that are important and perceived as beneficial to our knowledge of the past. Of course, perspectives change, histories are re-evaluated and re-written, and the flaws in the methods of knowledge preservation are again highlighted. The act of *suppressing* information, if you will, is more often than not unintentional, almost knee-jerk, and dictated by the worldview of epochs, cultures, rulers, ideologies, and even the supposedly neutral archivists who are custodians of the past. Should they all be lined up and shot before dawn? Not if you are of the opinion that your decisions are as fallible as theirs.



When we research a subject or event we need to be rational about how we look at the context in which the information came into being, and then trace how this information was shaped by the contexts of each era of hands through which it has passed. If we fail to do this we start subjecting our ancestors to some very weird accusations. Conspiracy theory, on the other hand, and those who keep crying conspiracy theory are, for me, a little like those who insist that everything is the fault of the Devil. There is either no real thought going on in the heads of both groups, or they are somehow in on the scam. I have a nasty feeling that a cry of 'conspiracy theory' is just another way of beating researchers into submission, discouraging them from asking really hard questions. It's a wonderful catch-all. Don't believe what he or she says because it is conspiracy theory stuff that isn't valid. The only so-called gain from attitudes like this lies in the fact that important research often lands up on the trash heap and, you have to ask yourself, who exactly benefits from this?



Jamie Clubb: *An Unconventional Soldier* is about the war for gold in Africa. Where do Wild West Shows fit into this story?



Heather Vallance: What does Hollywood have to do with oil in the Middle East? Politics rides on the back of what works. What works is what blurs the boundary between reality and fiction, and keeps the masses from questioning the motives, direction and deeds of the governing classes. The British royal family and government benefited from association with the Wild West Show and its performers in the same way they benefit from the iconic cult of Diana. Theodore Roosevelt created the Rough Riders straight out of the pages of the Wild West, and he fought a war powered by the myth of good versus evil. Go as far back as the earliest expressions of an epoch, as far back as the first rune or glyph and you will find that popular culture is both the drug of the masses, and the impetus which drives the political will of a nation or an empire.
The 'Wild West' was the international standard in popular culture from the 1870s into the era of silent movies. In the same way Hollywood defines our vision of the world as we know it, Wild West Shows defined the vision of America and the world as John Blake knew it. If we want to understand the epochs we research we have to understand these in the context of their popular culture. *An Unconventional Soldier* takes place at the time Africa became the new frontier in the 1880s and 1890s. Americans flocked to subSaharan Africa, taking with them all their preconceptions of their world which had been shaped by American popular culture. Wild West Show performers, like movie stars today, metamorphosed into expressions of the politics of the time. John Blake was often referred to as not unlike Buffalo Bill. Stars themselves over-stepped the boundaries between their fictional world and the real world, placing their mark directly on the political truth of the day. No different, to any number of actors and actresses who rise through the political ranks or become outspoken critics of ideologies today. We simply can't ignore their influence on or their presence in history. The same can be said about the Wild West and the shows it spawned.



Jamie Clubb: Why do you say that the term "cowboys" entered our vocabulary as a result of the Civil War?



Heather Vallance: The Civil War destroyed the South. It left a lot of men and women scraping about for a living. Among these were some of the future artistes of Wild West Shows. They used what they knew to create a story that would bring in enough money to pay the bills. Buffalo Bill popularized the 'cowboy' in his Wild West Shows. He created the 'universal protector of good against evil' with his guns by his side, riding into the sunset. This icon in real life was a humble cattle driver who, before the rise to fame of the Wild West Shows, had never been heard of by British queens or Danish princes, and certainly not by Boer farmers.



Jamie Clubb: When we think of Wild West Shows we think of Indians as people who attacked stage coaches while wearing headdresses, people who lived in tepees and remote places. You claim that this is not the whole picture in *An Unconventional Soldier*, why?


Heather Vallance: Native American culture has been hugely misrepresented in popular culture, and in the history of 19th century politics. Native American society throughout history has been as diverse in its political ideologies and attitudes toward things as any other culture. Popular culture was allowed, in a sense, by the political pundits of the day, to pack this diversity into a single image – the feathered barbarian. The single image facilitated the aims of those who wanted to annihilate the Indians as a political force in American society – to assimilate them. *An Unconventional Soldier* contains stories of Native Americans who were indistinguishable from their settler neighbours, not only in dress but in daily life and activity.


Jamie Clubb: Without revealing too much of your material, just how did the American Indians end up fighting for the Boers?



Heather Vallance: *An Unconventional Soldier* is all about gold, yes, but it is also about the struggle to save land from those whose intention it was to claim that land as their own. Evidence suggests that the struggle for land rights was a universally shared ideology at the turn of the 20th century, much in the same way that you get associations of labour unions today. This is a part of history that really has to be excavated more fully. I say 'excavated' because here is a classic example of the destruction of historical sources because those who weeded information thought that Indians were irrelevant to the history of their own culture, whatever that culture was at the time.



Jamie Clubb: What has attracted you to the material that we see mainly promoted on the Pen and Spindle Blog?



Heather Vallance: The vision behind the Pen and the Spindle is to provide a virtual home for stories that have either been weeded out of traditional history or stories that are too humble to be considered important by the keepers of documents. I am also attracted to these stories because they reveal more about the truth of the times in which they play out than the written-to-order histories that perpetuate the same tedious themes and ideologies we are fed from birth. The world is, and was, a far more exciting place than we're led to believe.


Jamie Clubb: When I first corresponded with you, you and Cathy Barrett were on the trail of Texas Jack who was yet another figure who was famous in his time, but yet almost forgotten today. What attracts you to these figures? Cathy still has some unravelling to do on Texas Jack. She hopes to have his story out to pasture within a few more years. And, as you ask, what is it that draws me, and other researchers like Cathy, to characters who have essentially lost their history?



Heather Vallance: The answer is quite straightforward, actually. We are attracted by the challenge of reconstructing lost histories from the shadows that remain behind, shadows that tell us that something once existed in that spot. 1. Another topic I have seen reoccur in your writing is the subject of platonic relationships and how, all too often, modern day historians jump to assumptions regarding the friendship people have with each other. How do you feel this obscures history? I think that the popular culture of our own era is to blame for the contemporary approach to perceiving historical and present day relationships as sexual only.
We're trapped in a sort of fifteen-year-old, giggly girl approach to deciphering the complexity of human nature and interaction, and that disturbs me. Knowledge building is not a plaything. It is the method of survival of identity, of culture, and nationhood. By adopting a Butterfly Express method to our intellectual asset building for the future, we treat learning as a superficial, self-gratifying game that takes us down the road to our own obscurity. I suppose I've never understood people who are consciously and deliberately self-destructive, and part of that self-destruction is to water down the interaction between and among people to its most basic form. We're a bit more complex than that and a bit more interesting, and so I always look for the power of collective and platonic friendship in history and in life. There is just so much more to explore.



Ultimately, from an historical perspective, we have replaced the *Who's Who*study of Great Men with the *Who Slept With Whom* study of social history. Neither furthers our understanding of past epochs or of ourselves as a species trying to survive under increasingly difficult conditions.



Jamie Clubb: *An Unconventional Soldier* will form part of a larger piece of work you hope to finish in two years time. Can you give me more information on this book and will be published in a hardcopy format?



Heather Vallance: *An Unconventional Soldier* is a stand-alone story whose core research will play a role in a more complete story about the politics and popular culture of the late 19th and early 20th century. It was published initially as an eBook because the cost of hard copy and shipping these days discourages many potential readers whose international currency exchange is horrible. eBooks can retail for half the price of a hard copy but contain exactly the same information. I will probably produce a hard copy in early 2008 which will include verbatim copies of public domain sources important to the story. This hard copy will be for the serious researcher, but anyone simply interested in the story will benefit from the eBook, for the exact reason I gave in the beginning, - cost.



Jamie Clubb: Where do you see the Pen and Spindle blog going? It certainly seems to be gathering steam.



Heather Vallance: I would like to see it become a respected resource and a touchstone for people who are truly curious about the past.

Who was Wilhelm Philadelphia?

The expression "celebrities in their day" can be aptly applied to many of the characters I have researched for my upcoming book "The Legend of Salt and Sauce". The two elephants themselves were described in one objective contemporary book as currently the most famous elephants in the UK when barely a decade later, Sauce's name was changed to "Jumbo" to garner public attention on Cody's Circus. The name was to be changed back again to Sauce or "Saucy" by Billy Butlin her final owner when she appeared at his holiday camp in Skegness. However, one character who certainly seems to have been well known in his day, but there is little surviving evidence of is Wilhelm Philadelphia. The man has the recognition of being Salt and Sauce's first ever trainer.

In his book "Grey Titan: The Book of Elephants", George Claude Lockhart, the famous ringmaster, described the troupe of elephants his father purchased as being "wild". Apparently the marks of their rough handling in India were visible on their legs. This wildness is given as a reason for why they were so unruly during the 18 months or so his father, George William Lockhart, trained and presented them. The fact of the matter is that George Snr would have had to have been an incredible trainer to put wild elephants through the routine they are pictured doing with him in the short amount of time. There is also one other factor that counts against him being the elephants' first trainer and that is the credited presence of Wilhelm Philadelphia. George Jnr. names him in his book and in other sources as the man responsible for delivering the group of four elephants. Young George also remarks that Philadelphia had previously been injured by elephants and his body contained steel plates as a result.

Other historical information later revealed photographs of Philadelphia pictured with a lion and then we found another piece of compelling evidence - Philadelphia lining up a group of four baby elephants at Hagenbeck's Zoo on a photograph dated 1900. He was clearly a well respected and experienced elephant handler.

The fate of Wilhelm Philadelphia is not clear. Here is the footnote I wrote for "The Legend of Salt and Sauce" on the man:

"I recently discovered a fairly objectively written piece on the keeping of elephants in captivity on the “Elephant Country Web” website http://www.elephantcountryweb.com/ that lists several examples of people killed by elephants. One of these people, according to the article, was Wilhelm Philadelphia. The article states “Ross, the cow elephant, crushed the trainer Wilhelm Philadelphia to death on the wall of her box at the Sarrasani Circus in 1921”. The date, of course, contradicts the archival information we have on Philadelphia’s appearances on Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus".

Challenging Material

What connects realistic self-defence, feminist author Angela Carter, counter-culture icon Timothy Leary, the Marquis De Sade and a new film about forgiveness? Follow this link and find out http://www.clubbchimera.com/?p=196

Lust for Failure

This is an article I have recently written for my martial arts website. It deals with the importance people place on success and failure, and asks the question what does it mean to fail? It was inspired by several things I picked up in the media recently including an article published in the "Gracie" magazine and a radio programme. The title comes from an social observation made by the Glaswegian comedian, Billy Connolly. Jamie Clubb www.clubbchimera.com/?p=188

Anti-Bullying Interview

Robert Higgs recently conducted an interview with me in connection with my self-defence teaching. Robert is one of the UK's top anti-bullying experts, his work includes the excellent book "So What Have I Done to You", two plays and his first novel commissioned for publication in 2008. He interviewed me regarding the nature of bullying and the methods through Clubb Chimera Martial Arts I have used to help bullied children and adults. http://www.roberthiggs.co.uk/article24.htm

Big Charlie - A Giant Contemporary

Salt and Sauce may have been Britain's most famous elephants, but "Elephant" Bill Williams ensured that a contemporary of theirs - a prospective "husband" in fact - was immortalized in words almost half a century before my book will be published. Williams was a good friend of my grandfather's, Dick Chipperfield Snr., and mentions our circus family several times in his first book "Elephant Bill". "Big Charlie" was his final book.

Big Charlie - A Giant Contemporary

It is difficult to say when Salt and Sauce’s fame peaked. After Salt’s death, the Kentish Gazette recalls a dubious “40 years” of visits to the city by the two well-known elephants. Whether the overwhelming response to Salt’s death by the inhabitants of the city can be seen as a reflection on her fame, as the journalist suggests, or just simply because many had seen her trapped in the lake, we will never really know. Sadly it is most likely the latter. By the time “Saucy” was sold to Harry Coady a new name had already been decided for her: Jumbo. She would be called “Saucy” again when she appeared at Butlin’s Holiday camp in Skegness, but, although she was featured on many of their postcards and souvenirs, such as mugs and toys, her fame existed only in the considerable shadow of another grey giant. His name was Big Charlie and if Salt and Sauce were the elephant queens of British Circus, Charlie certainly ruled as the king tusker of Butlin’s Holiday Camps.

Charlie’s fame really hit its height when Billy Butlin decided to move him from his Holiday camp in Ayr, Scotland. Originally Sauce was to be scheduled to be his “bride” when he arrived at Butlin’s larger camp in Filey, Yorkshire. However, it was decided that she was too old and was instead used in an attempt to replicate Charlie’s success at Butlin’s Holiday Camp in Skegness. In a move that was part-request-part-publicity stunt, the holiday camp innovator placed an advert in “The Times” offering £1,000 in cash for the safe delivery of Big Charlie from Ayr to Filey. Of the recorded 3,500 applicants, Billy Butlin chose elephant expert Colonel J.H. “Elephant Bill” Williams to act in an advisory capacity alongside Charlie’s former owner, Willie Wilson. Wilson had moved Charlie before, from his zoo in Craigend to Ayr. Williams was brought in mainly for his fame, but also helped a lot with the move. He had written two books, “Elephant Bill” and “Bandoola”, which detailed his experiences with domestic elephants in Burma (now Myanmar), and it was thought he would help add to the public profile of the move.

As predicted, the advertisement caused a media storm and Big Charlie became an overnight celebrity. He was described by Butlin’s publicity as “the largest elephant in captivity” and Williams was so impressed by him that he wrote his last book about the move and Charlie’s life entitled “Big Charlie”. The journey took three days and over the period, Williams absorbed a lot new knowledge about circus elephants, such as Charlie, and became very impressed by Charlie’s dedicated mahoot, Shaik Ibrahim.

Unfortunately Charlie, like Salt and Sauce, was also notoriously dangerous. He was a bull elephant, which was something the British circuses generally tended to keep away from. Williams had argued quite a few times with both Ibrahim and Willie Wilson about the dangers of not controlling a bull elephant when it came into “musth”. Musth was the sexual condition that male elephants experienced periodically around the year. The most obvious sign of an elephant coming into musth was the large secretion of moisture around his cheeks. As Charlie matured his temper at these times became worse. Shaik Ibrahim was really the only man who could properly control Charlie and it was upon his death that serious problems arose resulting in Charlie’s tragic death.

Charlie had been coming into “musth”, which made him, as a bull elephant, become unmanageable and very dangerous. Famous Director, Dick Chipperfield had foreseen Charlie’s dangerous potential, when Mrs. Cotrelli first purchased him in India. Dick shared the same ship as Charlie and on being fully aware of the damage a bull elephant could do when in must he made a point of purchasing an elephant gun when he arrived back in UK. This was all in spite of the fact that Dick had nothing to do with Charlie; the elephant did not even appear on his circus. He was sure that one day someone was going to require the services of an elephant gun and someone who knew how to use it. Years later the call came from Andy Wilson, who ran his zoo at Craigend. He now owned Charlie who he feared had now become uncontrollable and was a dangerous liability. Dick arrived ready to take on the task, but as he approached Charlie his heart sank. Dick later told me how he apologised to Andy that he could not shoot such a “beautiful animal” for no real reason.

Allegedly the RSPCA were called in years later when it was once again decided Big Charlie was unmanageable and therefore dangerous. Once again, the order was given for Big Charlie to be killed. Apparently the method decided upon was by gassing. On hearing the news of Charlie’s eventual demise, Dick Chipperfield lamented “what a tragic end to such a magnificent creature”.

Sources: WILLIAMS, J. H. "Big Charlie" London, Rupert Hart-Davies. 1959.
Also: Reports given to me by my father through his conversations with my grandfather, Dick Chipperfield Snr.
©Copyright. Jamie Clubb 2007

Deleted Introduction of "The Legend of Salt and Sauce"

Continuing on from my previous post, I decided to publish another entry that did not make it into my completed book "The Legend of Salt and Sauce". This time it is one of many attempts at an introduction. Back in March 2004 I was quite confident that the whole story of Salt and Sauce had been told. Little did I realize that I would be receiving information that would change and unveil so much about their lives three years on from that date. In fact, I was still uncovering information and establishing great contacts during the month of the deadline Aardvark Publishing had set. Looking back on the introduction it is quite sad to see the name of at least one person who has died during the writing of the book, Clinton Keeling, and also amusing to see the cultural approach I took back then regarding Music Hall and Circus. It's amazing to see how much has changed in the past few years.

This book deals with the past. It begins in the Victorian era, sometimes harking back even further, the main action of the tale covers the Edwardian decade, The Great War years through to the Second World War and finally we go through the late forties, the fifties and coming to a conclusion in 1960. It is the result of work contained in three bulging folders of information and several out of print books. Two thirds of the information in the folders comes in the form of cuttings or photocopies of old newspapers most easily over half a century old and some over the whole century. Yet the writing of this story for me didn’t begin with the reading any of these primary sources. It started with an email dictated by my father and typed by me, an email that was never finished, but evolved into the book you are about to read.

I work for my family’s firm in the Cotswolds, supplying and training exotic animals for the film industry. Years ago my parents ran a circus and before that my mother’s parents were part of a famous travelling showbusiness legacy that stretched back to the 1600s. I have grown up in the world of entertainment and animals. My father is a keen zoo and circus historian. The two businesses are very far apart in Britain today, but their histories are closely linked, as I was to discover when researching the lives of Salt and Sauce. Dad grew up in an age when the two openly traded animals with one another and joined the circus for a last hurrah in wild animal training before the industry began its decline in the UK. Today he is often consulted by both zoo and circus enthusiasts, helping them with their research, information he has often gleaned from contemporaries of the time or their relatives. Dad has the advantage being both a scholar and an experienced veteran in his field of study.

It was October 2001 and my father received an email from Rob Vaughan, a zoo historian. An article had recently been published in “Zoo!” magazine entitled “A Pachyderm Puzzle” by zoo curator and historian Clinton Keeling, which had raised many questions about two famous captive elephants known as “Salt” and “Sauce” of the first half of the twentieth century. Dad began answering Sam’s questions and correcting some of Clinton’s mistakes in a very matter-of-fact way. The email was going fine until Dad became unsure about a few facts. As time went on, so did the email. After a week or so Dad was bringing in all the information he had on the elephants and before long we were noticing some big contradictions. It soon became obvious that the research we were doing and the work were compiling fitted something far larger than a simple email response. Quelling Sam Whitbread’s requests for updates on our answers to his questions, Dad announced we were going to write an article.

It wasn’t long before extra books were bought and we began contacting other people who had written books that mentioned Salt and Sauce. Soon we were receiving research from various members of the public and performing contemporaries of the elephants. Relatives of the families who were involved with the elephants also sent copies of their research notes and newspaper clippings. This had become a large project. We had sources in several fan-based publications that were happy to publish the resulting article and even serialise it, but it seemed to me that these two amazing elephants deserved a lot more than this.

They had helped sell countless numbers of circus and music hall tickets. Newspapers and books recounted episodes featuring the two elephants. Several radio broadcasts concentrated on them, a major motion picture featured them, hundreds of flowers had been left in memorial of the death one and souvenirs had been sold off the continuing success of the other. They even lent considerable weight to two business arrangements. They had become a part of circus folklore and episodes of experiences with them had been re-told around the proverbial campfire for many generations. Some were awed by the amazing skills the two elephants were trained in, others sold their tales on the elephants’ notoriety. No, a simple series of articles didn’t justify the first complete recounting of such celebrated histories.

I suggested to Dad that we should look towards publishing it as a booklet. He was already building a collection of photographs and postcards of the elephants and agreed. However, the idea of turning into a book didn’t take long. Dad was interviewed by an author of a book on animals in films. I took the opportunity to ask for the professional writer’s help. He assisted me a lot and put me in contact with an excellent agent, Laura Longrigg, who has been a constant objective yet enthusiastic guide to me.

Being the son of a wild animal trainer and an employee of a company that provides animals for the world of entertainment, it will be of no surprise to readers that I didn’t take the animal rights route. Having said this, it would have been easy for me, with the materials provided, to write a sentimental story of poor animals torn from their natural environment and unnaturally trained by greedy men only to be exploited for the whims of a decadent society. The truth of the matter is that I didn’t see a life of cruelty in the histories of Salt and Sauce, and I don’t believe it would have been respectful to their memories to have recorded it in this way.

There are many accounts in newspapers, books and off contemporaries of the animals that they often wondered wild on the circus grounds they occupied. They lived to good ages and were often regarded affectionately in spite of their infamous reputations for killing and destroying. I don’t believe they lived a life of luxury anymore than many of the humans who lived alongside them. However, they were never hidden from the public and in spite of being transported in an era where live exotic animal exportation was in its infancy as was veterinary work and animal husbandry, Salt and Sauce triumphed over disease and disaster to perform for six decades.

The world of circus and music hall today is looked upon with a snooty derision by the country that gave birth to it. In the British comedy series, Blackadder Goes Forth, the following comment sums up the modern era’s attitude to the old world of variety: “Oh yes, the great music hall tradition; two men with incredibly unconvincing cockney accents going ‘what’s up with you then?’ ‘what’s up with me then?’, ‘yes what’s up with you then?’ ‘I’ll tell you what’s up with me, I’m right browned off, right browned off.’ Get on with it!”

As for circus, I have far more personal recollections of the condescending scorn poured on it. Recently a circus friend of mine invited me to a touring comedy show. The performance was being held inside a circus tent and my friend was in charge of organising its dismantling and erection; what in the circus world is known as a tent master. The last comedian on the bill had a constant problem with a heckler. All of the comedians were enjoying a socialist stance, but couldn’t resist making derisive comments about the tent, ironic when I think how the working classes supported the circus throughout its heyday in Britain and how circus gave many a working class individual the chance to make his fortune. This particular comedian responded to the heckler’s cries to entertain him with: “I see, you thought this was a circus. You were expecting to see some poorly treated animals and clowns that pretend to chuck water over you.”

It’s fair comment to say the institutions in Britain didn’t move enough with the times. Nell Stroud speaks in her book “Josser” of how she dreamed of becoming a part of a romantic traditional circus, but to her dismay often found circus artists trying to piggyback off the latest media craze. The result in most cases is a tackiness that takes much away from the romantic’s idea of the unique institution that is circus. The best have been guilty of it. As a child growing up my parents circus I loved our attempt of using a Star Wars gimmick in order sell the legendary “Gina in the Moon” act, Shirley Fossett’s fantastic aerial display. Ironically when Shirley first did the act it was completely original and was often imitated. There have been rare examples when the imitation far exceeds the product it is deriving inspiration from. Eva Garcia, who died from a tragic accident at Yarmouth Hippodrome Circus whilst I was writing this book, sold her aerial silk act as the “Tomb Raider” character Lara Croft and provided a scene that was far more beautiful and had far more substance than anything the video game or empty feature film could hope to achieve.

Nevertheless circus remains the outside art form, despite being the most versatile; appealing to virtually every part of society. There are circuses in nearly every country in the world. In Europe the traditional circus is revered. The same could be said for Asia and the Middle East. America is home to the famous Ringling Brother’s, Barnum and Bailey Circus that has become such a large institution that it has toured with more than one unit for decades now. However, in Britain the only circus that is given respect by the media is the Canadian import, Cirque du Solei. Although a brilliant spectacle it draws little from the foundations for the modern circus set down by Phillip Astley in 1768. There is sometimes no ring and never any horses.

Yet for all Britain’s embarrassment over their centuries old tradition the mark of the circus can be found across the land. Buildings with names such as the Hippodrome, Empire, Coliseum and Arena were created by circus people for the showing of circuses. It was in buildings such as this that Salt and Sauce lumbered through their routines and packed houses. They would live deep within the bowels of the building and be visited by the same public who cheered through their displays. They could be seen through the streets of London, Manchester and many others, linked trunk to tail often stopping traffic and, one occasion, even the King of England himself. Outside of the large cities and across the countryside these two magnificent icons trod their path from one circus ground, or tobre, to the next. Even the coastlines of Britain saw the elephant duo mingling with holiday makers and immersing their great grey hides in the sea.

Salt and Sauce touched the hearts of many generations. They were celebrated creatures of over a half century that, in spite of the fear they inspired through the legends spread about them, were present at three weddings and brought happiness to at least one child member of the public who rode on Sauce’s back. Salt and Sauce are part of my people’s culture and history, they are also part of yours.


Jamie Clubb March 2004

©Copyright. Jamie Clubb 2007

The Indian Elephant: Wild and Domestic (Deleted Chapter from "The Legend of Salt and Sauce")

The following is an early version of a chapter I completely re-wrote for my book "The Legend of Salt and Sauce". Salt and Sauce were Indian elephants not, as it is occasionally been stated, Singhalese. The Asiatic elephant was, up until the 1960s, the most popular type of circus elephant. The large African counterpart (Loxodonta africana) only became popular in the later 1960s onwards.

The Indian Elephant: Wild and Domestic

Most historians begin the Salt and Sauce story from their arrival in Brighton, when George Lockhart Snr, the elephant trainer, took delivery of them. Yet the two elephants had already passed between at least two countries before they arrived in Britain and had been through at least one other trainer’s hands. I thought that if I intended to do as thorough job on the history of Salt and Sauce as possible, I could at least spend a chapter looking at their real roots and the institutions that were responsible for their capture and exportation. After all, Salt and Sauce were not born into the lively Victorian theatres or travelling circuses they would be forever associated with. Their lives began as newborn members of a herd of elephants in the jungles of India.

Elephas maximus, otherwise known as the Asian or Asiatic elephant, has been captured and domesticated in India and its surrounding countries for centuries. Generally speaking the Asian elephants’ temperaments prove to be far calmer than their African counterparts, which make them safer to work with. In addition to this, the two species have a few physical differences as well. The most obvious of these is that the African elephant, or Loxodonta Africana, has comparatively far larger ears than its Asian cousin and is also noticeably bigger in stature. Another conspicuous distinction between the two is that the African has a convex forehead, whereas the Asian has a hollow space at the top of its skull. On closer inspection we see that the African elephant also has three nails, known as hooves, on its rear toes compared to the Asian’s four, sometimes five rear toe hooves. Just for the record both elephants have five hooves on their front toes and both possess huge, wide columnar-shaped feet.

The modern-day elephant originated in Africa and are of the family Elephantidae.
They evolved from a semi-aquatic plant-eating African species called Moeritherium, which lived over forty million years ago. These creatures were pig-like in appearance with long bodies and short necks. Popular theory has it that as they increased in height Moeritherium found it more difficult to eat plants and therefore developed their upper lips and noses into trunks.

Around forty five million years later the animal had evolved into a creature known as Stegodon, which resembled the shape of the modern day elephant. There were still further biological developments for the animal to undergo and the most celebrated variation of the order was the enormous Mammoth. This fifteen-foot tall behemoth, believed to be the ancestor of the Asian elephant, lived up until nine or ten thousand years ago, when either through a dramatic climate change or excessive hunting by man the species was wiped out. At the time of writing scientists are attempting to clone a mammoth using genetic material from preserved remains and a current day female Asian elephant.

Elephants spread throughout Europe, Asia and North America. Over two hundred and seventy species of elephant have said to exist, of which the African and Asian are the only surviving members. Popular theory has Elephas maximus first occurring in Syria, Iraq and southern Asia. Today their wild numbers are restricted to the Asian continent, where large numbers have been captured and trained.

The female or cow of the Asian elephant species is a natural herd animal, living in large groups sometimes reaching a hundred members, but most commonly between fifteen and forty. One dominant female leads the group. These herds are proof of the extent of the species’ intelligence as their movements are thoroughly organised. Sometimes the herds divide up into sub-units and at other times they converge en masse into one large “clan” that can amount up to two hundred elephants in one area. This is quite different to the males or bull elephants, which are usually quite solitary once they have hit puberty; although they have occasionally been known to form small “bachelor” groups.

The Asian elephant has a head and body length measuring between 550 and 540 centimetres and the height from the shoulder to the ground measures between 250 and 300 centimetres. Males weigh over 5,000 kg and females, just less than 3,000 kg.
The animal’s entire body is covered in a thick grey to brown hide, occasionally mottled about the head, trunk and chest with flesh coloured blotches. The skin, which is surprisingly sensitive, is scarcely covered by long bristly hairs.

Evolution doesn’t seem to have been generous with improvements on the modern-day elephant. The short-necked Moeritherium’s ghost can be seen in the restricted head movements of the animal. Of its seven neck vertebrae only three are functional. Another biological shortcoming of the animal is its digestive system. The elephant can only digest forty-four per cent of what it can eat, which explains its consistent devouring of food all day long.

The elephant is not only unique in the respect that it is the largest land animal alive; it also has other distinguishing features, the most unusual being its trunk. This highly adapted prehensile part of the animal’s face is used not only for breathing but also as a highly effective tool. The trunk is long, flexible and strong. It functions like an extra limb and picks up food that it pushes into its mouth, or dirt that it throws over its back also as a method of cooling down. At the end of the trunk there is a small finger-like part that is sensitive enough to pick up very small objects. The trunk is also able to suck up water and spray the elephant’s body when it bathes.
Another outstanding feature of the species is its tusks, used both for digging during draughts and as weapons when fighting challenging elephants. Because of its tremendous size, weight and strength, the elephant has few natural predators. Tusks are most noticeable in the male elephant, but females also have them, albeit generally a shorter version. In places such as Sri Lanka, males rarely have them and the females never do. Ironically this lack of a defensive tool protects the Sri Lankan species from the elephants’ greatest enemy: Man.

The trade of ivory has been one of the most dramatic impacts on the lives of elephants. Large amounts of their wild number were hunted for their tusks, which reached high prices all over the world for the various ornaments and furniture that can be carved out of them. This large-scale destruction reached its zenith in the early nineteenth century, resulting in a huge reduction of numbers in Sumatra, Thailand and the Malaccan peninsula. In addition to this the increasing population of humans brought man and elephant closer together in a rather less than friendly relationship. Over the centuries the Indian wild elephants were pushed back into the jungle as their natural habitat became destroyed. In response to the human intrusion considerable numbers of elephants wrecked farmland, causing major economic problems within the native crop industry. The danger of these rampaging herds was quite significant too. Even as late as 1989 it was reported that between 100 and 150 people were killed annually in India during elephant crop raids. The humans reacted to the problem with one swift solution; the animals were culled. As a result of this and the ivory poaching, today elephants are a registered endangered species.

However, elephants have been a part of Indian culture for almost as long as there has been civilisation in Asia. You only have to look at images of the Indian Hindu god of prophecy, Ganesa, who is represented with an elephant head, to see the cultural regard such a creature is held in. The tradition of capturing them from the wild goes back at least 5,500 years and its origins can be traced to the historical Indus Valley.

The process of capturing these magnificent animals was an operation steeped in ritual for the villages that took part and became their sole means of profit. The trap the elephants were herded into was a fenced-in area known as a Keddah. It stood four metres high, surrounding an area of more than a kilometre and a half. This fence was made up of tree trunks sunken two and a half metres into the ground and lashed together by ropes and jungle creepers. It had a huge V-shaped entrance where a heavy trap door was positioned above the herd’s eye view and held in place by thick ropes that were tied to trees ready for the gate-men’s sharp knives to sever. Time passed and the monsoon season came, bringing rain that had washed the scent of man away from the Keddah, making it look as if it were a natural part of the jungle.

Scouts who made their living by delivering information to Keddah contractors were sent out into the jungle to observe herds of elephants as they drew nearer to the trap. Eventually news arrived at the Keddah village that a herd of elephants had moved into position.

One day in around the year 1901 the herds Salt and Sauce belonged to were startled by a gunshot and the sudden presence of humans – thousands of them. In blind panic the animals charged through jungle undergrowth towards their orchestrated capture. Onward they ran finding themselves heading for a series of bamboo-bridges strategically positioned ahead. As they crossed, two huge walls of fire, lit by the bridgemen, sprung up around them to narrow their passage.

Having lit the fires, the men who had been honoured with this task rushed away, as the bridges themselves erupted into flames behind the charging herd of elephants. Escaping the blaze the herd would rush through the Keddah’s gateway and into the awaiting darkness. With split second timing the ropes would be cut and the trap door dropped sealing their fate. From here the village would select appropriate elephants and release the rest.

The chosen elephants would be trained in basic obedience and then be auctioned off to various purchasers. In most cases the elephants were used to transport teak logs down the Indian rivers, as general beasts of burden and also as steeds for hunting. The elephant is a majestic looking creature and royalty, along with other people of high standing, ride on top of the animals in richly decorated howdahs. In addition to this, they are raced and there are historic records of huge amounts of Asian elephants even being used in battle from 1100 BC to AD 1500.

It was in this country that the traditional industry of capturing wild elephants in some way contributed to keeping the animal away from the threat of extinction. Before the days of funded conservation, the only way to prevent mankind from wiping out endangered species was if that species became a desirable commodity alive. So long as these animals were needed as beasts of burden or ceremonial showpieces their species would remain. There was also another institution where man would have a large place for elephants: the world of entertainment.

The mid-nineteenth century saw an increasing interest from Europe and America to see live elephants as well as other Asian and African animals. These unusual creatures were now being transported back to the menageries and circuses that were fascinating the western world. By touring, these shows were bringing animals, normally only seen in zoos, to a far wider audience. Soon western adventurers were going out on safari to bring back exotic specimens for the growing demand back home. As contact with foreign animals grew, so did public sympathy. Even during the regency era, when ivory was in incredibly high demand; the elephant touched the hearts of celebrities such as the poet, Lord Byron. He remarked once on his happy experience he had visiting the London Tower Menagerie when the resident elephant enchanted him. Byron, like many others, kept a small private collection of exotic animals and was famed for sharing his university boarding quarters with a trained bear.

I am not about to argue that the people who caught, sold and bought elephants did it consciously to preserve these animals. However, I think it is interesting to note that after the potential threat of having the entire elephant species wiped out by the ivory fashion; man’s tastes once again changed the course of natural history.

During the 1880s huge numbers of elephants were being exported to the west. As animal husbandry improved so did the elephants’ survival rate. Once they arrived they had to be fit enough to be exhibited. Those who had the ability to organise the successful selecting and importation of large numbers of elephants could more or less name their price to huge circuses such as Barnum and Bailey’s in America. Elephant trainers began to come into their own, making their fortune by presenting these gigantic creatures.

The elephant would soon replace the horse in becoming the most popular animal in the circus. Words such as elephantine and mammoth would enter the English language to describe great size. Even the English word “jumbo”, meaning huge, came from the legendary circus and showbusiness pioneer Phineas T. Barnum’s gargantuan elephant of the same name.

The female elephant calves soon to be known as Salt and Sauce, along with two others who would share equally eccentric Cruet names, “Mustard” and “Pepper”, were destined for to be sold to the entertainment history. Soon they would be cruelly removed from their mothers and the rest of the herd, but mercifully saved from a possible fate with a poacher’s bullets. In such cases the lucky ones would die, whereas the wounded would be left to a lingering death caused by infection and starvation. Man was not their only predator either. The hot humid weather of Southeast Asia presented ideal conditions for the breeding of parasites. Such diseases as these thrived within the Indian jungles and swamps, where elephants frequented. We know for definite that such a disease already had infected at least three of these baby “Cruet” elephants.

Perhaps the four calves were related or maybe they were caught on separate occasions. We will never know. One can only imagine the frightened animals listening as all around them the Indian village began celebrating as the sun rose over their Keddah after a successful elephant catching operation had been completed. Being very young it is unlikely that their captors would have bothered training them. Such attention was normally reserved for the older elephants. They were displayed, still wild, in front of many bidders and traders that came to India.

Amongst these people was an agent for the German animal trainer, zoo-owner and catcher Carl Hagenbeck. Hagenbeck was born on 10th June 1844, the son of a fishmonger, who almost by accident had chanced upon the wild animal trade. Over the years Hagenbeck had carried on his father’s business, building up zoos around Germany and also running circuses. He was amongst the first trainers who advocated what he called the “gentle” or “gentling” methods in training animals. This food reward system would be the foundation to what would much later be known as “positive reinforcement” training and was soon readily picked up after his high-profile international demonstrations in the 1890’s. This was in opposition to the aggressive methods often used by wild animal exhibitors, which pretty much amounted to fighting the animals on display.

The reach of Hagenbeck was considerable. He had a number of experienced and famous animal catchers on various assignments all over the world tracking down large quantities of animals for zoos, circuses, menageries and various other exhibitions. However, it was the considerable popularity of the elephant in late nineteenth century England and America, which helped push his business to new heights. At the turn of the century such success was demonstrated in his buying of a new four and half acre property in Stellington near Hamburg. Hagenbeck had gradually outgrown each of his zoos and had helped revolutionise the care in captive animals in the process. He transferred everything he had from his old zoo in Neuer Pferdemarkt to the new location and, with the help of investors, bought land in-between Hamburg and Stellington. This would be a new beginning for the zoological pioneer as he rose to international success in the captive animal world.

His new zoo opened in 1902. This was the same year that he sent his elephant man, William Philadelphia, to Great Britain with the future Cruet members. They arrived at the doorstep of a very unique individual. This man was a true representative of the Hagenbeck-style of training and also an innovator in his own right. At different times both this man and his brother would be given the title “the greatest elephant trainer that ever lived.”

Previously he had purchased his first elephants whilst in Asia and was credited by some press as starting the elephant craze in Europe. Americans were also accused of trying to imitate his elephants’ comedy and musical routines. According to newspaper reports of the time, because of this man, agents were “scouring” the continent in order to find acts containing elephants. Perhaps he was indirectly responsible, in part, for the numerous elephant orders Hagenbeck was now getting on a regular basis.

Two of the four members of the Cruet would be connected with their new owner’s name for the rest of their lives and over half a century after his death. They would be known as Salt and Sauce. Their relationship with him would result in both their fame and their infamy, for they would be both his protégés and his killers. And this was only part of what the future held for them as they stepped out of the remains of their wooden containers and into the life of George William Lockhart.

©Copyright. Jamie Clubb 2007