A Fat Man's Tragedy

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 71, 25 March 1933, Page 18

A Fat Man's Tragedy

The most pathetic man in England today is Mr. P. W. Lane, of New Kent Road, London. He has been out of work for six years, simply because he is possibly the fattest man in the British Isles. ~ ,

There is no doubt that Mr. Lane is fat, says the "News of the World." He is more than fat—ho is huge. He is just over six feet in height, his chest is 64in, his waist is about the same,1 and his neck in 25in! And he weighs over 30 stone! Yet he is only 49 and he can walk 20 miles a day with the best of hikers.

, Until six years .ago Mr. Lane had always been connected with the brewing trade. He started as a barman, and finished as a manager. Bad trade and competition cost him his job.

Since 1926 he has not been able to get a post because of hia size. Actually he knows many trades, but his tremendous disability always finishes him. When he applies for a post he is always met with a smile and dispensed with immediately because of his, looks and. stature. When an interviewer saw him at his home, Jie talked of his great handicap. It was a very small, square room with -no vestige of adornment. Mrs. Lane and five children live in this room.

"I am the most unfortunate man in England," said Mr. Lane. "I cannot do anything because everybody laughs at me. I dare not answer an advertisement because I know exactly what will happen when I see the advertiser. You see, I am over 30 stone now, and I think lam gaining every day. The only normal thing about me is that I take 7i

in hats. My suits have to t>e specially made for me, and I am sure that I am the fattest and heaviest man in the British Isles.

"But is it any satisfaction to me? No, it isn't! I've tried every job under the sun. I've even tried the circus and the freak side-shows by letter, but nothing happens. -J. can't get anything. The very sight of my size puts people off."

Mr. Lane has lived through a life of jokes. Every day he encounters them. Every time he gets on a bus someone asks him how many tickets he wants. Every time he passes through a door someone says that modern doors should be made muert .wider. And he takes it all in good part. But still he cannot get a job, and worse than that, he sometimes cannot even-get food for bis wife and five children.

Mr. Lane might not be the fattest man on record, but he is the most tragic. The famous "Fat Man" is Daniel Lambert, who was the governor of Leicester Gaol in 1791. He had. a waist measurement of 9ft 4in, and weighed 52$ stone just before his death. At present the record is said to be held by a man now living in Los Angeles, ' whose weight is 56J stone.

Yet none of these famous fat men, it seems, ■ has been handicapped by his weight. Mr. Lame knows all about them. He reads everything he can about heavy people, so that he might not miss an opportunity of finding out exactly how they overcome their disability. "But," as he said when his visitor left his small home,- "the world seems to have no use for a fat man today."