Leeds news on today's date (Oct 8) in 1842.

[Leodian]

The following is from John Mayhall’s ‘Annals of Yorkshire’ volume 1 published in 1861:-October 8 1842. “Mountjoy, the celebrated pedestrian, completed this day, the very remarkable feat of walking from Leeds to Bradford and back again, three times within fourteen hours, on six successive days, being a distance of 62 miles each day. On the 17th of the same month, at the Victoria Cricket Ground, Woodhouse moor, in the space of half-an-hour, he ran one mile--walked one mile forwards and one backwards--trundled a hoop half-a-mile--wheeled a barrow half-a-mile--hopped upon one leg 200 yards--ran backwards 200 yards--picked up 40 eggs with his mouth, placed a yard apart, without his knees touching the ground or his hands touching the eggs, and brought each egg in his mouth, and deposited it in a bucket of water without breaking. After a rest of thirty minutes he also performed the following feat within an hour, he ran seven miles, and leaped over sixty hurdles, at an elevation of nearly four feet, having an egg in his mouth while leaping over the last twenty.”I think Mountjoy deserves a gold painted post box just like the recent Olympic gold medallists got! PS. I've tried a search for information on Mountjoy but have not readily found anything. I've therefore no idea if Mountjoy was based in the Leeds area (as it is today). The item is though Leeds news. I would appreciate it if anyone has information on "Mountjoy, the celebrated pedestrian".    

[biofichompinc]

Move over Mountjoy. Give Foster Powel some room!http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bi ... .2.39There are plenty of references to Mountjoy and his contemporaries if you google 'Mountjoy the celebrated pedestrian'. It doesn't look as if he was from around Leeds as he appeared all over the country in what can only be described as walking matches for money. He may indeed have been a Welshman. See....http://www.ultrawalking.es/historia/walesuw.htmlFoster Powel was however 'borne at Horseforth near Leeds, in the year 1734' - see the link above for some of his prodigious feats, under the banner headline FEATS OF PEDESTRIANISM. The article is from the Evening Post, Volume XVI, 20 April 1878, Page 2. Clearly when it was still a responsible newspaper!A word of warning if you want to see the name of the city of Leeds up in lights as one of the bastions of Pedestrianism (better give the sport a capital letter). Sheffield was also keen, and boasted George Littlewood, who set a world record in 1882 which still stands today. More about him here....http://www.kingofthepeds.com/    

[Leodian]

salt 'n pepper wrote: Move over Mountjoy. Give Foster Powel some room!http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bi ... .2.39There are plenty of references to Mountjoy and his contemporaries if you google 'Mountjoy the celebrated pedestrian'. It doesn't look as if he was from around Leeds as he appeared all over the country in what can only be described as walking matches for money. He may indeed have been a Welshman. See....http://www.ultrawalking.es/historia/walesuw.htmlFoster Powel was however 'borne at Horseforth near Leeds, in the year 1734' - see the link above for some of his prodigious feats, under the banner headline FEATS OF PEDESTRIANISM. The article is from the Evening Post, Volume XVI, 20 April 1878, Page 2. Clearly when it was still a responsible newspaper!A word of warning if you want to see the name of the city of Leeds up in lights as one of the bastions of Pedestrianism (better give the sport a capital letter). Sheffield was also keen, and boasted George Littlewood, who set a world record in 1882 which still stands today. More about him here....http://www.kingofthepeds.com/     That's great. Thanks for that salt 'n pepper. It's Foster Powel for a Leeds gold post box then. PS. Your "The article is from the Evening Post, Volume XVI, 20 April 1878, Page 2. Clearly when it was still a responsible newspaper!" made me but it does not apply to the assumed Yorkshire Evening Post but to a New Zealand newspaper (unless the New Zealand Evening Post has gone down in quality!).

[biofichompinc]

Missed that Leodian. Cheers. There's me thinking Leeds had the world rights to the title Evening Post.Anyway,sorry to bang on about that lot down south again, but George Littlewood must have been a man and a half. He also held the world record for most miles covered running for six days. The record stood for ninety odd years. And look how he did it.....It was in New York that Littlewood established his record. At Madison Square Garden, between 27 November and 2 December 1888, he ran 623 miles 1,320 yards. He did so in the most dramatic circumstances too. At the end of the fifth day he very nearly fell foul of a saboteur when he took a break to soothe his aching feet and a match was deliberately dropped into his alcohol bath at the side of the track. The culprit, presumed to be a disgruntled backer of one of Littlewood's rivals, was never caught. Neither, for that matter, was Littlewood. His feet and legs were badly burned but he carried on, hobbling at times, to complete 85 miles on the final day.The full story is at the PEDS website detailed in my earlier post. With his winnings he returned home and bought a pub which still stands today near the Don Valley Stadium.    

[Leodian]

That made me feel tired (and very unfit) just reading what Littlewood did salt 'n pepper. I need to rest and recuperate now!