The Man Eaten By Blackpool Tower Lions - Albert & The Lion

[@RcNBeyond]

Thank you for this. Many people don't believe me that this actually happened. The animals were also on Level Five in the part that was Jungle Jim's, the cages used to be at the Bank Hey Street side of it and the rest was a free flight aviary and butterfly house. EMI/Thorn/Lord Delfont made it into Jungle, and they even used film studios set builders to create the scenery. I worked the tower for ten years, and you can still smell the circus animals in the basement..

[@AdventureMe]

That's fascinating about the smells

[@therespectedlex9794]

​@AdventureMe Lots of urea, or ammonia, seeped into the concrete?

[@jasoncampbell293]

Always love watching the local videos on Blackpool

[@sitcorocket]

What a lovely treat that was...short but sweet. Thanks v much for that account. ❤️

[@xxqq5719]

I went to the menagerie as a five year old, saw lion, heard it roar, frightening. Such a place could not exist today.

[@markiangooley]

I was born in 1961 in Decatur, Illinois. One of the local parks had a bear cage starting in 1916, and it usually had several bears in it until the early 1970s. Not a zoo, nothing fancy for the bears, just over 50 years of having caged bears in a big park in town, not too far from where an amusement park had been…

[@Stroopwaffe1]

@@xxqq5719 when I was around 8 we went to the Algarvé, then we crossed over the River into Spain and they had a couple of lions literally just in a 20ft by 15ft cage with 8ft tall vertical bars and a fence about 5ft surround

[@kevinseymour8793]

When I first saw this I thought it was about the rector of Stiffkey (pronounced Stewkey) who also performed circus acts, including Blackpool he also ended up being eaten by a lion he was performing with, but that was in Skegness. I had not really thought about the name of that Wetherspoons, of course the Velvet Coaster having its own history, but fascinating to learn more, lovely job Darren

[@Paulad39uk]

Thanks Darren. I remember being told that story as a kid back in the 60's when visiting the zoo in the Tower. It scared the life out of me😭. I also remember a model of a tiger on the roof of the tram shelter outside Woolworth's. I couldn't walk too close to that either🤣

[@shirleysmith1713]

My daughter-in-law told me me the same story when Wetherspoon pub( Albert & the Lion) opened up. Her Grandad told this story. Never heard this story before. Once again Darren very interesting video. Thanks for sharing 👍🏻 🦁

[@AdventureMe]

Thanks for sharing

[@rachelwalker7091]

I remember the poem from my childhood. “Yon lion’s ate Albert!” being a memorable line. I didn’t know it was based on a true story. Thanks for an interesting video.

[@oddsandwindsocks5905]

What a story. Sad ending

[@hollimurray8856]

Love this!!

[@tomgirldouble3249]

Wow! Remember that monologue from my childhood, great video as always 😊🦁

[@swanteal2355]

I love history and thank you for sharing this interesting true story.😊🐯🎪🗼🎃 .

[@christelbraune4530]

Und das soll wirklich so gewesen sein? Die arme Frau 😢. Schöne Story 💞 thank you Darren 👋🏻👋🏻 Einen schönen Abend noch!

[@Dave1976.]

I remember Norman barret as the ring master back in the 80's seeing lions and elephants in the cirus sat on their podiums. They also had females at the end swimming in the water and. Great vlog, as always, Darren.

[@SonOfAldabarran]

Nice to see you down South Shore way, especially near the Dunes. I live literally around the corner!

[@santorini8423]

a blast back to our long long gone glorious past

[@Rob-e8w]

Could never learn Wordsworth or Shakespeare at school but could be relied on to perform Albert and the Lion at the drop of a hat.

[@shirleylynch7529]

Wow what a story. Loved the poem at the end. Thanks Darren.

[@AdventureMe]

Only a snippet. It's a long poem

[@daleshaw5815]

Another excellent video... so fascinating and informative. Thanks for doing these.

[@AdventureMe]

Glad you like them!

[@dliles773]

Thanks for this video

[@AdventureMe]

Most welcome

[@ianharvey2777]

What a nice video. Well researched and presented with some lovely videography. Well done. Made my Starbucks seasonal eggnog latte experience even better!

[@AdventureMe]

Love it haha

[@paulsimister-ng5nx]

I remember going to the tower zoo as a child ❤

[@DylisMort]

So do I and every year visited the circus also visited the circus animals underneath the tower buildings where one of the elephants ate one of my mother’s gloves,an Astracan glove.

[@nataliesmith303]

What an interesting but sad tale 😢

[@battleshipoverland8677]

When I was very young, in the early 1970s, I was taken to see a dolphin show at Blackpool tower, I'm guessing it was the menagerie/aquarium. I was picked to go down poolside and clean one of the dolphins teeth with a giant toothbrush.

[@avengerfpv6774]

That happened to me once. I wouldn't want to repeat the experience.

[@errantwinds-up8uu]

How interesting, if sad! I read a book called "The Lions of the North," and while it had nothing to do with this story - historical fiction set in Elizabethan York - it begins with two young men trying to sneak into a castle guarded by exotic pets (lions) and one of them falling while the other one scarpered. Must be inspired by this.

[@dcallan812]

I remember going to the Tower Circus and seeing the animals. They used to take the elephants for a walk on the beach first thing on a morning. It was always the thing I wanted to do get up early and catch them. BUT I have to say its good times have moved on and we are more aware of animal rights and being chained-caged 24/7 is wrong.

[@tintedspider4412]

hi i worked at the dunes pub 30 yrs ago i lived in the house in your video 1 stony croft place

[@psychokeef]

The song st the end sounded like George Formby ?

[@AdventureMe]

It did yes haha

[@jeffdayman8183]

I'm not lion, I liked the story Darren...8^) sorry worst pun this week. But a great bit of Blackpool history. Cheers.

[@JP_TaVeryMuch]

Don't mess with the Carnies!

[@andrewstevenson5449]

I'm sure I remember seeing the menagerie in the Tower. When did it close? From memory, it did feel a rather sad place: the animals in the circus were much more exciting. I remember being particularly thrilled by the horses and horse(wo)manship. Have you done any videos behind the scenes at the Tower Circus?

[@AdventureMe]

I'm not sure. I would guess the 70s

[@georgekoshti_richman1392]

Darren do you know if anything is left of the managerie Zoo, concealed within the darkness of The Blackpool Tower Dungeons?

[@AdventureMe]

Quite possibly yes. But not gonna let us see it lol. I remember seeing the roof panels on the old dinosaur ride.

[@georgekoshti_richman1392]

@ I wouldn’t be surprised if the cages are still there. As The Dungeons are dark there would have been no reason to remove the Manergries infrastructure unless space was needed.

[@georgekoshti_richman1392]

@ do you know when the Animal Hospital was closed down and subsequently demolished? I tried researching it Myself but couldn’t find any information on it.

[@AdventureMe]

@georgekoshti_richman1392 no I don't. Couldn't find anything

[@edmundblackaddercoc8522]

Sounds like kids story

[@jakepower2631]

First 👀

[@wrichard11]

I wonder what really happened. No evidence of foul play makes something a perfect murder. All v peculiar

[@E69apeTheMatrix420]

In Your intro: Right click, Audio gain, Use negative decibels by literally using the - symbol before the number .E.G. -10 DB. The audio wave that jumps up and down. Keep in in the top of the green and use the razor tool to segment clips infinitely into their own segments then You can do the same accordingly to normalise the audio in the video. It takes 10 minutes. If You clap loud or something then You can use -50 DB on just the clap if needed be separating it into its own segment using the razor each side of just the clap in this example. Love Your videos.

[@AdventureMe]

Tell me more mate [e-mail]