#38: ‘King of the Gypsies’ – Bartley Gorman (with Peter Walsh)

‘King of the Gypsies’ is an attempt to document what is, frankly, the wild life story of bare knuckle fighter Bartley Gorman.

I’ve said previously that I don’t seek out books about ‘hard men’ as they don’t appeal to me at all, but I’d heard enough about the character and personality of Gorman to pick this one up. There is also the familial link to hold my interest to contemporary boxers, like his great-nephew Nathan Gorman, himself a distant cousin of Tyson Fury, cousin of Hosea Burton.

Without wanting to sound too grand, there are elements of this book that read like a Greek epic; with the prodigal son feeling duty-bound to continue the fighting traditions of his famous forefathers, travelling the land, fighting for honour alone (okay, cash too), before realising that this fame brings a lifetime of uneasiness, as around every corner lurks another challenger for your title and reputation. I must say though, while the themes are similar, the writing style isn’t quite up to Homer’s standards.

This is one of the few books I’ve nearly had to put down due to it being too explicitly violent. The chapter which deals with Gorman being attacked and nearly killed at Doncaster Racecourse turned my stomach. The realness and relentlessness of the prose was almost overwhelming.