They claimed to be the mightiest men in the world. For twenty-five years; before the outbreak of the First World War; professional strongmen were the pop idols of their day. Performing apparently incredible feats of strength; they strutted across stages and topped the bills everywhere; earning thousands of pounds a week. Fans included royalty; heads of state; politicians and leading figures in the literary and artistic worlds; as well as hundreds of thousands of ordinary men and women; all revelling in the antics of these larger-than-life characters. Seeking to outdo each other in death-defying deeds; the strongmens performances were thrilling and dangerous: lifting elephants; horses; pianos and their players; breaking chains with their biceps; supporting thirty men on a plank suspended on their shoulders. Some strongmen succeeded beyond their wildest dreams. Eugen Sandow; a great self-publicist; was appointed physical culture adviser to King George V. His great rival; the bombastic Charles Sampson; toured the world with his blatant cheating and rigged strongman displays until one day the elephant he claimed to be lifting remained suspended in mid-air. Georg Hackenschmidt; the Russian Lion; was so popular that Theodore Roosevelt himself declared wistfully that he would rather be Hack than President of the USA. In The Strongest Men on Earth; Graeme Kent vividly brings to life the world of strongmen (and women); and shares the stories that defined a sporting and show-business era.
#2551813 in eBooks 2012-10-03 2012-10-03File Name: B00A9XVNUO
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0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Five StarsBy TALot of fun2 of 2 people found the following review helpful. I fell in love with these in a secBy CustomerI fell in love with these in a sec. I recomend to buy this with Stan Lee How to draw Comics0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Great buy!By JimGreat book for the beginner or advanced artist.