Knockout first night
QUESTION
On the day ITV launched in 1955, it featured a boxing match. Who was it between? Lew ‘ Lazarus’ Lazar (born February 3, 1931) was an outstanding english welterweight and middleweight in the Fifties.
He was the Army of the Rhine champion two years in succession. In the early Fifties, he turned professional, starting as a welterweight in 1951, and went undefeated in 26 straight bouts in a run that went through to 1953.
However, on April 20, he lost in an eightround decision to Terry Ratcliffe. One month later, Lazar got his revenge in their rematch, winning on a third- round technical knockout (TKO).
In October 1953, Lazar defeated Ratcliffe again (tenth-round TKO) in an elimination match for the British welterweight title.
Lazar got a shot at the title in 1954. On October 19, he fought wally Thom, who held the european and British welterweight crowns. Lazar was knocked out in the sixth round and Thom retained his belts.
Lazar moved up to the middleweight division. He won six of his next eight fights before facing Terry Murphy on September 22, 1955, in Shoreditch Town Hall for the Southern Area middleweight title.
The bout, which Lazar won in a 12-round decision, was the first boxing match ever shown on an english television station, on ITV’s first day of programming. It was promoted by Jack Solomons, the great impresario of his era.
Terry Murphy was a professional boxer who was active between 1953 and 1957. He boxed at middleweight and lightheavyweight, and took part in 28 professional contests.
He had an excellent record at middleweight, having won 18 of his first 20 fights, drawn one (against Lazar at Harringay Arena the previous year) and lost one. Following the bout with Lazar, he made the transition to light-heavyweight where he was not so successful.
In October 1956, Lazar fought Pat McAteer for the British Middleweight title at the Ice Stadium, Nottingham, but Lazar was knocked out in the fourth round. It proved to be his final chance at any title.
In September 1957, Lazar fought future world middleweight champion Terry Downes, and lost an eight-round decision. In January 1958, he fought for the last time, against welsh champion Phil edwards. Lazar lost on a fifth-round TKO and retired after the bout.
He won 48 of 60 career decisions, and although he never won a title, Lazar was the No. 1 British contender in two weight classes and one of the best boxers of his day.
Seth Green, London e14.
QUESTION
St Clement’s in Leighon-Sea, Essex, has a gravestone in immaculate condition dating to the early 1600s — dedicated to a ‘true virgin’ who lived to more than 100. Are there older legible gravestones in Britain? THe earliest gravestones found in British churchyards tend to date from the mid17th century. graves from the Middle Ages had little more than a wooden cross as a marker, with the exception of those belonging to clergy and noblemen, who might have had a stone slab with the symbol of the cross at the top.
Stone markers were used in isolated locations, but they often included only a crudely carved set of initials.
Most markers were eventually removed when bones were gathered and taken to a charnel house. Other symbols were destroyed during the Reformation.
Following the restoration of the monarchy in 1660, the use of increasingly elaborate gravestones, with epitaphs and symbols, began to appear in churchyards.
Common symbols included the skull and crossbones, hourglass ( reminders of mortality), angels’ heads, winged cherubs and tools used to dig graves.
Nevertheless, isolated stone memorials did exist. The oldest known may be found in the graveyard of St Peter’s, Alstonefield, in the Peak District. This graveyard contains a circular gravestone, dedicated to the memory of Anne green, who died on April 3, 1518.
Cassie Crowe, Abbots Bromley, Staffs.
QUESTION
Is there any evidence to suggest that King John was assassinated? FuRTHeR to the earlier answer, Shakespeare’s history play entitled King John begins with Richard I being killed by a man named Austria. This in itself is sufficiently inaccurate to raise suspicions about the historical authenticity of the rest of the play, which sees John ultimately being poisoned in a monastery, in the presence of his heir, Henry III.
The last four years of John’s reign were recorded in some detail by a contemporary but anonymous monastic chronicler in what have become known as the Barnwell Annals.
This writer’s account has been described as the most perceptive, valuable, balanced, sophisticated and lively record of the events of the time; there is no hint that he was in any way biased politically or otherwise. He may have heard the details of John’s illness and death direct from the abbot of Croxton, who was with the king at the time.
The Barnwell chronicler tells us that in early September 1216 John ‘ arrived at Lincoln where a few days before the king of Scotland had been encamped. Throughout this journey he took his enemies’ lands, plundered them and burned them so that there had never been such fires in the land.
‘Then, when all those who had gathered at Lincoln had fled before his face, he retreated rapidly, worn out by an attack of body flux [dysentery].’
John retired to the castle at Sleaford, where he grew worse. He was then carried on a litter to Newark Castle, where he was attended by a doctor, the abbot of Croxton.
The king passed away at Newark Castle on October 19, after making a will appointing executors to secure the rights of his sons. The king’s heir was not present.
The abbot of Croxton removed the king’s intestines for burial at Croxton Abbey and, in accordance with the will, the body was interred at worcester Cathedral.
Medical treatments consisted of bloodletting, herbal remedies and various minor surgical procedures. There was no effective treatment for septicaemia or bacterial infections such as bacillary dysentery, which could be transmitted via contaminated water or food.
Shakespeare may have based his fanciful account of John’s death on the writings of later medieval chroniclers who often made up for their own lack of knowledge by embellishing their accounts.
David Rayner, Canterbury, Kent.
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