CLIMBED NELSON'S COLUMN

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 9, Issue 92, 28 June 1946, Page 3

CLIMBED NELSON'S COLUMN

“THINGS HAD BEEN DULL”

EX-NAVAL STOKER’S ESCAPADE

Henry Taylor, 41-year-old exNavy stoker, now employed to stoke the fires at the famous Athenaeum Club in Pall Mall, has accomplished something highly unusual. Recently he became the first man, apart from steeplejacks, to climb Nelson’s Column, in Trafalgar Square, perform acrobatics from its top, more than 200 ft. up, and descend with two saws for souvenirs. “It was a sudden impulse,” he told a reporter. “I’ve been climbing foremasts in the Merchant Navy and Royal Navy since I was a boy. “Things had been pretty dull lately and I thought climbing Nelson’s Column would be a new experience.” Taylor, dressed in dungarees, a sailor’s “dickey,” and a beret, had just left Cannon-row Police Station after explaining the reason for his unusual feat. “Nelson looked much bigger than I thought up there,” he said. “He has several rows of medals on his chest, and the patch over his eye is as large as a hat. “When I reached the top I swung around on the rope workmen had left hanging from the scaffolding, just for the thrill.” Taylor, who is unmarried, lives with his mother at Shepherd’s Bush, London, and draws a disability pension from the Admiralty. A witness of the incident said: “The whole thing only took ten minutes. The man climbed without stopping once.” * There was a sequel at Bow Street, where Tajdor was fined 40s on a drunk and disorderly charge. Answering the magistrate, he said: “I had an ambition to climb the column and just felt I would go up to have a look round.” Then a well-dressed stranger insisted on paying Taylor’s fine: “You did a thing I always wanted to do myself, and I congratulate you,” he said.