The 1954 European Figure Skating Championships

Photo courtesy Muzeo Collezione Salce

The year was 1954 and from January 29 to 31, seventy-four talented skaters from ten countries gathered in the city of Bolzano, nestled in the Tyrolean Mountains, to compete in the European Figure Skating Championships. Organized by the Federazione Italiana Sport del Ghiaccio in conjunction with the Societa Polisportiva Alto Adige, the event was only the third ISU Championship to be held in Italy. It was held at the Palazzo del Ghiaccio di Bolzano, which only opened the November prior. Let's take a little trip back through time and explore the stories and skaters that shaped this event!

THE WOMEN'S COMPETITION

With a whopping twenty two entries, the women's event in Bolzano was by far the most time consuming. Valda Osborn, the defending European Champion, had turned professional and the runner-up in 1953, Germany's Gundi Busch, was considered a heavy favourite. Eighteen year old Busch unanimously won the school figures by quite a wide margin, but not everyone was entirely impressed. In "Skating World" magazine, Captain T.D. Richardson wrote, "There are many who will assert that her methods in the school are to say the least unorthodox - and I must admit that once or twice I wondered how the resultant tracings on the ice could possibly justify the marks she received. That they did satisfy the judges, however, was obvious by the commanding lead she received."

Erica Batchelor. Right photo courtesy "Skating World" magazine.

In the free skate, Erica Batchelor (the bronze medallist in 1953) gave perhaps the cleanest performance. Her teammate, fourteen year old Yvonne Sugden, arguably delivered the most difficult. Gundi Busch took a nasty fall on a double flip and went on to make several other small errors. The judges seemingly overlooked this, placing her decisively first anyway. The Swiss judged tied Erica Batchelor with Gundi Busch in free skating; British judge Mollie Phillips had Busch tied with Yvonne Sugden. The rest of the judges were all over the place. Two judges had Austria's Annelies Schilhan second; another had her in a tie for tenth. Nelly Maas, a promising young Dutch skater, had marks ranging from second to seventh and the third British entry, Brighton's Clema 'Winkie' Cowley, was placed fourth by the Swiss judge... and sixteenth by the Italian. When the marks were tallied, Gundi Busch came out on top - making history as the first German to win the European women's title. The silver went to Erica Batchelor; the bronze to Yvonne Sugden. In nineteenth place was another young talented young Dutch skater - Sjoukje Dijkstra.

THE MEN'S COMPETITION

The previous year in Dortmund, Carlo Fassi had made history as the first Italian skater to win the European title. His superb school figures in Bolzano earned him first place marks from all but the Czechoslovakian judge, who had Karol Divín in first place. While Fassi was widely praised for his precision in the figures, the young Frenchman in second Alain Giletti was not. Captain T.D. Richardson wrote, "I thought his school was definitely over-marked. Looking down from the balcony, for example, onto the three-change-three, I, with a number of others thought that most of the 'lines in' were on the flat. And I detest 'double tracking' - a heinous fault of which no one could accuse our British skaters, or those trained in Britain either - although it was much in evidence amongst many of the others. In this regard I kept wondering what the ex-professional teacher [Werner] Rittberger must have thought of this - for he was on the ice as an official most of the time. I know what his brother professionals, off the ice, thought."

If some of the judges might have had misgivings about Alain Giletti's figures, they didn't about his free skating. Five out of the seven judges had him in first. The Italian judge had Carlo Fassi first and Giletti fourth. The Swiss judge had Karol Divín first and Giletti and Fassi tied for second. Both Giletti and Fassi skated extremely well, but Karol Divín missed several jumps. When the marks were tallied, Fassi repeated as European Champion with Giletti second and Divín third. Only three points separated the top two skaters.

The Swiss judge who placed Karol Divín first faced jeers from the audience. Some questioned how even medalled at all, because his figures weren't particularly outstanding as compared to sixteen year old Michael Booker, who placed fourth. He earned the bronze based on his ordinal placings; Booker had more points. Alain Calmat, who placed fifth, had his trip to Bolzano paid for by World Champion Jacqueline du Bief. She donated all proceeds from an exhibition given at the Palais de Glace in Paris to pay for his travel expenses to Europeans and Worlds.

THE ICE DANCE COMPETITION

Jean Westwood and Lawrence Demmy. Photo courtesy "Skating World" magazine.

Twelve couples entered the first ever European Championships in ice dance. Defending World Champions Jean Westwood and Lawrence Demmy took a decisive lead in the compulsory dances, to no one's surprise whatsoever.

A last-minute schedule change just before the free dance made for utter chaos for judges and skaters alike. Cyril Beastall recalled, "There [also] appears to have been some confusion in the arrangements for dance and pair skating at Bolzano, causing upset among the competitors. We are not disputing the advertised right of the authorities to change the programme, but at the same time the competitions should be run for the skaters? The draw, originally, for dance and pairs was scheduled for 8 p.m., and the pair skating was advertised to take place at 9 p.m. After waiting twenty minutes, the pairs left for the rink, to change and be ready for the run round. It was only at 8:25 that the VIP's appeared, and then announced that the dancing would be first at 9 p.m., followed by the pairs. Experience should have indicated that this would result in considerable confusion. At the rink, some of the dancers were ready and some were not. We were sorry to hear from Mme. Meudec's experience - after being told the same afternoon that no change of programme was contemplated, she arrived in good time, as she thought only to be sent away because the competition had started! Hardly efficient or courteous by ordinary standards?" Mme. Henri Meudec, the French judge who had judged the compulsory dances, was replaced in the free dance by an Italian judge.

Jean Westwood and Lawrence Demmy earned unanimous first place marks in the free dance to easily win the first European dance title over their teammates Nesta Davies and Paul Thomas and Barbara 'Bunty' Radford and Raymond Lockwood. It was the first of many British medal sweeps in dance at Europeans. The Italian, Austrian and French teams ranked fourth through sixth were only separated by two ordinal placings. Bona Giammona and Giancarlo Sioli, the Italians who came fourth to the delight of the Bolzano crowd, moved all the way up from seventh after compulsories - but received tenth place marks from the Austrian judge.

Captain T.D. Richardson couldn't help but rave about Jean Westwood and Lawrence Demmy's winning performance. He remarked, "They are excellent in the compulsory dances; but it is in the free that they are outstanding. To start with, their programme bears a mark of genius in its general arrangement and in the skill with which it enables the man to show off the lady. In this regard it much resembles the ballet wherein, in a pas de deux it is left to a great degree to the ballerina to perform the main dancing and to the male dancer to present her. I think that this feature, which some ardent skaters might consider a fault, would be noticeable only to the expert. The value of a programme of this character must be left to the technicians - few indeed in number - to assess... It was by its faultless precision a thing to wonder and rejoice at. For myself, I will travel a long way to see its like again."

THE PAIRS COMPETITION

The absence of the top two pairs teams from the 1953 European Championships paved the way for one of the closest contests ever at Europeans in Bolzano. Austria's Sissy Schwarz and Kurt Oppelt had the most points and fewest ordinal placings, but the judging panel was split three-two in favour of Switzerland's Silvia and Michel Grandjean, with the German, British and Swiss judges voting for the Grandjean's and the Austrian and Czechoslovakian judges voting for Schwarz and Oppelt. The Grandjean's victory was the very first gold medal at an ISU Championship in any discipline for Switzerland. The bronze medal went to Czechoslovakian siblings Soňa Balůnová and Miroslav Balůn.

Sissy Schwarz and Kurt Oppelt. Photo courtesy Bildarchiv Austria.

Captain T.D. Richardson remarked, "In this event Michel and Silvia Grandjean... thoroughly deserved their win, for they were the only pair to combine elegance and charm, gliding speed, a sufficiency of difficulty and that 'togetherness' which is the essential of pair skating. Most of their rivals indulged in a superfluity of acrobatics with little evidence of skating technique. If the judges were asking for difficulty - most of them must have been looking the other way when Bob Hudson and Jean Higson performed - for they executed movements that many of the other pairs would not have dared to attempt; and what is more, they included some very good skating. In my opinion, they should have been second - fourth place was much to low. It is true that Kurt Oppelt and [Sissy] Schwarz, who came second, have an excellent programme, but until they take the trouble to eradicate many glaring faults of position, footwork and general technique, they cannot be ranked as near-champions. The Czechoslovak pair... who came third were rough and not at all together."

The sour taste left in the mouths of the pairs skaters, ice dancers and judges after the organizer's last-minute schedule change was compounded by a minor incident at the customary closing banquet. Cyril Beastall complained, "At a party following the events at Bolzano, when those present were listening to the various speeches and in a happy atmosphere, a discordant note was introduced. The room was long and those at the far end had considerable difficulty in hearing the lengthy speeches - but on these occasions no one bothers about that. Therefore there was a buzz of conversation from the far end of the room, which members of the British party, nearly twenty strong, seated near the presentation table, could of course hear. The discordant note was introduced by Mr. Bubi (pronounced Booby) Witt, who in strident English and with flushed face proceeded to call everyone to order in the manner of a disgruntled schoolmaster. Quite a few of those present are still asking why Mr. Witt made his 'request' in English."

Skate Guard is a blog dedicated to preserving the rich, colourful and fascinating history of figure skating. Over ten years, the blog has featured over a thousand free articles covering all aspects of the sport's history, as well as four compelling in-depth features. To read the latest articles, follow the blog on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube. If you enjoy Skate Guard, please show your support for this archive by ordering a copy of figure skating reference books "The Almanac of Canadian Figure Skating", "Technical Merit: A History of Figure Skating Jumps" and "A Bibliography of Figure Skating": https://skateguard1.blogspot.com/p/buy-book.html.

A Need For Speed And Syncopation: The Alex D.C. Gordon Story

Alex D.C. Gordon, Lesley Norfolk and John Pearce. Photo courtesy "Ice & Roller Skate" magazine.

"It is obvious that the elements of figures are not only a benefit, but are absolutely essential in the mastery of good ice dancing." -  Alex D.C. Gordon, "Winter Sports" magazine, November 1964

The son of Margaret Cecelia (Crawford) and Alexander Theodore Gordon, Alexander 'Alex' David Crawford Gordon was born on February 3, 1913 at Freefield House in Rayne, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. 

When he was two years old, his father (who served as Lieutenant-Colonel during The Boer War) abandoned his mother, moved to Stirlingshire and shacked up with another woman. Alex and his mother received no support from his father during The Great War. When the War ended, their divorce was finalized and his father was elected as the Member of Parliament for Aberdeen and Kincardine Central. His father passed away in March of 1919 at the age of thirty-seven, a victim of the Spanish flu pandemic. By the thirties, Alex was living in Putney Hill, London with his mother and her third husband. In 1937, he married Elspeth Keech in Edinburgh. She was seventeen; he twenty-four. They divorced in 1941, the same year his mother passed away.

During the years leading up to World War II, Alex developed a passion for figure skating. He passed the National Skating Club's Gold Dance, Silver Figure and Pair (International) tests and Bronze English Style Figure tests. After the War, he resumed skating and as a representative of Queen's Ice Dance Club. He won the Club's drawn partners contest in 1946 with Marjorie Widdowson and three consecutive bronze medals in the British Ice Dance Championships with Barbara 'Bunty' Radford, narrowly missing out on a fourth in 1950. His passion for the sport even led him to spend some time in Johannesburg, South Africa where Arthur Apfel, the 1947 World Bronze Medallist was teaching.

Bunty Radford and Alex D.C. Gordon (left), Sybil Cooke and Bob S. Hudson (center) and Julie and Bill Barrett (right). Photo courtesy "Skating World" magazine.

Though a talented skater, Alex's most important contributions to figure skating and ice dancing were on the other side of the boards. He served on the National Skating Association's Council and Ice Figure Committees for over twenty-five years and acted as chair of the Ice Dance Committee for several years. He was a first-class judge in singles, pairs and ice dance, as well as an ISU judge and referee for both figures and dance. He judged and refereed at countless British, European and World Championships and served as an assistant referee at both the 1960 and 1964 Winter Olympic Games. He also served as a Substitute Member and Member of the ISU's Ice Dance Committee for a decade and was a very important figure in the development of the discipline during the fifties and sixties - a golden era when British ice dancers dominated the sport.

Photo courtesy "Skating World" magazine

As an official, Alex more than once found himself at the center of controversy. In 1948, while serving on the National Skating Association's Council, he published a highly critical letter which caused much bad blood. He complained the Council was slated in favour of roller skaters and that there were too many judges who didn't skate (anymore) themselves or attend rinks when they weren't judging. He claimed these judges were "completely out of touch" with the sport's progress as a result. In 1951, he gave one skater scandalously low mark of 2.8, which resulted in a barrage of complaints and in 1965, he found himself in the center of a scandal when a petition circulated asking the National Skating Association to ban him from judging at the British Championships. In her book "Figure Skating History: The Evolution Of The Dance", Lynn Copley-Graves summarized, "An ISU Special Committee appointed at Alex Gordon's request investigated allegations that he had coached and judged his own pupils. In the hearings, Alex was found to have freely given advice to pupils of one or two professionals and to have inadvertently aroused adverse comment among other skaters and pros. The Special Committee found no evidence of bias in his judging cards, stressed the need for utmost discretion by all judges in their interactions with competitors and their pros, and closed the matter. This meeting, held in strictest confidence, was breached by one person who spoke publicly about it."

Despite these complaints, Alex served as a mentor to many Scottish skaters and was very well-liked by his judging peers. When he wasn't at a rink or in a meeting, he was busy running The Devil's Punchbowl Hotel in Hindhead (which is still in operation today) with his business partner, World and British Professional Champion John Pearce. 

Alex passed away on January 14, 1973 in Surrey at the age of fifty-nine. For his services to British skating, he was posthumously awarded an Honorary Membership to the National Skating Association.

Skate Guard is a blog dedicated to preserving the rich, colourful and fascinating history of figure skating. Over ten years, the blog has featured over a thousand free articles covering all aspects of the sport's history, as well as four compelling in-depth features. To read the latest articles, follow the blog on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube. If you enjoy Skate Guard, please show your support for this archive by ordering a copy of figure skating reference books "The Almanac of Canadian Figure Skating", "Technical Merit: A History of Figure Skating Jumps" and "A Bibliography of Figure Skating": https://skateguard1.blogspot.com/p/buy-book.html.

The Flying Camel Fête

The summer fête was the event of the year in a sleepy seaside community with the unusual name Flying Camel. There were card parties, games of chance and elephant sales; fortune tellers and book tables. The highlight of the festivities was the annual Taste of the Town contest.

Every year, people would come to Flying Camel from miles around, lugging crockpots and chafing dishes. There were a record twenty-seven entries in the 2002 contest. Mrs. Waxel showed up with her wondrous wild rice risotto. Mr. Flutz flaunted his fabulous flan. Chi Chi Congelado travelled fifteen miles from the village of Bunny Hop with an overflowing pot of her famous Cha Cha Chasse chili in tow.

For years, Delia Doubleloop ruled the Taste of the Town contest with an iron fist. The mere smell of her perfume in the air evoked fear in the contestant's hearts. She sauntered slowly from table to table, yielding her pretentious jewel-encrusted tasting spoon like a sword. 

After each tasting, Delia loudly expressed her displeasure. Mrs. Waxel went wobbly in the knees when Delia ruled that the risotto wasn't fit for a starving retriever. Mr. Flutz started sweating profusely when Delia announced his flan was a flop. Chi Chi Congelado cried when Delia called her Cha Cha Chasse chili Kaka Chasse chili. 

When it was announced that first prize went to Delia's dear friend Mrs. Twizzle, who showed up with the driest shortbreads in town, pandemonium broke out in the tent where the Taste of the Town contest was held. Delia snuck out the back of the tent with a smirk on her face as an angry mob surrounded the event's organizer, Mr. Seasonsbest. They demanded to know why Delia continued to be the head judge when she awarded first prize to her friends every year, regardless of how bland and uninspiring their food was.

"Now, now," protested Mr. Seasonsbest. "Delia has been judging the Taste of the Town since 1953, back in the days when the contest was held outdoors. You always complain, but I can hardly do anything about it... Her best friend is the mayor's wife and the mayor sponsors the contest!"

Mrs. Waxel started a letter-writing campaign to have Delia expelled; Mr. Flan put up "Delia Must Go!" posters at the church hall and post office. The pressure on Mr. Seasonsbest to do something was mounting... and eventually he did.

In an exclusive interview with Mrs. Wobblyedge, the intrepid reporter of the "Flying Times Gazette", Mr. Seasonsbest candidly discussed his position. Delia would remain as head judge, because he wouldn't want to lose the Mayor's financial support and finding a fair, impartial judge would simply involve more effort than he was willing to put in. Instead, the format of the Taste of the Town contest would be completely revamped. To put everyone on an even playing field, no one would be allowed to cook anymore. Taste of the Town would transform into a baking competition. Everyone would follow the same recipe and make exactly the same pie. "Precision," said Mr. Seasonsbest, "was far more important than flavour."

Fewer people attended the following year's Taste in the Town contest, but those who did watched with a curious interest as Delia sauntered around with a measuring tape instead of her customary tasting spoon. She penalized Mrs. Waxel because the peaks on her meringue were too many millimeters apart. She almost had a coronary when she saw Mr. Flutz use a 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon instead of 1/8. Though Mrs. Twizzle's pie crust crumbled, she received suspiciously high marks for PCS - Pie Component Scores. She grudgingly awarded Chi Chi Congelado extra points for sprinkling nutmeg on the top of her pie in the second half of the contest, because after all - that was the true mark an excellent pie.

A hush fell over the crowd as Mr. Seasonsbest opened the envelope and announced the winner: "First prize... Chi Chi Congelado". When a surprised Chi Chi went up to accept her prize, a coupon for 20% off a monogrammed tea cozy, she sighed and announced, "A win is a win, but this is bittersweet. The nutmeg in the second half was a new Personal Best, but the Cha Cha Chasse Chili I made last year was far tastier I think."

When I talk about why figure skating history is so important, I often bring up cooking and baking. You can spend the same time in the kitchen doing both, but they are polar opposites - as different as night and day, yin and yang or skating and gymnastics.

Before the IJS system was introduced, competitive skating was a lot like cooking. People absolutely followed a general recipe, but you had plenty of room to experiment. 

When you're in the kitchen making a marinara sauce that would do Sophia Petrillo proud, you have the freedom to put your own spin on a tried and true recipe - an extra dash of pepper here, a substitution there. Cooking can be a form of self-expression; whereas baking is really a science.

To achieve success in competitive skating today, you need to follow a recipe to the letter. Music be damned, you need to hit those levels to get those all-important points. The logic is honestly a hoot really: "Cross-cuts bad! Difficult transitions good! Spin levels! Features! Me Tarzan! You Jane!" A healthy sprinkle of nuance would have done a world of good when they came up with this stuff.

As any great baker will attest, when you follow a good recipe to the letter the cake you make will end up being delicious - but it will be almost identical to the one in the magazine and the person next-door's.

One of the main reasons figure skating history is so important is that there is a whole generation coming up now who have learned to become masterful bakers, but they don't even know that there was a time when cooking was all the rage.

Skate Guard is a blog dedicated to preserving the rich, colourful and fascinating history of figure skating. Over ten years, the blog has featured over a thousand free articles covering all aspects of the sport's history, as well as four compelling in-depth features. To read the latest articles, follow the blog on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube. If you enjoy Skate Guard, please show your support by signing up for the newsletter and ordering a copy of the figure skating reference books "The Almanac of Canadian Figure Skating", "Technical Merit: A History of Figure Skating Jumps" and "A Bibliography of Figure Skating": https://skateguard1.blogspot.com/p/buy-book.html.

Janet Lynn At The Midway Village Museum

A very special treat for all of you courtesy Alex Garry, Patrick O'Keefe and the wonderful staff at the Midway Village Museum... video footage of Olympic and World Medallist and U.S. Champion Janet Lynn's presentation in Rockford, Illinois on June 10, 2023. Hear from one of the sport's biggest legends in her own words! 

PART ONE

PART TWO

Skate Guard is a blog dedicated to preserving the rich, colourful and fascinating history of figure skating. Over ten years, the blog has featured over a thousand free articles covering all aspects of the sport's history, as well as four compelling in-depth features. To read the latest articles, follow the blog on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube. If you enjoy Skate Guard, please show your support for this archive by ordering a pre-ordering a copy of the upcoming book "Jackson Haines: The Skating King": https://skateguard1.blogspot.com/2015/08/jackson-haines-definitive-biography.html. 

The Disappearance Of George Blodgett And Harold Golding

In the middle of a hot July in 1953, fifty-seven year old George Reddington Blodgett II and fifty-four year old Harold Golding of Cambridge, Massachusetts left Boston on a private plane. Their destination was Lima, Peru. Their plan was to deliver the plane to a buyer and see the sights on a month-long South American vacation. 

Blodgett, the pilot, was a Yale and Harvard grad and a corporate tax attorney with the Boston law firm of Herrick, Smith, Donald, Farley and Ketchum. He was also the older brother of pioneering General Electric scientist Dr. Katharine Burr Blodgett. Golding was the Vice-President of the International Equipment Company in Brighton.

Left: Harold Golding. Right: George Blodgett as a young man attending Yale during the Great War. Photo courtesy Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center, Wendy Schnur.

On July 16, the men spent the night in Guatemala City, flying to Managua, Nicaragua the next day. From there, they headed out on their Cessna 170 to San José, Costa Rica. They never arrived at their destination.

When the men failed to show up in San José, the alarm was raised. The U.S. Embassy was informed and the Nicaraguan, Panamanian and Costa Rican air forces co-ordinated in a search and rescue effort with the State Department in Washington, which sent two amphibians from the 26th Rescue Squadron at the American Embassy in Peru. One of Blodgett's co-workers, attorney Charles Hovey, made the trip down to Central America to aid in the search.

The area where they believed the plane may have crashed was a dense rainforest. Though hampered by poor visibility, pilots flew over the jungle looking for any signs of a downed plane... to no avail. Word was passed on to those living in neighbouring villages about the missing plane, instructing locals to report any sign of the missing men.

In early August, one rumour circulated that the plane had landed in the Canal Zone in Puerto Carrillo, but officials said there was no verification of this. They doubted that a small plane had sufficient fuel aboard to make it that far. Another rumour from a Costa Rican village said the plane crashed into the sea. 

Shortly after this, two messages were found written in the sand on a beach in Puerto Carrillo. One said 'OK' and the second, in Spanish, said that an aircraft had crashed into the mountains ten miles west of Puerto Carillo. 

The messages in the sand proved to be dead ends. On March 20, 1954, the Blodgett and Golding families both held memorial services at the First Congregational Church in Cambridge despite the fact that the plane or their bodies were never found.

There were a number of unusual 'coincidences' regarding George Blodgett. For one, his disappearance and presumed passing wasn't the only tragedy in his family. His father, a prominent General Electric patent attorney, was shot and killed by an intruder in his home in 1897, when George was just two years old. Less than a year prior to his disappearance, both George and a passenger suffered facial cuts when a plane he was flying from Paris to Cape Town crashed in Mbeye, Tanganyika (now Tanzania). While it was certainly possible that he had terrible luck, that's pretty terrible luck indeed! However, to suggest that Blodgett was an inexperienced or 'bad' pilot would be unfair. He had flown sixteen thousand miles around the perimeter of the United States in 1947, with his wife as co-pilot. He had also flown over the jungles of Central America at least once before.

What did this all have to do with figure skating? Well... George Blodgett was a relation of U.S. women's and pairs medallist Polly Blodgett. He was a respected skating judge and a former President of The Skating Club of Boston. Golding was the current President of the Skating Club of Boston. During World War II, the two men served together on the club's board - Blodgett as Secretary and Golding as Treasurer.

Left: Polly Blodgett. Right: Ollie Haupt Jr. and Polly Blodgett. Photo courtesy "Skating" magazine.

What became of George Blodgett and Harold Golding? I think it's completely unprobable that they went on to live 'new lives under presumed names' like characters in a spy novel. The most likely scenario is that their plane had engine problems or ran into bad visibility in some remote region of Central America and that they both perished in the crash. There is also the remote possibility that one or both survived the crash but perished as a result of their injuries, starvation or getting lost in the jungle. However their stories ended, it is important that we remember their important contributions to the figure skating world.

Skate Guard is a blog dedicated to preserving the rich, colourful and fascinating history of figure skating. Over ten years, the blog has featured over a thousand free articles covering all aspects of the sport's history, as well as four compelling in-depth features. To read the latest articles, follow the blog on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube. If you enjoy Skate Guard, please show your support for this archive by ordering a copy of the figure skating reference books "The Almanac of Canadian Figure Skating", "Technical Merit: A History of Figure Skating Jumps" and "A Bibliography of Figure Skating": https://skateguard1.blogspot.com/p/buy-book.html.

The Disappearance Of Ernest Worsley

In 1912, roller skater Ernest Worsley took to the ice to compete in the pairs event at the World Figure Skating Championships in his hometown of Manchester, England. His future wife and partner on both ice and rollers was Lois Eugenie Norah Lovett, the daughter of the rector of St. Werburgh's church in Chorlton-cum-Hardy. 

Lois and Ernest Worsley

After acting as the first secretary-manager of the Manchester Ice Palace, Ernest travelled overseas to North America. After a stint in Quebec, he managed the rink of the New Haven Skating Club at the time of the event that is now recognized as the first U.S. Figure Skating Championships. He was back in Great Britain just in time for the outbreak of The Great War.

On March 26, 1915, thirty-two year old Ernest left his home at 18 Cavendish-road in the Manchester suburb of Chorlton-cum-Hardy to go to his job as a chemical engineer and seemingly vanished into thin air.

Lois and Ernest's families filed a missing persons report, put up posters and alerted friends in Bradford, London, Liverpool, Leeds, Preston and Lancaster to be on the look-out. An article from the "Liverpool Echo" noted that he "recently suffered from a loss of memory, the result of a serious illness, and it is of interest to note that this forgetfulness takes a form that has become fairly familiar among those who have been studying the effects of high explosives during the war. It is feared that after he left home he had a further attack of loss of memory. To strangers, however, he will appear quite rational." 

The "chemical preparation of great intensity" he was working with was a formula submitted to the War Office, to be used in explosive shells on the front lines in Europe. The "Manchester Evening News" reported, "The symptoms of the malady from which Mr. Worsley suffered before he left Manchester resemble closely those which have been noted in the soldiers who have come from the battle front in France affected by fumes from German shells, and it is believed that his experiments have been responsible for this illness, but he had apparently recovered before he left Manchester, and to all appearances his condition was normal."

There were numerous possible sightings of Ernest in the days after his disappearance. He was first spotted in Shrewsbury, nearly two hours from Manchester, on April 3. Someone else thought they recognized him in Wrexham on April 4 - Easter Sunday. When approached and asked what he was doing in the area, he said he was on his way to Wales to go on a walking tour.

Just as mysteriously as he disappeared, Ernest re-appeared. A vague newspaper article from the April 12, 1915 issue of the "Manchester Evening News" reported that he had "returned home from Worcester. He had been working hard on experiments with explosives and was suffering from overstrain, but is now better." 

The circumstances of Ernest's disappearance and how he spent over a week in Wartime Britain in the spring of 1915 are murky at best, but by that fall he was back doing what he loved - skating an exhibition with his wife and Ethel Muckelt on a frozen pond in Belle Vue. Sadly, he passed away on August 12, 1919 in Bombay, India at the age of forty-one, in the height of the Spanish flu pandemic.

Skate Guard is a blog dedicated to preserving the rich, colourful and fascinating history of figure skating. Over ten years, the blog has featured over a thousand free articles covering all aspects of the sport's history, as well as four compelling in-depth features. To read the latest articles, follow the blog on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube. If you enjoy Skate Guard, please show your support for this archive by ordering a copy of figure skating reference books "The Almanac of Canadian Figure Skating", "Technical Merit: A History of Figure Skating Jumps" and "A Bibliography of Figure Skating": https://skateguard1.blogspot.com/p/buy-book.html.

Pride Month

 

Happy Pride Month!

Check out Skate Guard's Pride Month page for a Required Reading list and a Pinterest board of LGBTQ+ Skating History. 

To nominate LGBTQ+ skaters to the Skate Canada Hall Of Fame, click here.

National Indigenous History Month

Photo courtesy Government of Canada

June is National Indigenous History Month! Skate Guard highlights the important history of skaters of First Nations, Inuit and Métis heritage with an extensive timeline. You can view the special content for National Indigenous History Month by tapping on the side menu bar of the blog or visiting the following page:

National Indigenous History Month

To nominate skaters of Indigenous heritage to the Skate Canada Hall Of Fame, click here.

Divine Duos Of The British Ice Dance Dynasty

Fashionably late to the game, ice dancing was first officially contested at both the World and European Championships in the early fifties. Although it was an American pair (Lois Waring and Michael McGean) that won the first international ice dance competition held in conjunction with the World Championships in 1950, British couples won every single European and World dance title from 1951 to 1959.

Photo courtesy "Skating World" magazine

The very first World and European Champions, Jean Westwood and Lawrence Demmy, were succeeded by Pamela Weight and Paul Thomas in 1956. In the late fifties, Courtney Jones dominated the international dance scene. With partners June Markham and Doreen Denny, Jones won every ISU Championship he entered from 1957 until his retirement in 1961.

June Markham and Courtney Jones. Video courtesy Frazer Ormondroyd.

It is important to recognize that the domination of British dancers during this period extended far beyond this particular string of gold-medal winning couples. Today's Skate Guard blog celebrates the achievements of some of the other British teams who medalled at these early international dance events in the fifties... divine duos whose stories are often overlooked.

KAY MORRIS AND MICHAEL ROBINSON

Kay Morris and Michael Robinson. Photo courtesy "Skating World" magazine.

Like 1984 Olympic Gold Medallists Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean, Catherine 'Kay' Morris and Michael Robinson came from Nottingham. Throughout their skating career, they regularly travelled to London to perfect their craft with some of the best instructors in England. Though they worked with Jacques Gerschwiler and Monty Readhead early in their career, their coach at the height of their career was Len Liggett, who then taught at Queen's.

Christiane and Jean-Paul Guhel, Doreen Denny and Courtney Jones and Kay Morris and Michael Robinson on the podium at the 1959 European Championships. Photo courtesy Elaine Hooper, BIS Archives.

Kay and Michael won three consecutive medals at the European Championships in 1957, 1958 and 1959. Their best finish at the World Championships was fourth in 1958. At their first World Championships in 1957, they placed only sixth. Some thought the fact they drew first to skate in the free dance played a role in their result. They finished a disappointing seventh at their last trip to Worlds in 1959. They married in 1960 and both later served on the NSA Council and Ice Dance Committee and as international judges. Michael invented a Variation Foxtrot that was adopted as part of the NSA's Inter-Gold Dance schedule in the sixties. Kay sadly passed away last month. BIS Historian Elaine Hooper penned an outstanding obituary that highlights her important contributions to British skating. You can read it here.

BUNTY RADFORD AND RAY LOCKWOOD

Bunty Radford and Ray Lockwood on the podium at the 1955 World Championships

Raymond 'Ray' Lockwood got his start as a pairs skater. He and Peri Horne placed fifth at the 1953 World Championship, defeating future Olympic Gold Medallists Sissy Schwarz and Kurt Oppelt. When Peri turned professional to teach at Queen's, he teamed up with Alex D.C. Gordon's former partner Barbara 'Bunty' Radford to win bronze medals at the 1954 and 1955 European Championships and the 1955 World Championships. 

Photo courtesy "Skating World" magazine

Bunty and Ray's partnership ended when Ray turned professional. He and wife Rosina Blackburn won the World and British Open Professional pairs title in 1957 and 1958 and the dance title in 1958. Ray later taught at the Minto Skating Club, University Skating Club, Granite Club and Toronto Cricket Skating and Curling Club. Among his students were Canada's Virginia Thompson and Bill McLachlan, two-time World Medallists, North American and Canadian Champions. Ray sadly passed away on New Year's Eve in 2009.

Ray Lockwood. Photo courtesy "Skate" magazine

Bunty teamed up with Terence Orton after Ray turned pro but finished only fourth at the 1956 British Championships, missing a spot on the European and World teams by a hair. She later designed her own line of skating fashions called 'Bunty Sportswear' and coached at Streatham Ice Rink in London, in Italy with Guiliano Grossi and Alex McGowan and in Fort Wayne, Indiana and Troy, Ohio.

JOAN DEWHIRST AND JOHN SLATER

Photo courtesy "Ice Skate" magazine

Like Jean Westwood and Lawrence Demmy, Joan Dewhirst and John Slater hailed from Manchester. John was actually Jean's partner previous to her teaming up with Lawrence. Joan and John and Jean and Lawrence were close rivals in the early fifties. Jean and Lawrence were more known for their precision, speed and strong technique, whereas the Joan and John had "freer movement" and flashier skating. T.D. Richardson recalled, "In their free skating they skated, instead of kicking their legs in the air, waving their arms and tails about, swaying like straws in the breeze with both feet firmly planted." Joan and John finished second to Jean and Lawrence in the dance events held in conjunction with the World Championships in 1951, 1952 and 1953 but defeated Jean and Lawrence at the British Championships in both 1952 and 1953. Interestingly, some of the same judges who voted for Joan and John to win their British dance titles over the World Champion gave them lower marks when they competed internationally.

Photo courtesy Elaine Hooper, BIS Archive

Joan and John got married and turned professional in 1954, toured for a time in North America with the Ice Cycles and were perennial winners at the World's and British Open Professional Championships in the late fifties and early sixties. 

Left: Joan (Dewhirst) Slater. Right: John and Nicky Slater

Joan and John both went on to impressive coaching careers, working everywhere from the Molitor Rink in Paris to Las Palmas in the Canary Islands to the Liverpool, Manchester and Altricham rinks in England. Together, they invented the Jamaican Rhumba and in 1964 made history as one of the first professional couples to demonstrate compulsory dances at the World Championships. Joan's students over the years included Susan Getty and Roy Bradshaw, Isabella Micheli and Roberto Pelizzola, Sharon Jones and Paul Askham and of course, her son Nicky Slater and his partner Karen Barber. John passed away in 1989; Joan in 2020.

BARBARA THOMPSON AND GERARD RIGBY

Courtney Jones and June Markham, Paul Thomas and Pamela Weight and Barbara Thompson and Gerry Rigby in 1956. Photo courtesy BIS Archives, Courtney Jones Collection.

Gerrard 'Gerry' Joseph Rigby was born March 23, 1932. He grew up on City Road in the market-town of St. Helens in southwest Lancashire. He learned to skate at the Ice Palace rink on Prescott Road, next to the Casino Cinema in Liverpool and soon teamed up with Barbara Thompson of Oldham. The unlikely duo of small-town skaters were taught by Fred Borrodaile, a mechanic who gave up his job at a garage to coach them.

In 1955, Barbara and Gerry won the very first British junior dance title ever contested, having tried out their free dance during a hockey game interval in Liverpool. That autumn, they finished third in their very first go at the senior title and earned spots on the European and World teams. Though they had absolutely zero international experience, Barbara and Gerry surprised many by claiming the bronze medals at both the 1956 European and World Championships.

Kay Morris and Michael Robinson, June Markham and Courtney Jones and Barbara Thompson and Gerard Rigby, 1958 British dance medallists. Photo courtesy "Skating World" magazine.

The following season, Barbara and Gerry claimed the Northern and Midland Counties dance titles and moved up to second at the British and European Championships. At the World Championships in Colorado Springs, nerves affected their compulsories. The Canadian judge gave them a 3.8 on the Foxtrot and had them tenth of the eleven couples and they had to come from behind to finish fifth. In 1957, Barbara and Gerry dropped to third at the British and European Championships and remained fifth at Worlds. In their final competition together, the British Championships in November of 1958, they finished second ahead of Catherine Morris and Michael Robinson, the team that had bumped them out of the second slot the year before. Two judges even had them first over World Champion Courtney Jones and his new partner Doreen Denny.

Joyce Coates, Anthony Holles, Gerry Rigby and Barbara Thompson taking a tea break from practice in Liverpool in 1958

Though named to the 1959 European and World teams, Barbara and Gerry's partnership ended abruptly when she announced her engagement and plans to move to America to be with her future husband. After a time overseas, she later returned to England, partnered up with Alan Hickman in Nottingham for a time and took up judging.

Gerry taught dance in Southampton and at Birmingham's Silver Blades ice rink. Among his students were European Champions and World Medallists Linda Shearman and Michael Phillips. In 1961, Gerry was involved in a serious car accident, where firefighters had to release him when he became trapped in his vehicle. He recovered, returned to coaching and skated with Gillian Thorpe in the televised program "Hot Ice And Cool Music" and the British and World Professional Championships.

While Barbara enjoyed married life, Gerry's fate wasn't so happy. He was found dead in his Solihull flat on May 23, 1971 at the age of thirty-nine. An inquest determined that Gerry had committed suicide. The cause of death was ruled to be a barbiturate overdose. He had lost his job as a skating instructor "because of nervous tension" and checked himself into the Birmingham Nerve Hospital. His friend Jane Martin claimed that when he was discharged, the "Inland Revenue descended on him, saying that he owed nearly three thousand pounds." Gerry had been facing bankruptcy proceedings as a result.

SYBIL COOKE AND BOB HUDSON

Photo courtesy "Skating World" magazine

Bob Hudson hailed from the Old Swan area of Liverpool; Sybil Cooke from the nearby town of Warrington. They trained in both pairs and dance in the afternoons and evenings with Len Liggett, later working with Miss Gladys Hogg in London. They were a very popular couple at the time, known for their rhythm and "fast, energetic style", regulars in the Northern Ice Dance League's contests and winners of the Manchester Skating Club's prestigious Ice Dance Trophy, Liverpool's Pairs and Dance Competitions and Birmingham's Laughton Trophy for pairs.

After winning the 1949 British dance title, Sybil and Bob became the first team in history to win both the British pairs and dance crowns in the same year in 1950. At that year's World Championships, they competed in both disciplines as well, placing a dismal eleventh out of twelve couples in pairs but second in dance. Esteemed British judge Reginald Wilkie had them in first. Though they were the first British couple in history to medal in an ice dance event held at the World Championships, their achievement has historically been overlooked because the ISU didn't officially deem the dance event an 'official' World Championships until 1952.

Sybil Cooke and Bob Hudson (center) as winners of the 1949 British Ice Dance Championships. Second (left) were Julie and Bill Barrett and third (right) were Bunty Radford and Alex D.C. Gordon. Photo courtesy "Skating World" magazine.

Sybil married William Hartley after the 1950 World Championships and her partnership with Bob came to an end. Skating with sisters Vivien and Jean Higson, he won another two British pairs titles and place fourth at the 1953 European Championships. 

Photo courtesy "Skating World" magazine

In 1954, Jean married Forest Morton, a farmer from Lanarkshire and took up coaching for a time. At the time, Bob remarked, "At twenty-six, I am an old man for championship skating. Jean and I were the oldest pair at the championships last year - the rest were teenagers. Children have more time to practise." Rather than hang up his skates, he reunited with Sybil the following year for a final, unsuccessful kick at the British dance crown. After retiring, Bob was active for many years as a high-level dance judge. He judged at the 1969 World Championships in Colorado Springs, when Diane Towler and Bernard Ford won their final World title.

Skate Guard is a blog dedicated to preserving the rich, colourful and fascinating history of figure skating. Over ten years, the blog has featured over a thousand free articles covering all aspects of the sport's history, as well as four compelling in-depth features. To read the latest articles, follow the blog on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube. If you enjoy Skate Guard, please show your support for this archive by ordering a copy of figure skating reference books "The Almanac of Canadian Figure Skating", "Technical Merit: A History of Figure Skating Jumps" and "A Bibliography of Figure Skating": https://skateguard1.blogspot.com/p/buy-book.html.

Contraptions And Contrivances: Figure Skating's Oddest Inventions

"The most curious things amongst these models are those of various machines for enabling the unpractised hand to throw lines to people in danger. These ingenius contrivances - whether they survived the test of trial does not appear - consist mostly of a line wound round a stick, to which are attached wheels or a ball, so that it may be rolled in the direction required; but it does not appear what would happen if the ice were not quite smooth." - excerpt from an unattributed article in Charles Dickens' weekly journal "All The Year Round" referring to the life-saving apparatuses in the possession of the Royal Humane Society in England for saving drowning skaters.

Victorian skating 'safety frame'

When we think about innovations like improvements to skate design, the Zamboni and jumping harnesses, we can clearly see how inventions can change the course of skating history. 

It is hard to imagine what figure skating would look like today without computerized judging or internet streams of skating competitions. Yet, for every success story in this world like the cell phone or the television, there's a Smell-O-Vision, a mechanical horse brush, a shoe umbrella or a lipstick stencil. 

Skating has plenty of its own odd inventions that proved to be colossal flops. Today on Skate Guard, we will explore a handful of the most epic ones!

THE SKATER'S FRIEND

Photo courtesy Wellcome Library

One imaginative Victorian era British skater was so concerned about the idea of taking a tumble on the ice that he conceived the idea of a crinoline cage called 'The Skater's Friend' that would prevent injuries. The unattributed engraving found in the Wellcome Library's collection reads, "'Some good account at last.' - Amateur skater. 'Entirely my own idea, Harry. - Ease, elegance and safety combined, - I call it the skater's friend." The engraving was later published in "Punch" magazine on January 7, 1860. The 'Skater's Friend' never caught on, and in 1919, George Woolliscroft Rhead frowned upon the engraving in his book "Chats On Costume" thusly: "Unkind Mr. Punch! Must we, then, measure the value of everything in this world by its bare utility? The crinoline will endure as a sweet solace to senses tired by the ennui of this dull earth. The memory of it will outlive the ages."

REVITALIZING SKATING TONICS

Right: William H. Bishop, a.k.a. Frank Swift

William H. Bishop, a rather unscrupulous theatrical and minstrel show producer who skated under the alias Frank Swift, was one of America's best-known skaters after Jackson Haines left for Europe. He had a bit of a dubious history in the sport - to put it mildly. In the January 7, 1893 edition of "Harper's Weekly", champion skater George Dawson Phillips wrote a column describing an act of deception on the famed skater's part: "Proficient judges are sometimes misled, as in the contest of 1867, when Frank Swift, the old time champion, almost succeeded in getting the best of them. He was only able to make the one-foot 8's with his left foot, and in order to throw the judges off, he first skated the figure facing them, and turning around a few times, he started with his back to them, but on the same foot. The deception was not noticed at first but when Mr. E.B. Cook, one of the judges, asked him to repeat the figure, it was discovered that he could not use his left foot." He couldn't have pissed Cook off that much though, because the next year when Swift and 'noted skating critic' Marvin R. Clark penned "The Skater's Textbook", Cook wrote a glowing forward. Back in those days, many of the fancy skating contests were blatantly rigged, with the skaters bringing their own 'judges' and everyone involved getting a piece of the pie. 

William H. Bishop and Marvin R. Clark's "The Skater's Textbook" didn't just provide instruction on  signature grapevines and scuds. It also suggested a 'cure-all remedy' for skating induced aches that was rather unorthodox at best.

Swift and Clark weren't the only ones peddling patent medicine to skaters during the Victorian era. Dalley's Magical Pain Extractor was a salve invented by a New York merchant named Henry Dalley, Sr. It didn't catch on, but after his death in 1852, a druggist named Cornelius V. Clickener (who later became the first mayor of Hoboken, New Jersey) took over Dalley's business and advertised the heck out of his ointment in newspapers, booklets and trade cards - one of which pictured a happy skater pushing a woman on a sledge across the ice. 

Trade card for Dalley's Magical Pain Extractor, circa 1875. Photo courtesy Library Of Congress.

The salve claimed to cure "burns, scalds, cuts, chafes, sore nipples, corns, bites, bunions, strains, poison, chilblains, biles, ulcers, fever sores, felons, ear ache, piles, sore eyes, gout, swellings, rheumatism, scald head, salt rheum, baldness, erysipelas, ringworm, barber's itch, small pox, measles, rash, &c." It was also used to 'treat' everything from poison oak to cancer and claimed to "take out all pain in ten minutes". What (no doubt) questionable and even dangerous ingredients were in this magical salve are a mystery, but it was rubbed on many a skater's 'weak ankles' and chilblains back in the day.

ANCHORS AWAY!

In 1953, forty year old Hollywood would-be inventor named Charles E. Smith was picked up three miles off the Los Angeles harbour breakwater by the Coast Guard. "The Madera Tribune", on April 13, 1953, reported that "that was about three miles further than he had gotten earlier this month when he tried to make it in a plastic ball that became water-logged when only three feet off the beach. Smith's latest contraption consisted of a revolving barrel supported by four airplane gas tanks and aluminum tubing. He explained his idea was to stand on the barrel wearing roller skates and skate his way to the island. The roller skates didn't work, so Smith tried it in his stocking feet. Five hours later the contraption collapsed and the Coast Guard pulled Smith out of the water. Smith, not downhearted, said he would try something new." God bless his pointy head, that one!

AND WE HAVE LIFT OFF...

Mr. Hawkins' 'rink protector' for roller skaters were an epic fail to say the least. Bouncing... chandelier... lawsuit. Need one say more?

Clipping from the May 6, 1885 issue of "The Evening Star"

KILLED BY HIS OWN INVENTION?

From the comical to the calamitous is the story of an eighteen year old from Lawrenceburg, Indiana named Warren Mitchell. Following the death of his father Robert, the Gilded Age Midwesterner was left in the precarious situation of  his mother and siblings.An avid skater, Mitchell recognized the life-saving (and money-making) potential of a device to save people from drowning when they fell through the ice while skating. 

Life-saving equipment for skaters was nothing new. Skating clubs in Philadelphia, England and Scotland made ice safety apparatus - everything from ropes to ladders to axes and boats - an absolute priority. Sadly, Mitchell's invention almost killed him... and many believed it did. 

An erroneous dispatch led to this article being published in newspapers from New York to California on February 22, 1907: "Warren Mitchell, a young inventor, lost his life today while testing an apparatus which he had invented for preventing loss of life from skating on thin ice. The device consisted of a light framework to be fastened about the skater's body and extending three feet on each side. Mitchell took his contrivance to Tanner's Creek this morning, and while skating his foot came in contact with an obstruction and he was thrown headlong upon the ice. The ice gave way, and the upper part of his body went under water. The device about his waist hampered him so that could not raise himself up, and when taken from the water he was dead." Fortunately, local accounts of Mitchell's accident improved his condition from dead to alive. "The Elwood Daily Record" corrected the dispatch's error, noting that Mitchell instead "struck an obstruction and was precipitated headfirst through the ice, softened by the recent rains, and his invention held him fast beneath the water. He would have assuredly drowned, but his plight was discovered by Ray Myers, who rescued him at the risk of his own life. Mitchell is in a precarious condition." 

The young skating inventor recovered, got a job as a labourer for J.C. Wright & Son in Aurora, Indiana, married and was drafted into the U.S. army during The Great War. His fate during or after the war is a mystery... but we do know one thing - his apparatus is quite likely at the bottom of Tanner's Creek where it belongs.

THE HYGIENIC SKATING POND

Back in 1907 in Billings, Montana, a doctor named Jeremiah Wight decided to open to a 'hygienic skating pond'. Wight was full of ridiculous ideas that never would have worked including - according to the "Los Angeles Herald" on January 4, 1907 - "a hot-water system circulating through the ice sheet... [so if] a skater breaks through he will find himself in hot water and all danger of pneumonia will be eliminated" and "a skate that generates a current of electricity as it slides over the ice. Wires convey the current to foot warmers in the shoes, and girls can skate for hours without having their toes frostbitten." Because what's safer than mixing electricity and water, right? I suppose I shouldn't snicker too much at Wight's latter idea. Julius Czaja of Syracuse, New York actually patented a heating apparatus where electric batteries mounted on ice skates warmed the feet and increased "the lubricating water film caused by the combination of pressure and fiction". Czaja's heating apparatus was featured in "Popular Mechanics" magazine in April 1964. In case you didn't guess, both Wight and Czaja's inventions didn't make it any further off the ground than a death spiral.

HOTBUGS

Photo courtesy "World Ice Skating Guide"

Patented in February of 1952 by Detroit's Elizabeth Paster, Hotbugs were without a doubt one of the most unusual fads in skating fashion of the fifties and early sixties. Made of lambskin and scrap pieces of fur, Hotbugs were muffs for skates that were 'supposed to keep your toes warm'. They came in three colours (black, red and blue), had little plastic googly eyes and were fastened on with a hook.

Photo courtesy "World Ice Skating Guide"

Hotbugs inspired several copycats, including Hans Altinger's Skate-Mufs, which were manufactured out of Woodside, New York.

Barbara Ann Scott modelling Hotbugs in 1959

How something so silly ever become popular? Simple. Barbara Ann Scott appeared in print ads for the Lowell B. Worley company that distributed them.

Skate Guard is a blog dedicated to preserving the rich, colourful and fascinating history of figure skating. Over ten years, the blog has featured over a thousand free articles covering all aspects of the sport's history, as well as four compelling in-depth features. To read the latest articles, follow the blog on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube. If you enjoy Skate Guard, please show your support for this archive by ordering a copy of the figure skating reference books "The Almanac of Canadian Figure Skating", "Technical Merit: A History of Figure Skating Jumps" and "A Bibliography of Figure Skating": https://skateguard1.blogspot.com/p/buy-book.html.