Sarah Elizabeth Cox

Sarah Elizabeth Cox

@oispooky.bsky.social

🥊 1880s boxing+wrestling historian 📕 THE DEVILS' DANCE FLOOR (Duckworth, 25 February 2027) ✍🏻 Hezekiah Moscow, Alec Munroe, Sugar Goodson, Wannop, Smith, Ball &c. 🦖 Write fight books raise dinosaur child 👩🏻‍💻 Science charity PR 🏖️ Clacton-on-Sea

6.7K followers872 following6.9K posts

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Sarah Elizabeth Cox
@oispooky.bsky.social

THE DEVILS' DANCE FLOOR will be published on 25 February 2027 and pre-orders are open NOW! Come and meet Hezekiah Moscow, Alec Munroe, Henry 'Sugar' Goodson, Jack Wannop, Jack Davenport, Alf Ball, Jem Haines, Jem Smith, and a little bit of Felix Scott... 🥊🔪🦁🐻🤜🏻🤛🏾 linktr.ee/thedevilsdan...

Sarah Elizabeth Cox reposted

Sarah Elizabeth Cox
@oispooky.bsky.social

Replying to @oispooky.bsky.social

Wannop's name appeared in the newspapers here and across the Atlantic 1,000+ times between the late 1870s and the 1900s. When I first 'rediscovered' him in 2018 I couldn't find a single bit of recent writing on him, in any boxing or wrestling or local history text at all. Proud to have done it.

Sarah Elizabeth Cox
@oispooky.bsky.social

My mother, true to form, did not find my book blurb or my publisher's quite good enough (naturally) so wrote this paragraph by herself for her social media. Yeah. Okay. Quite good actually. I'll have that!

Sarah Elizabeth Cox@oispooky.bsky.social

Of all the men in my book, I hope you fall in love with Big Jack Wannop (well, he was 5ft 8.5, 170lb, one of the biggest British heavyweights of the 1880s!) as much as I did. Two great great grandaughters have just pre-ordered - so I want to EXPLODE 🤼‍♂️🥊 grapplingwithhistory.com/2026/10/26/p...

grapplingwithhistory.comPre-order THE DEVILS’ DANCE FLOOR – Hezekiah Moscow and the Fight for Life in Late-Victorian LondonPRE-ORDER NOW! My debut book, The Devils’ Dance Floor – Hezekiah Moscow and the Fight for Life in Late-Victorian London, will be published by Duckworth, on the 25 February 2027.
Sarah Elizabeth Cox
@oispooky.bsky.social

Josh Cosnett from Birmingham was a rare about-6ft actually - but yeah, not many of them around. Jack beat him in his last professional glove fight in April 1890, Josh's cornerman threw in the sponge during round 12 🥊

David L@dlynch.bsky.social

Struggling to get my head round his being "Big Jack" and one of the biggest heavyweights of the time...people weren't *that* small then.

Sarah Elizabeth Cox
@oispooky.bsky.social

Finally, four years after being sent it, I've got permission from family to publish his 'in fighting attitude' boxing portrait photograph, one which is faded by time, but actually shows his face. Can't wait! Blog to come soon. I know this probably only excites me - I NAMED MY SON AFTER HIM 😆🤷🏻‍♀️

Sarah Elizabeth Cox
@oispooky.bsky.social

Omg as soon as I hit send on this thread I got another email from the great grandson of Alf 'Nobler' Fry, a Deptford greengrocer whose donkey, Steve, had a famous wrestling match (against the man in the b&w pic with Jack above!) in Wannop's Gymnasium, New Cross, 1892. Meet them all in my book 💪🏻😆🫏

Sarah Elizabeth Cox
@oispooky.bsky.social

Of all the men in my book, I hope you fall in love with Big Jack Wannop (well, he was 5ft 8.5, 170lb, one of the biggest British heavyweights of the 1880s!) as much as I did. Two great great grandaughters have just pre-ordered - so I want to EXPLODE 🤼‍♂️🥊 grapplingwithhistory.com/2026/10/26/p...

grapplingwithhistory.comPre-order THE DEVILS’ DANCE FLOOR – Hezekiah Moscow and the Fight for Life in Late-Victorian LondonPRE-ORDER NOW! My debut book, The Devils’ Dance Floor – Hezekiah Moscow and the Fight for Life in Late-Victorian London, will be published by Duckworth, on the 25 February 2027.
Sarah Elizabeth Cox
@oispooky.bsky.social

Wannop's name appeared in the newspapers here and across the Atlantic 1,000+ times between the late 1870s and the 1900s. When I first 'rediscovered' him in 2018 I couldn't find a single bit of recent writing on him, in any boxing or wrestling or local history text at all. Proud to have done it.

Sarah Elizabeth Cox
@oispooky.bsky.social

Jack and Miriam Wannop had 10 children - two died as babies, others in young adulthood, including Sidney on the 1918 WW1 battlefield and May the same year. Their eldest (Joseph) was born in 1879 and youngest (Hilda) in 1903. Hilda is still well within living memory of relatives - it's all v. close.

Sarah Elizabeth Cox reposted

Hetan Shah
@hetanshah.bsky.social

Stop what you are doing and look at this lovely story. A photography student in the 80s took pictures of punks and mods on the street in Preston. He’s now tracked them down and photographed them again. The pictures and stories are really ❤️ www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

bbc.co.ukEmotional reunions as photographer recreates shots 46 years onSam Hill spent months tracking down the "special generation" he photographed as teenagers in 1980.
Sarah Elizabeth Cox
@oispooky.bsky.social

My son has decided he doesn't want to go to nursery any more, every day he just wants "fluffy on teddy bear shoes on stay in the mama and dada house with my toys". Same, mate, same. My toys are Find My Past and the espresso machine though, not dinos and the Little Mermaid DVD for the 10th time 🫠

Sarah Elizabeth Cox
@oispooky.bsky.social

Don't know why he's complaining. He loves it there. They give him biscuits all the time and he occasionally eats an ORANGE apparently?! The orangist thing this child eats at home is chicken nuggets so I'm pretty sure they're lying about that one to make me keep paying.

Sarah Elizabeth Cox reposted

Sarah Elizabeth Cox
@oispooky.bsky.social

According to messages received this morning, I've sold AT LEAST TEN COPIES of my book. That's got to be twice as many as Liz Truss, and hers is half the price! Huge thank you, all. Please keep 'em coming, the September 2022 mortgage isn't gonna pay itself 🥊❤️ grapplingwithhistory.com/2026/10/26/p...

grapplingwithhistory.comPre-order THE DEVILS’ DANCE FLOOR – Hezekiah Moscow and the Fight for Life in Late-Victorian LondonPRE-ORDER NOW! My debut book, The Devils’ Dance Floor – Hezekiah Moscow and the Fight for Life in Late-Victorian London, will be published by Duckworth, on the 25 February 2027.
Sarah Elizabeth Cox
@oispooky.bsky.social

A great feature about an incredibly talented man, plus @steverose7.bsky.social describes A Thousand Blows (some of which Ashley directed, as well as playing Hezekiah's dad in a flashback) as the "underrated Victorian crime series"! Animol sounds fantastic too: www.theguardian.com/film/2026/oc...

theguardian.com‘Nothing worked for me until I was clean and sober’: Ashley Walters on acting, directing – and turning his life aroundIn Adolescence he proved himself one of the UK’s best actors. Now he has directed his first film, Animol. He reflects on the road from prison and addiction to soaring success
Sarah Elizabeth Cox
@oispooky.bsky.social

According to messages received this morning, I've sold AT LEAST TEN COPIES of my book. That's got to be twice as many as Liz Truss, and hers is half the price! Huge thank you, all. Please keep 'em coming, the September 2022 mortgage isn't gonna pay itself 🥊❤️ grapplingwithhistory.com/2026/10/26/p...

grapplingwithhistory.comPre-order THE DEVILS’ DANCE FLOOR – Hezekiah Moscow and the Fight for Life in Late-Victorian LondonPRE-ORDER NOW! My debut book, The Devils’ Dance Floor – Hezekiah Moscow and the Fight for Life in Late-Victorian London, will be published by Duckworth, on the 25 February 2027.
Sarah Elizabeth Cox
@oispooky.bsky.social

THE DEVILS' DANCE FLOOR will be published on 25 February 2027 and pre-orders are open NOW! Come and meet Hezekiah Moscow, Alec Munroe, Henry 'Sugar' Goodson, Jack Wannop, Jack Davenport, Alf Ball, Jem Haines, Jem Smith, and a little bit of Felix Scott... 🥊🔪🦁🐻🤜🏻🤛🏾 linktr.ee/thedevilsdan...

Sarah Elizabeth Cox
@oispooky.bsky.social

Please consider pre-ordering through Bookshop, Waterstones, A****n, etc and also by supporting both me AND your local shop (if you're lucky enough to have one): request they get in a copy/copies for next February? It all helps! 🤜🏾 Hezekiah 'Ching Hook' Moscow 📷 Harry Carpenter ~1888 🧑🏻‍🎨 Jet Purdie

Sarah Elizabeth Cox
@oispooky.bsky.social

Asked my friend's 7yr old this morning if she likes history, like Vikings and Ancient Egypt? She thought for a second and replied: "I like the fact that people think Ancient Egyptians were the first to have pet cats, but it was actually way before that, about 10,000 years ago." I am OBSESSED.

Sarah Elizabeth Cox
@oispooky.bsky.social

Come for the murder, stay for the Victorian Methodist sect called THE PECULIAR PEOPLE. And... an attempt to cure depression via an excessive weekly bread ration?!

Dr Spookie Michell@sophiemhistory.bsky.social

FRIDAY MURDER TIME and this time we go to Sandon in rural Essex. In 1859, Isaac Finch married Martha Barber in Woodham Ferrers. They settled in a house just outside Sandon and Isaac worked for Sandon Hall. By 1870, Martha had birthed eight children and lost three. Standard ag labs of the time.

Sarah Elizabeth Cox
@oispooky.bsky.social

I've long been fascinated by Felix Scott (1856, Barbados - 1920, Wigan, England), Royal Navy stoker, boxing champion, trainer, travelling boxing booth proprietor, a nasty piece of work toward women. His great great grandson and I have started piecing together the next generations' stories.

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Sarah Elizabeth Cox
@oispooky.bsky.social

How would I feel if someone exposed these dark events from the past if they were about MY great grandfather? Here are a few more of my thoughts on Felix Scott, and the wonderful reception I've had from descendants about my research, despite it all: grapplingwithhistory.com/2026/10/18/t...

grapplingwithhistory.comThe Liverpool Legacy of Felix ScottHow on earth would I feel if someone had exposed these dark, pretty awful, events from the past if they were about MY great grandfather? What right do I have to go digging it all up? Would they be …
Sarah Elizabeth Cox
@oispooky.bsky.social

I've long been fascinated by Felix Scott (1856, Barbados - 1920, Wigan, England), Royal Navy stoker, boxing champion, trainer, travelling boxing booth proprietor, a nasty piece of work toward women. His great great grandson and I have started piecing together the next generations' stories.

Sarah Elizabeth Cox
@oispooky.bsky.social

His life had more twists and turns and colour than, perhaps, Hezekiah Moscow's in a way. I probably shouldn't say that, given I'm just about to publish Moscow's biography 😅. But the big difference: we have no photo. Literally just that grainy scan above from his older years. It drives me MAD.

Sarah Elizabeth Cox
@oispooky.bsky.social

He would have had one, he MUST have had one, during his active boxing years. But alas. These things got passed down through family, didn't they: and he was convicted of ill-treating his daughters, who were then removed to an orphanage even though their mother lived. I have photos of them, at least.

Sarah Elizabeth Cox
@oispooky.bsky.social

Choose Pierce Brosnan, YOU COWARDS.

hoskas@hoskas.bsky.social

Callum Turner has no charisma, Jacob Elordi is too tall. Jack and Josh are both fantastic actors. Josh looks more like Bond, but I think Jack is the better choice

Sarah Elizabeth Cox
@oispooky.bsky.social

I have watched a vampire go to Baby Shark Hospital, caught a train to London, read a bit, had a coffee with a brilliant sports writer, got a really good haircut, submitted 130 (?!!) edits I've been working on all week for my book, and eaten some chicken. Not even 4pm. What shall nightfall bring.

Sarah Elizabeth Cox reposted

Charlotte Lydia Riley
@lottelydia.bsky.social

University of Nottingham, right now, is cutting 560 jobs. Do we need to rebrand universities as very large, very clean, land-based oil rigs to get government support?

Leo Hickman@leohickman.carbonbrief.org

From the govt's press release: "The developer estimates that Jackdaw will create 27 new direct jobs and safeguard 273 existing jobs that would otherwise be lost." Odd that so much is made about this being good for jobs. Your nearest out-of-town supermarket likely generates more jobs.

Sarah Elizabeth Cox
@oispooky.bsky.social

When people ask me why I moved to Clacton and I say oh the sea views and all that etc etc... I'm lying. It was for the Mr Blobby bathroom. Excuse the grouting though 🩷💛

Sarah Elizabeth Cox@oispooky.bsky.social

Ps. My childhood love of Blobby is still expressing itself through my adult home decor choices. Blob forever!

Sarah Elizabeth Cox reposted

Ginny Dawe-Woodings
@helloginnybatty.bsky.social

Devastated that I have no qualifications for this other than that I was obsessed with Mr Blobby as a child, and I still am. I thought he spoke to me through the tele.

John Bull@garius.eurosky.social

Still looking for a podcast guest for my episode on the history and cultural impact of Mr Blobby.

Sarah Elizabeth Cox reposted

Sportingland
@sportingland.bsky.social

At 09:15 BST on Wednesday 21 October, spare a thought for all those still scarred by the #Pantglas School disaster, more commonly known as #Aberfan Cofiwch Aberfan