‘Everybody knew Walter’: The story of Peterborough strongman Walter Cornelius

“Everybody knew Walter – he was the most famous man in town in the late 1960s and early 70s,” David Lowndes, the Peterborough Telegraph’s long-serving photographer of 50 years, said when reminiscing about the life of the legendary strongman Walter Cornelius.

The larger-than-life character has gone down in Peterborough folklore for his all-action stunts – from his “most famous” stunt where he attempted to fly over the River Nene with a set of homemade wings, to his final stunt when he tried to jump over 14 motorcycles in a bus, in 1982.

"Walter lived for publicity,” David, who first came into contact with Walter through his uncle, who worked for Anglia and BBC TV in Peterborough in the 1960s and 70s, said.

"Walter would regularly come round to do various publicity pictures.

"I met him as a kid because he would appear at the cinema on Saturday mornings to entertain the kids. Walter would come on stage and he would bend iron bars and six inch nails.”

It is said that Walter first came to the UK in a rowing boat, previously fleeing his home in Riga, Latvia, following Russia’s invasion of the Eastern European country during World War Two.

He arrived at a refugee camp in Sibson, near Peterborough, before later relocating to another camp for refugees at Funtham Lane, Whittlesey.

Records followed Walter wherever he went.

In 1966, he became world sausage eating champion, after munching his way through 23 sausages in 10 minutes.

More records followed – including pushing a double decker bus half a mile with his head, skipping with a 48lb chain for 90 minutes, and eating three-and-a-half pounds of raw onions in two minutes and two seconds.

It’s a record David wasn’t surprised he held – as Walter used to “eat a raw onion every morning” when he would stay at his uncle’s home, in Dogsthorpe Road, during the winter months.

“Walter would stay in the dark room at the back of the house – a room used to develop photographs,” David said.

“One night a burglar broke in and Walter was asleep on the floor. He grabbed him and swiftly ejected him from the property – throwing him over a brick wall.”

Walter worked as a platelayer, laying and maintaining railway track, before going on to work at the London Brick Company (LBC) brick yards, near Whittlesey.

However, he is most known for working as a lifeguard at The Lido during the summertime – where there is now a plaque honouring him.

"Nobody had a bad word to say about Walter,” David said. “If he could help you with anything he would.

“We all wanted Harry Penn Way [below what used to be Frank Brierley’s supermarket – the roof which Walter jumped from when he attempted to fly over the Nene] to be named ‘Walter’s Leap’, but unfortunately the council refused.

"It’s a shame that there isn’t more in Peterborough to recognise him.”