Mr Malcolm Pleasants, the Watford man whose hobby is collecting Victorian objects, rode from Marble Arch to Brighton on Monday on an 1880 penny farthing bicycle.

“It was hard going,” Mr Pleasants, who lives in Cassiobury Drive, admitted. “It rained hard, the wind was against me, and I had to get off and push it up all the hills. I wanted to prove that if the Victorians could do it, so could I.”

He completed the 50-mile ride at an average speed of a little under six miles an hour. He wore a frock coat, top hat and red waistcoat.

He is spending the week holidaying in Brighton with friends. His luggage went down in advance by train.

[From the Watford Observer of July 19, 1963]

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