In 1932, an Englishman, an Australian and an American walk into a house in Florida. One of them wouldn’t leave alive. This is the story of Englishman Captain Bill Lancaster and Australian “Chubbie” Miller, who met at a party in London, a chance encounter that would spark the most bizarre five years of their lives. Soon they’d embark on a flight to Australia in a tiny Avro Avian, become household names across the world, be welcomed in the states by tickertape parades and movie deals, before falling into the depths of despair. Enter Haden Clarke, the American biographer who’d alter their lives in a way they’d never expect.

Also this week, Jim digs up the story of the luckiest fox alive. Honestly, it’s our most bonkers letter to the editor yet. Yesterday’s Chip Paper is a fortnightly(ish) history podcast that looks at bizarre, macabre and downright strange true stories from the historic newspaper archives.

Violet and Jim are two amateur researchers based on opposite sides of the Atlantic, Violet in London and Jim in New York, and every couple of weeks or so they get together via the magic power of the internet to discuss the stories, poems and letters to the editor that they’ve found. Whether it’s global headline-making stories completely forgotten today or unusual reporting of famous events, it’s always guaranteed to be downright bonkers.

Sources for this episode:

Newspapers.com www.newspapers.com/

British Newspaper Archive www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/

Trove - National Library of Australia http://trove.nla.gov.au/

Bill Lancaster: The Final Verdict: The Life and Death of an Aviation Pioneer by Ralph Barker

 

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