THE PRUSSIAN PROFESSOR

See Also: ENTERTAINMENT, DISAPPEARED; HOBBIES Bodybuilding; MUSIC HALL; THE NAPOLEON OF CRIME; PEOPLES & CULTURES The Germans, The German Gymnasium

Friedrich Müller (1867-1925) was born in Königsberg, East Prussia. As a child he became fascinated by strongman acts. He systematically developed his own physique. He left his homeland in order to avoid being conscripted into the kingdom's army. He used acrobatic skills that he had learnt and his musculature to earn a living in a variety of ways in several different European countries. These experiences helped him to develop a sense of how to present an entertainment. He took to using the stage name Eugen Sandow.

Sandow arrived in London in 1889. Soon afterwards he became a well-known figure as the result of competing against another strongman in a staged contest. The pair were required to perform a range of feats in the music hall of the Royal Aquarium. The presiding judges, of whom the 9^th Marquis of Queensberry was one, declared him to be the victor. The young Prussian was invited to star in a show that was mounted at The Alhambra Theatre. He went on to perform in the provinces.

A number of tours of North America followed. During one of these Sandow fought a lion in San Francisco. The elderly and decrepit animal had been muzzled and claw-proof bags had been secured over its paws. The contest soon proved to be a one-sided affair. The crowd turned against the display of cruelty to the creature. Upon another occasion the Bostonian heiress and art collector Isabella Stewart Gardner hired him for an afternoon so that she and some of her female friends could admire his biceps by touching them. He managed himself and proved to be an able businessman. He opened a school of physical culture in what had previously been Angelo's Fencing Academy. He endorsed a broad range of merchandise.

Sandow participated in Britain's inaugural bodybuilding competition. The event was held in the Royal Albert Hall in 1901. One of its three judges was Arthur Conan Doyle.

The strain of relentlessly travelling and performing caused the strongman to undergo a breakdown. Following his recovery, he concerned himself with 'physical culture'. He opened an upmarket gymnasium in St James's. This shift in his activities caught the national zeitgeist. The poor physical condition of many of the British soldiers who had fought in the Boer War triggered popular concerns about nutrition and how fit people were. The showman's new business flourished. He used his name to endorse exercise equipment as well as food and drinks that were purported to have health-giving properties.

King George V acceded to the throne in 1910. The following year the craze for 'physical culture' culminated in the strongman being granted a royal warrant that termed him the 'Professor of Scientific Physical Culture' to the monarch.

Sandow had recommenced his performing career. However, he no longer had the same degree of strength as he had possessed previously. The emphasis of his shows shifted. They became less examples of raw vigour and more spectacles in which he was the centrepiece.

The First World War triggered an outbreak of anti-German hostility that swiftly eradicated almost every trace of London's long-established German community. As Sandow was a born-and-raised Prussian with a high public profile, it might have been anticipated that he would become an object of hatred. However, by then he had embedded himself in British society and the country's affections. His contribution to the war effort was to help thousands of would-be recruits to raise their fitness levels so that the armed services would allow them to enlist.

Following the return of peace, his career did not return to the heights that it had enjoyed prior to the conflict. Sandow died in 1925. His death was popularly attributed to being a consequence of his having lifted his car out of a ditch a couple of years previously. The strain was reputed to have led to the development of an aortic aneurysm within his brain. This was taken to have killed him. However, the condition was also one of the symptoms of syphilis.

The strongman's infidelities had caused his marriage to be in a poor state for a number of years. At the time of his demise, his wife was deeply alienated from him. She had his corpse buried in an unmarked grave and was assiduous during her widowhood to do nothing that might perpetuate his memory. During her widowhood, she did nothing that might have helped to perpetuate his reputation.

The winner of the Mr Olympia bodybuilding competition is awarded a statuette that is known as 'The Sandow'.

Location: 161 Holland Park Avenue, W11 4UX (orange, red)

David Backhouse 2024