World's Strongest

When one meets a person who clearly is not only unusual but destined to stand out amongst all men then it is surely worth writing about. This story is written without prejudice and set in truth with names changed to prevent offense to anyone.

James (not his real name) was a young 19 year old man with his best friend Tim, (also not his real name - I think you get the idea), who had come together with similar interests. They both enjoyed body building and had embarked on a journey with no return. Their access to steroids had become an expensive and perilous pursuit. It eventually led them on the path of crime and one should say not with any malice in mind. Crime was just a means to an end, I don't think they considered any harm was being done. It was also exciting and adventurous. The tale goes thus; James and Tim decided to leave the safety of family and home and take their adventure across the country to Tasmania. Armed with handguns they began holding up a series of small businesses, partly to fund their needs and partly as part of an exciting adventure.

Unfortunately for Tim and James, although they were well armed with handguns, they were not so well armed in the intelligence sector. Soon they were spotted by a security guard who managed to hold them at bay until police arrived. The intrepid duo gave up willingly and were forced to acknowledge their criminal escapade in the local court. Now even that part is a curious story worthy of more detail, it is the latter part that makes the difference. James can only be described as a monolithic creature endowed from birth with massive size and increased by his use of weights and steroids, he had grown into a young giant of over 200cm. Tim was by contrast a relatively short man around 175 cm and his use of steroids had made little impact on body mass.

In the process of appearing and being dealt with by the court, the system had managed to seperate the pair. James had found himself in the lockup cells and Tim in the remand section. Although the local police headquarters was relatively small, the cells were segregated depending on status in the court system, James would not be placed on remand until the next day. In his childish mentality James began his tantrum. The inspector in charge of the district on the night shift was called down to the cells by the prison officers. After summing up the situation the inspector decided to call in our hero, lets call him Bill (you know- the Old Bill).

The story from Bill's perspective goes like this. He arrived to discover the inspector hiding behind a corner and a barred door peering apprehensively along the narrow corridor towards James's cell door. Now its necessary to describe the cell door, it is essentially like any solid door except it is encased in steel with a small window at eye height. Seems solid enough to do the job and I would defy any ordinary mortal to move it even a centimetre.

James had moved it however, the bottom hinge had come adrift under his enormously powerful kicks. Each kick that followed moved the bottom half of the door, springing out into the corridor a metre, (not an exaggeration), and then springing back. The top hinge was creaking under the strain.

Given the task by his much senior officer, Bill was a senior constable and his inspector outranked him considerably. Following his orders, Bill walked apprehensively the short 15 meters to James's cell door, any thought of his own peril not yet dawning on him. Bill asked quietly and calmingly what was wrong. James declared that he was hungry and he wanted to be near his mate Tim. Under normal circumstances that would have broken the rules. Without any hesitation, Bill ordered his more senior ranking officer to move James immediately to the adjacent cell next to Tim to calm the situation. Followed by sending a junior constable to the local chicken grill for two large specimens to further quiet the angry beast. All the while the sight of the inspector and his cohort cowering, or perhaps they were strategically placed, behind the corner and barred door was amusing to Bill who by now had opened the cell door to shake James's hand in agreement to quieten down for the night.

All was well, James' story didn't finish there, I haven't explained the link with The World's Strongest Man. James, after serving his repentance for his crimes was taken in by one of Australia's great charity organisations and supported in preparing for the competition known as The World's Strongest Man. James eventually became successful in the competition and after that entered into wrestling and has since successfully played several bit parts in feature films.

Perhaps our story moral could be that crime doesn't pay or does it? Perhaps we should not judge a book by its cover in this case the character of a young impetuous young man who has since contributed to our entertainment and amusement.