WORLD TOUR TALL ORDER FOR ‘GIANT’
Tallest man tried to escape performances to return to family
T HE heartbreaking story of the “world’s tallest ever man” who performed to thousands in Cardiff has been revealed in a new book.
On March 5, 1906, several thousand people congregated outside Cardiff Central Station to catch a glimpse of Feodor Machnow as he toured the world.
Born in what is today Belarus, 7ft 10in tall Machnow was forced to perform across the world for money, despite him often trying to escape to return to his wife and children.
Machnow’s story is detailed in a new book by former senior lecturer at Cardiff University, Dr Jan Bondeson.
Dr Bondeson writes: “On March 5, 1906, Feodor Machnow came to Cardiff, where he was to perform at the Empire in Queen Street.
“A crowd of several thousand people had congregated at the Central Station, to see the giant disembark the train from London. The platform was densely crowded when Machnow arrived, a South Wales Daily News journalist reported, and there was a hush when the sturdy giant appeared.
“With a ponderous gait, he made his way to the Grangetown side of the station, where a carriage was waiting to take him to the Cardiff Empire, where he would be housed.”
Just days later, the book details, Machnow, also known as Fyodor Makhnov, demanded to be taken to the train station to board a train to London since he “greatly missed” his wife and children.
Machnow was taken to a waiting room, locked and guarded to keep a crowd out, before his manager persuaded him to remain in Cardiff.
Bondeson quotes a South Wales Daily News journalist from the time who was allowed to interview Machnow and his manager Oscar Bollinger.
He writes: “Machnow’s main pleasures in life were smoking, playing cards and playing dominoes.
“He did not enjoy football, Bollinger explained.
“Machnow was a great admirer of Great Britain, and he enjoyed travelling and seeing new places.
“As the interview came to a conclusion, the giant’s supper arrived: a boiled cauliflower, a mountain of potatoes, and quantities of lard and mincemeat.
“To begin with, Machnow made g good progress at the Empire, walking round the stage and shaking hands with his Cardiff admirers.”
While touring in London, Bondeson writes, Machnow would start the day by drinking two pints of milk and a pint of tea, and eating 16 hardboiled eggs and six to eight small loaves of bread and butter.
A lunch of two or three pounds of meat, five pounds of potatoes and two pints of beer would follow; and dinner would consist of a large bowl of soup, three to five pounds of meat, fowl, fish and vegetables, three pounds of bread, and three pints of beer.
Dr Bondeson’s book also details that Machnow was once forced aboard a ship set for New York by 20 sailors – as he was scared of the sea.
He writes: “Machnow was transported to the Prince of Wales dock in Dover but when it was explained to him that he was about to cross the A Atlantic, he refused to leave the carriage, since he was very fearful of the sea.
“In spite of the tearful entreaties of his wife, he refused to budge.
“His management team then called for... 20 sailors, and the giant w was forcibly pulled out of the carriage and carried on board the liner!
“Machnow had an unhappy time on board ship, since everything was too small for him, and since he suffered badly from sea-sickness.”
Machnow, who smoked 80 Russian cigarettes a day, returned to Cardiff in December 1908 to perform at the Empire in Queen Street.
Dr Bondeson writes: “After his second triumphant stay in Cardiff, Machnow’s health gradually broke down. His unwholesome diet made sure that he was still slowly but steadily increasing in weight; his even more pernicious smoking habits led to attacks of bronchitis with incessant coughing.
“The ailing giant returned to his home country with his wife and children. He suffered from circulatory problems in his huge feet, and from chronic bronchitis that eventually led to his death, from pneumonia, in 1912.”
The Lion Boy and Other Medical Curiosities by Jan Bondeson is published by Amberley Publishing and is available for £14.99