Steeple Flying [er…what?] for Radio 4

Date Posted: 26/02/2015

Listen here to an episode of Making History in which I tell the story of some crazy men who jumped off church towers for entertainment. You may not be surprised that it did not always end well. A bit like base jumping, a bit like tight-rope walking and in some senses a bit like free running in that it was a sort of urban sport that exploded out of nothing. It’s an astonishing story that needs to be told and which thoroughly deserves some more research into it. So get your noses in some local papers from the 1740s and let me know if you come across anything.

Hogarth-Southwark-Fair-1734