One of my favourites has always been the Rev Harold Davidson who was known as the prostitutes' padre. Davidson was eventually defrocked and set himself up as an exhibit firstly at Skegness in a barrel and secondly in a cage at Blackpool where he was mauled to death by a lion.
Yesterday I wrote an article on another fascinating character with Norfolk connections - Rebecca Nurse. Rebecca Townes Nurse was born in Great Yarmouth and emigrated as a girl with her family to Massachusetts in the USA.
She married Francis Nurse and settled down to life in Salem in the 18th century. Francis, amongst other things, was a constable responsible for keeping law and order as well as collecting taxes. Rebecca was a leading light in the local church and well regarded by the local community.
Sadly it all turned sour when Rebecca was accused of being a witch by three local girls. Hysteria took over as more and more women were accused in what became known as the Salem Witch Trials. At the age of 71, Rebecca was arrested and tried as a witch. The first hearing found her not guilty but pressure was put on the Governor of Massachusetts to bring her before the court for a second time and this time she was found guilty - partly because she didn't answer the accusations, probably because she was profoundly deaf by this time.
She was sentenced to death and hanged. It seems that politics may have been involved in the accusations as the Nurses had a number of land disputes ongoing with the family of one of the girls who made the claims. This girl later recanted her accusations and the Nurse family was awarded compensation, but it was all too late for a Norfolk born woman who gave so much to her adopted community but who was at the forefront of an hysterical outburst that saw many innocent people hanged.
Rebecca Nurse was subsequently immortalised in the Arthur Miller play The Crucible where she was played on Broadway by three different actresses - Jean Adair in 1953, Helen Stenborg in 2002 and Brenda Wehle in 2016.
It is ironic that the Crucible was one of the plays I studied at grammar school more years ago than I care to remember. Little did I think then that 50 years later I would be writing about the play on something called a blog!!!