The Surrender of Silence: a memoir of Ironfoot Jack, King of the Bohemians
14a Long Row, Nottingham, NG1 2DH
Jack Rudolph Neave was a real figure, an escape artist, a fortune teller and raconteur, who wore an iron boot to help him walk, hence the name. He was the self-styled “King of the Bohemians” in Soho in pre- and post-war London.
“I became acquainted with gipsies [sic], with show people, with buskers, with people who entertained by performing in the city, on fair grounds and market places… and with a variety of ‘fiddles’ – that is, some dubious methods of obtaining the means of life. I became a member of their fraternity.”
His book – unpublished in his lifetime – was “the outcome of years of struggle to survive; of solving the problem of existence by various and curious methods… Most of the people I am talking about led a precarious life and obtained their livelihood from day to day… They worked to live; they did not live to work.”
Ironfoot Jack and his recently rediscovered memoir will be introduced by Colin Stanley, the editor of Colin Wilson Studies.
Admission: £3.00, including refreshments. Please let us know you are coming by emailing us at events@fiveleaves.co.uk