The World’s Strongest Man

<p>Edward Lawrence Levy, a bald and bespectacled 40 year old choir-master from Birmingham, became the first ever winner of an international weightlifting contest at Cafe Monaco in London on 28th March, 1891. </p><br><p>The event was an attempt to separate the serious sport of dumbbell lifting from the popular performing ‘strongmen’ at sideshows and variety halls, but it did not immediately take hold: the competition was described by the newspaper Sporting Life as “very slow”.</p><br><p>In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly recall the career of ‘perfect human specimen’ Eugen Sandow; dig into the movement for muscular Judaism; and work out exactly how Levy would fare in a modern Olympic competition… </p><br><p><strong>Further Reading:</strong></p><p>• ‘The Untold History of the First Weightlifting Competition’ (BarBend, 2019): <a href="https://barbend.com/history-first-weightlifting-competition/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://barbend.com/history-first-weightlifting-competition/</a></p><p>• ‘This Hebrew School Teacher Was the First World Weightlifting Champ’ (National Library of Israel, 2021): <a href="https://blog.nli.org.il/en/lbh-el-levy/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://blog.nli.org.il/en/lbh-el-levy/</a></p><p>• ‘The History of Weightlifting’ (Bodytribe, 2013):: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9moGJHmJyg" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9moGJHmJyg</a></p><br><p>Image: Levy with his 1891 British Amateur Championship trophy. From E. Lawrence Levy and Muscular Judaism, 1851-1932, part of the National Library of Israel collection</p><br><p><strong>For bonus material and to support the show, visit</strong><a href="https://create.acast.com/episodes/ca1f94a1-0921-446a-ae00-4d4bfd2ba3ef/Patreon.com/Retrospectors" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong> </strong></a><a href="http://patreon.com/Retrospectors" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>Patreon.com/Retrospectors</strong></a></p><p><strong>We'll be back tomorrow! Follow us wherever you get your podcasts:</strong><a href="https://create.acast.com/episodes/ca1f94a1-0921-446a-ae00-4d4bfd2ba3ef/podfollow.com/Retrospectors" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong> </strong></a><a href="http://podfollow.com/Retrospectors" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>podfollow.com/Retrospectors</strong></a></p><br><p><em>The Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill.</em></p><p><em>Theme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders. Edit Producer: Sophie King</em></p><p><em>Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2022.</em></p><br /><hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

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