In Memory of Salt and Sauce: Wolverhampton's Elephants

From Wolverhampton's "Spaghetti Gazette":

Thurs 13 Nov, 6.30pm The Legend of Salt & Sauce: Wolverhampton's Elephants
The Black Country Society and the Wolverhampton History & Heritage Society jointly present an evening devoted to the memory of Salt and Sauce -Wolverhampton's two circus elephants who lived in a yard in Gorsebrook Road from 1920 until the Second World War. Their owner was John Swallow, the proprietor of Broncho Bill's Circus and Wild West Show. Jamie Clubb and Jim Clubb, who have written a book on Salt and Sauce, will give an illustrated presentation.The event will be chaired by Ned Williams, the President of the Black Country Society, and after the presentation the Clubbs will be selling copies of their new book. Cost: £1.
http://www.light-house.co.uk/whats_on_article.php?id=119

Last of an Era

The Hall-by-the-Sea was an establishment founded by "Lord" George Sanger, a figure with strong connections to my book "The Legend of Salt and Sauce" (now in its second edition). Sanger was one of the most famous circus proprietors of his day and his Hall-by-the-Sea establishment in Margate is connected with one of Salt and Sauce's owners, the mysterious Herbert "Captain Joe" Taylor.

The Hall-by-the-Sea was replaced in the early part of the 20th century by Dremland, but there are still some small remains of the zoo that was contained within the hall. Recently a preservation order has been placed on the three remaining cages, which are the last remaining pieces of the zoo part of the Hall-by-the-Sea and possibly the last remaining examples of Victorian zoo cages (at least from that particular period of the late 19th century). Support is still being gathered in favour of preserving the cages and the case being made that they are of historical importance.

http://www.spaghettigazetti.com/2008/10/events-at-lighthouse-wolverhampton.html

Second Edition of "The Legend of Salt and Sauce" is now available

I am pleased to announce that the second edition of "The Legend of Salt and Sauce" is now on sale. As previously mentioned in the "No Absolutes" article, this is a completely updated edition of the book that was first published in June 2008. The new edition has extensively revised text on nearly every page, additional historical information, corrections, additional colour photographs and more.

Copies are available through all good booksellers, my publisher Aardvark Publications and from me. If you want your copy signed and dated, please let me know on jamie@amazinganimals.co.uk

Wolverhampton elephant recollections 2

The articles in the Wolverhampton Express and Star continue to arouse old fond memories of Salt and Sauce the elephants when they were regular residents there in the 1920s-40s. Recently I was sent the following recollection from Harry Jones who has kindly allowed me to reproduce it for this blog:

"During the second world war my father was in the fire service [I don't know whether he was in the AFS or the NFS at the time], but I can remember him saying to me " Can you guess what I rode my bike into last night ". He used to cycle along Gorsebrook road on his way from Cannock road , where we lived, to the fire station on Newhampton road. Apparently it must have been one of the occasions that the elephants got free and he rode into one of them, fetching him off his bike. During the blackout the front lamp of a cycle had a cowl on it that deflected the light downwards , only illuminating the front wheel. The poor elephant didn't stand a chance !!!

Prior to living on Cannock road I lived in Lloyd Street, off Newhampton road, with the "Summer house" pub on the corner.
The trainer of salt and sauce used to walk the elephants round the streets, then pop into the pub for a drink, leaving the elephants outside, where a group of us children would feed them stale bread. Fathers of the children in the street would send them to collect what the elephants had deposited on the road, And on one occasion Tonys' truck had that much muck on, the wheels collapsed.

I decided to write this,after reading the article in the Express and star about salt and sauce, I thought you might be interested.

Harry Jones"

Report on Kenilworth Book Signing

On 13th September 2008 I attended a book signing at Kenilworth library. The event was covered by the Kenilworth Weekly News. Please see a scan of the article below. Unfortunately the interview was conducted over the telephone, which meant some of the more confusing details regarding my book got a little muddled. Matters often get confused when I am promoting the book in Warwickshire due to the fact that Sam Lockhart, the brother of Salt and Sauce's most famous trainer, was a celebrity in Leamington Spa with his elephants.

Toffees in a tin - Salt and Sauce return to the Express and Star

The Wolverhampton Express and Star newspaper was a major source for my research on the elephants Salt and Sauce when they were owned by John "Broncho Bill" Swallow. Swallow had a very close relationship with his local paper and regularly sent reports back to it when he was touring with his own circus and later when he toured on other circuses with Salt and Sauce the elephants. His son, John D. Swallow - the third member of the family we know of who bore the name John - became the paper's editor. Historian Ned Williams wrote a lot on the circuses and faires that visited Wolverhampton and I am grateful for his research on the Swallows and Salt and Sauce. He will be promoting a special signing and talk I will be giving at a Wolverhampton cinema on 13th November. He recently had an article published on my book "The Legend of Salt and Sauce" in the Wolverhampton Express and Star, and below is a scan of Christin Groscutt's article written in response. The 78 Wolverhampton local tells of her fond memories of Salt and Sauce who she gave toffees and claimed as her "pets" at school.

New Edition of "The Legend of Salt and Sauce"

This post is something of a sequel to one I wrote called "No Absolutes". My first book, "The Legend of Salt and Sauce", has been extensively revised since its first publication. This is very exciting news for me. In the spirit of historical writing the book was never intended to be the final word on Salt and Sauce the elephants, and there incredible lives. It was, after all, only the first time their entire story was put together and first serious attempt was made to separate the fact from the fiction. My intentions have always been to inspire others to do further research, fill in gaps with solid evidence and, above all else, correct my errors. Some historians and writers have done just that and were good enough to send me their findings and annotations. I have gratefully received them and used them to improve my book.

The new version of "The Legend of Salt and Sauce" is now a virtual second edition that should include extensive revisions of the text thanks to Geoff Stevens, extra information from Mark Twitchett and Ned Williams - including a letter from the deathbed of John "Broncho Bill" Swallow's grandson who was able to read the book shortly before he sadly passed away, an index, a completely rewritten appendix on Sam Lockhart - thanks to Robin Stott and additional colour pictures.

Of course, this will mean that the first print run of the book will be more valuable now, so if you haven't purchased a copy now I would advise you do so soon. We have very limited stocks!

New Signing Date

Please note that the signing of "The Legend of Salt and Sauce" at Kenilworth Library has now been changed to Saturday 13th September 2008.

Review for upcoming "Kingpole" Magazine

"The Legend of Salt and Sauce"
By Jamie and Jim Clubb
Published by Aardvark Publishing, 2008, ISBN 9781872904368, £20

This book's subtitle is "The Amazing Story of Britain's Most Famous Elephants". I am not sure that elephants have "fame" outside the world of those interested in circuses or zoos, but the book certainly lives up to the claim to be "amazing"! It is perhaps amazing that it is possible to produce a biography of two elephants at all so the authors deserve great praise for coming up with such a detailed story.

The attractive glossy paper cover of this A4 148 page book features the elephants themselves on the front, and an attractive Broncho Bill's Circus advert on the back with a few notes to put us in the picture, plus two recommendations - one from Nell Gifford and the other from Dr. Heather Valance. Thus, anyone picking up the book casually should soon be persuaded that this book is going to be a good read. As the blurb says, "Never has the story of their lives been told in its entirety. Until now…"

After a short prologue the story begins with a dramatic telling of a tragedy that occurred in Salt and Sauce's lives in 1904, resulting in the death of George Lockhart. It is proof that a good story does not always begin at the beginning, as describing this incident makes sure that reader comes face to face with the "amazing" qualities of the story without further delay. Once our attention has been grabbed the authors return to the chronological approach we would expect of a biography but we have to follow it with the knowledge that the heroines of the tale are as much the subject of "legend" as of truth.

The book therefore cleverly proceeds on two levels. On one level we follow the eventful and colourful life of two elephants - meeting many interesting human characters along the way. On another level we pursue a detective story - the Clubbs searching for the elusive truth. It is this constant attention to the business of disentangling the story while telling it that makes the book so fascinating. Only authors with an ability to penetrate the circus world could have dealt with such complexities.

The Clubbs are well served by the witnesses and archives that have been available to them. My only regret is that I was unable to "organise" a meeting between the Clubbs and John Swallow - the grandson of Broncho Bill. John had helped me explore a little of the story of Salt and Sauce when I had been researching a book in the 1990s. As a result of a misunderstanding I had the impression that he was no longer interested in helping anyone explore his grandfather's part in the story. The truth turned out to be that John Swallow was not well. Once I discovered this, and found out his new whereabouts I was able to send him a copy of the book. John died on Tuesday 15th July but I gather that the book meant a great deal to him during the last few days of his life - and helped him to connect with an enjoyable part of his past. Just before he died he wrote: "Now my two best boyhood pals are giving me thoughts about what I would have never have known about them."

John was a schoolboy when he developed his friendship with his grandfather's elephants and they obviously meant a great deal to him. The book shows that Salt and Sauce meant a great deal to lots of the people they encountered. Whether that is true of all circus elephants or whether Salt and Sauce were extra special you will have to judge for yourself, but the book will give you plenty of food for thought. So, once again I must congratulate the Clubbs, father and son, who have produced a book that lives up to its claim to be "amazing", creates an interesting tension twixt "fact" and "legend", and leaves the ready with plenty to think about. Read it and buy copies to give to your friends - it deserves a wide readership.

Ned Williams

For details on the quarterly publication "King Pole" please follow this link http://www.circusfriends.co.uk/kingpole.html

Signing and Review Updates

My parents' private zoo will be, for the first time ever, holding an Open Day for the general public to view their facilities on 21st August. Signed copies of "The Legend of Salt and Sauce" will be on sale, and my father and I will be on hand to answer questions. For further details on this exclusive event please call 07743905852.

We also have details of a signing in Wolverhampton, once home to Salt and Sauce, where I hope to meet residents who saw the two magnificent elephants walking their streets. Details below supplied by Ned Williams:

'13th November 2008: "Wolverhampton's Elephants"- the amazing story of Salt and Sauce....will be presented on Thursday 13th November at 6.30.pm at the Light House Cinema, Wolverhampton, byJamie and Jim Clubb, authors of a new book on the subject.The event is jointly presented by the Black Country Society and the Wolverhampton History & Heritage Society and will be chaired by Ned Williams, President of the BCS.The evening will include visual material, hopefully including material on film relating to circus elephants.Admission (at the door) £1'.

And finally the 1st July edition of "Circus Report", an American publication, has a glowing review of "The Legend of Salt and Sauce" by Don Stacey. Stacey said "I can't rate this book highly enough" and praised my father and my "meticulous research". Hopefully this will generate interest in the USA where the tradition of elephant training is now much stronger than it is in the UK.

The Famous Rosaires

Syvia Kent's article, "Our famous residents, the Rosaires" reproduced by kind permission of Newsquest. http://sylviakent.blogspot.com/search/label/JOAN%20ROSAIRE

Martial Edge Interviews/Articles on Jamie Clubb

These links are to the first two parts of an article written by Lesley Jackson for Martial Edge based on the most candid interviews I have ever given regarding my circus upbringing and experiences in the martial arts.

"Jamie Clubb: The Early Years"
http://www.martialedge.net/articles/interviews-question-and-answers/jamie-clubb-the-ealy-years/

"Jamie Clubb: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly"
http://www.martialedge.net/articles/interviews-question-and-answers/jamie-clubb,-the-good,-the-bad-and-the-ugly/

Report on the official Salt and Sauce book signing

7th June was a very special day for me. My father and I launched a book that has taken us at least six, probably seven, years to complete off and on. It was also my first ever published book. Since I was about 5 years old I have wanted to write a book of some description. I can't say that this was the book I had envisaged, but nonetheless it is a book I am very proud of. With the help of my father's expertise in the world of animal training and our various contacts inside and outside of the circus world we were able to produce the type of circus book we both would enjoy reading. Launching the book at the Circus Friends Association's Annual General Meeting did fill me with more than a small amount of anxiety. True these dedicated supporters of circus knew and have followed my father and my family's career well, but this book was not about him or the Chipperfields. This was a book about elephants who Dad never knew and didn't ever appear on my family's circus. We had tackled a topic that had become wound up in myth, speculation and folklore during an age that now seems like centuries ago. Furthermore, unlike many books that sell to circus enthusiasts this was not a book dominated by posters, postcards and photographs - although it does include quite a number - rather it is mainly dominated by my prose. Nevertheless, through the help of other dedicated and helpful historians to not mention wonderful characters like Ivor Rosaire, who began their career with Salt and Sauce, we were able to assemble the entire story for the very first time, disentangling the legend from the reality, and I have grown as a writer through the experience.

It would appear that our efforts were not in vain. Ned Williams, a helpful contributor, very kindly stood up to give a speech of thanks for the book. He and others pointed out the huge impact Salt and Sauce made on the lives of residents, still alive today, of Wolverhampton when they roamed their streets having lodged at John Swallow's winter quarters near the old railway bridge. Ned also made the poetic observation that the story of "The Legend of Salt and Sauce" had begun with a father and son, George Lockhart the elephant trainer and his son, the ringmaster and storyteller, and now it had been retold by another father and son team: my dad the animal trainer and me, the new storyteller.

The event was well received and included me reading two exerpts from the book and Dad giving a Power Point display, including photos that did not make it into the book. My thanks to my publisher, David Jamieson of Aardvark Publishers and the CFA for hosting us on this very special day.

Pictures from the CFA book launch of "The Legend of Salt and Sauce"

A Few Reviews of Salt and Sauce

It is early days yet, but I am happy to list some feedback we have received from the first readers of "The Legend of Salt and Sauce".

"Book looks good & makes a facinating read so much first hand as opposed to spinning the usual tales Gives an insight into the business we love & can't get enough of" - Sandy Davidson, circus historian

"I really like the Jamie Clubb book ‘Salt and Sauce'. It is a good job that you are brave enough to publish all these records of Circus Legends. I really admire all the work that you put into the King Pole and all you publications" - Gerry Cottle, Circus Proprietor and author of "Confessions of a Showman: My Life in the Circus"

"Congratulations on 'Salt and Sauce. It is an absolute 'tour-de-force'. I thought it would be good, but it has surpassed all expectations. In telling the story of Salt and Sauce you have also given us a huge chunk of British circus history during the first half of the 20th century" - Mark Twitchett, circus historian

Book Launch at Blackpool Winter Gardens June 7th

The official launch for "The Legend of Salt of Sauce", my first book, will be at the Circus Friends Association's AGM "Pick 'n Mix" event-filled weekend, which includes special shows and tours of Blackpool. I am scheduled to read extracts from the book and my father, my chief researcher and contributor, will be giving a Power Point display talk with historical photographs of the famous elephants, Salt and Sauce. We also be conducting a Q & A session and selling signed copies of the book. Our talk is scheduled for 12:30-13:30 at the famous Blackpool Winter Gardens. For more details please contact Alan or Andrew Coates on 01617867206 (office hours only please) or email cfaweb@hotmail.com

Sam Lockhart's Elephant Walk - Video

On 24th May I attended the unveiling of "Elephant Circle" in Leamington Spa and set up a stand to sign the first copies of "The Legend of Salt and Sauce". The event was organized to not only unveiled this newly repaired and re-located sculpture by Nicholas Dimbleby, but also to celebrate Leamington's historical links to elephants. The root of this association starts with Sam Lockhart the circus elephant trainer. Sam features in "The Legend of Salt and Sauce" as he was the brother of fellow elephant trainer George Lockhart who was tragically killed by Sauce in 1904. I also dedicated an appendix in my book to Sam's life. Despite George's elephants having a more celebrated history in the UK, Sam was the more successful of the two brothers, and during the early part of the twentieth century he famously walked his elephants around Leamington Spa. While I attended the unveiling I couldn't resist the opportunity of filming the famous "Elephant Walk", the slipway where Sam walked his elephants down to bathe in the river Leam. Here is the footage we took: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1zKlz4j7sc

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".