Where the second biggest is still pretty darn big!
Bobby Leach was the second person to go over Niagara Falls in a Barrel. Born in Cornwall, England in 1858, Leach went over the falls in a specially designed “barrel” that he made himself. Although he survived the fall, Leach sustained two broken kneecaps, a broken jaw, and other injuries.
After recovering in hospital, Leach spent the next years of his life touring and giving lectures about his feat, often times posing with his barrel. While in New Zealand in 1926 on a lecture tour, Leach slipped on an orange peel and cut his leg. The wound became infected and required amputation. After doctors removed Leach’s leg, Leach was too weakened to recover and he died on April 26 of that year.
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It didn’t have as compelling a birth as the first Special Air Service regiment. It didn’t have its great founder driving point in a souped-up jeep during attacks on German air bases. It didn’t have the romance of the desert as its initial stomping grounds. About the only thing it seemed to have going for it was the reputation of…read more
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This being the 100th anniversary of the armistice that ended major fighting in WWI, SilverMedals.net presents “second” facts about the Great War.
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