I very rarely listen to Radio Norfolk these days for a variety of reasons. Yesterday I had a short trip to make and turned the radio up in the car. It was on Radio Norfolk and the first item, apart from something about an artist who brought joy to people's lives by depicting cats, was about a man by the name of Ben Handford who is undertaking one of those ridiculous marathons for charity. You know the ones that make you feel tired just thinking about what they are going to do.
Ben is attempting to walk 35 miles a day for seven consecutive days. That's a total of 245 miles around Norfolk which to me is madness. I often walk between 10 and 12 miles and feel shattered at the end. As Ben said, he ticks off one day and then realises that after camping the night he wakes up and has to do it all again.
I pricked up my ears when I heard the name Ben Handford and thought to myself "I wonder if that's the Ben Handford from Naked Marketing that I used to work with when I was with Norfolk Police." I knew that as soon as I heard his voice I would know and yes it was the same.
Now before you get any kinky ideas, the people from Naked Marketing always wore clothes in the same way as Jamie Oliver used to call himself the Naked Chef but never took anything off. Mind you I believe there was a naked writer once who used to write in the nude!
Ben always struck me as a very confident, easy-going, fun sort of guy. But, as with so many people, there was a sadness within Ben as he said on Radio Norfolk when he talked about having suicidal thoughts and suffering serious depression. He turned to and was helped by the Samaritans and he's raising money from his marathon effort for that organisation which is always very close to my heart. I was a Samaritan helper for a number of years and know how much good work they do.
Anyway I wish Ben luck on his marathon effort and better him than me!
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I mentioned yesterday that I would tell the fascinating story of Walter Eghe. I believe that is pronounced Egg. I tried once to juggle with a couple of eggs and you can imagine the mess. I also tried throwing eggs to a friend with him throwing eggs back after I saw a man on television giving hints about how to catch them without breaking them. Unfortunately it didn't work and we both got covered in slimy eggs and that certainly was no yolk!
Anyway back to dear old Walter. A number of years ago I bought an LP by Fairport Convention entitled John Babbacombe Lee. He was known as the man they couldn't hang. Three times they tried to and three times he survived. He was eventually released despite having been found guilty of murder.
Walter Eghe was similarly sentenced to death. His crime was much less. He was charged with the theft of cloth from Richard de la Hoe. He was brought to the Norwich Tolhouse which is where the Guildhall is today. He was found guilty and sentenced to be hanged (that's hanged, not hang or hung) with the sentence being carried out. They removed his body from the gallows and took it to St George's Church ready for burial, only to find Walter sitting up.
Walter used his brain to take sanctuary in St George's Church and then escaped after 15 days to the Cathedral Priory where he again sought sanctuary until a pardon arrived which it duly did from the King himself.
Apparently as a result, the city of Norwich was excommunicated by The Pope. Now today that wouldn't necessarily be a problem but of course in 1286 it was. No legal marriages, no legal burials and much more. Norwich was well and truly in the doodoo.
I'm surprised at the lack of information on the internet on Mr Eghe, so more delving needs to be done to fill in many gaps.
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Yesterday we went to Pensthorpe Nature Reserve just outside Fakenham. It's a lovely place to walk and also to sit with so many birds and wildlife to see. Hope you enjoy some of my photographs.