It's quite a nice story on which to end the week, I think.M.P. Wins Race with Pigeons
Modest Taxicab and Train Champion
Five hundred pigeons raced a Labour M.P. home from the House of Commons on Saturday, and the M.P. won.
He was Mr. J. Tinker, and the goal the Borough of Leigh, in Lancashire, which he represents.
Mr. Tinker must be added to the very short list of sporting champions who have not expressed their absolute confidence of victory before the race.
‘I am afraid the betting is on the pigeons,’ he said while awaiting the start in Palace Yard, Westminster.
‘In spite of the strong west wind they should win. They are fine birds, and I calculate that if they fly 1,032 yards a minute they will reach Leigh first.’THEY’RE OFF!
At ten past one Mr. Allen Parkinson, M.P. for Wigan, released the pigeons from 30 baskets.
Simultaneously, Mr. Tinker got off the mark and dashed—into a taxi-cab!
He caught the 1.30 train from Euston, arrived at Warrington a quarter of an hour late, took another taxi-cab and clocked-in at Leigh Town Hall at 5hr. 58min. 5sec p.m. No birds had then arrived.
The distance travelled was roughly 200 miles for Mr. Tinker and 175 miles for the pigeons, and the novel race was part of an effort by pigeon fanciers in aid of Leigh Infirmary and Children’s Holiday Camp.
Daily Herald, 2 July 1928, p. 5.
And one should never pass up an opportunity to use the word 'pigeon fancier'.
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