HistoryExtra announces new podcast series

The HistoryExtra podcast, which says it has over three million downloads a month, has announced is to commemorate an unsung great British hero of a Victorian sporting craze with a six-part podcast series, The Tiger Tamer Who Went To Sea starting Thursday 22 February.

Dr Dave Musgrove, content director of HistoryExtra and host of the six-part series, has been researching the life of Bob Carlisle and the wheelbarrow craze for over a year. He says: “There were many crazes in the Victorian era, but as soon as I came across Bob Carlisle, the original “wheelbarrow pedestrian”, I knew it shed light on so many aspects of life at the time. His story is at times fantastical, as aside from long-distance wheelbarrow racing, he was also a global seafarer, a campaigner for both Temperance and anti-teetotalism, plus a celebrated circus showman, clown and big cat tamer. Contemporary reports described his story as the ‘life of a dozen men’, and it’s surprising that he’s not been studied before. I’ve delighted in exploring Bob Carlisle and chatting to some of our leading historians of the period to understand how his life intersects with broader themes in Victorian cultural and social history.

“I even bought my own vintage Victorian porter’s wheelbarrow to get a sense of what it was like to perform this sort of endurance feat. I’ve literally tested it to destruction because the wood-worm infested wheel collapsed underneath me. The Victorian wheelbarrow-walkers also suffered similar mechanical embarrassments, but they had easier recourse to wheelwrights to fix their machines.

“The six episodes cover everything from Bob Carlisle’s early life, the changing face of sea travel from wooden ships to steamers, the Temperance movement, the importance of travelling circuses in Victorian culture and the development of an entertainment and celebrity culture, and the crazes it spawned that wheelbarrow racing was part of.”

The HistoryExtra Podcast says the six episodes of The Tiger Tamer Who Went To Sea, hosted by Dr Dave Musgrove, feature:

1. The life of a dozen men: His name was Bob Carlisle, and his big claim to fame was that he was the “original wheelbarrow pedestrian”. Pedestrianism, in other words competitive walking and running, was a big deal in the Victorian period and a very popular sport. In 1879 Carlisle innovated, and added a wheelbarrow to the mix. He was the first man to push a wheelbarrow from the western tip of Britain, Land’s End, right to the north, to John O’Groats (and back). Bob’s early years and the sources that we have for him, including discussion of the importance of life-writing in Victorian period, and of newspapers and mass media generally.
2. Sail, steam and stormy seas: Bob’s life as a sailor, including the seismic changes in the Royal Navy, plus the importance of trade and shipping on a global perspective. Also, some tales of high drama in stormy seas.
3. Would you let a tiger lick your face? Bob’s life in the circuses as a showman, clown, agent in advance and lion-tamer. Including discussion of the importance of the travelling shows in Victorian culture and the development of an entertainment and celebrity culture.
4. The celebrated pedestrian: Bob’s adventures as a professional athlete, challenging the great EP Weston to be recognised as a great pedestrian, and then branching out into wheelbarrow pedestrianism and walking from Land’s End to John O’Groats and back with a barrow. Includes discussion of Temperance because that was a key part of the appeal of Weston and something that Carlisle challenged.
5. Crazy about wheelbarrows: The great wheelbarrow craze of 1886/7, and how wheelbarrowing suddenly came to dominate the national conversation for a few months, with people charging from Scotland to London with barrows. Includes wider discussion of 19th century crazes.
6. Battling against Bovril: the last couple of decades of Bob’s life and the challenges he faced keeping pace with the great change in society and specifically sporting culture. Discussion of how popular consumer brands, Oxo and Bovril, were looking to market themselves as health products, rise in vegetarianism, and changes in transport on roads.

HistoryExtra says historians and contributors to The Tiger Tamer Who Went To Sea, hosted by Dr Dave Musgrove, include:

• Valerie Sanders on Victorian life-writing
• AnneMarie McAllister on Temperance
• Bob Nicholson on Victorian newspapers
• Dave Day on Pedestrianism
• John Woolf on Victorian circuses

You can listen to The HistoryExtra Podcast’s The Tiger Tamer Who Went To Sea, hosted by Dr Dave Musgrove, via HistoryExtra or your usual podcast platform.