Race With a Fat Man!

By the time he was 21, the Earl of Barrymore was already established not only as one of the most profligate of the 18th-century English rakes, but also as one of the fittest and fastest. He was challenged to an extraordinary wager by a Mr. Bullock, a middle-aged, fat butcher. Despite age, size, and “unhealthy complexion,” Bullock wagered that the young rake could not beat him in a 100-yd. footrace–giving the butcher a 35-yd. start and choice of the course. The wager, probably a sizable sum, was naturally accepted. Then Mr. Bullock played his trump card. The course was to be in Brighton, down Black Lion Lane–a distance over 100 yd. long and one of the narrowest streets in Britain. (Parts were barely 40 in. wide.) After Bullock took his 35-yd. advantage, the gun went off. In a flash Barry-more caught up with the butcher, but because the street was so narrow and Bullock was so wide, there was no way he could pass the puffing Mr. Bullock, who reached the winning post first and collected his money.