bill bloggs the bladder blower

[suedyer23]

has anyone heard of bill bloggs the bladder blower

[squarebear]

Even Goole hasn't heard of that, so would imagine it's something that is personal to yourself or you just made it up.

It sounds like a good name for a strong beer though.

[squarebear]

Sorry I meant Google not Goole.

[confusedpete]

lol, i like the idea of the beer name, squarebear.

[Peter Pedant]

well there was someone,
big fella,

whose party trick was to blow up car inner tyres

and he used to do it on television - it might have been on a where are they now prog. I seem to remember Mr Musical Muscles was also starring.

Physique of a wrestler - he would do this only in a speedo, and for inspiration against a resistance, he had bloody huge serratus anterior, serratus posterior and Lat dorsi (muscles)

Very popular in Germany where a New Years Night entertainment might be him and the Portsmouth Symphonia (Professional musicians so they had a sense of time, playing instrements they had never played before -william tell and beethoven's 5th were favourites)


But, as they say, it could be someone else....

PP

[BadWinky]

Not Bill Bloggs, but I've heard of Old Nick the bladder blower. It's a name my grandfather used to use for the devil, and I've been looking for the origin of the phrase, too.

I wondered if it was something to do with the old mummer plays, in which I think there was a 'Fool' character that would go round hitting people with a blown-up pig's bladder.

Another possibility I wondered about was whether it was to do with blacksmithing--perhaps a legend about the devil blowing the bellows in the forge? My grandfather came from a blacksmithing family in Northamptonshire--so perhaps it's a local Northants phrase.

I've drawn a blank on all of these ideas because, as someone says below, Google has nothing to contribute!

Do any of these ring a bell with you? Would you mind telling me if you're from the Midlands, or have blacksmiths in your family history?

[BadWinky]

I've found out some more. A bladder blower seems to have been someone who inflated sausage skins ready to be filled! And the phrase might be from Kent, not Northamptonshire...

[drsunshine]

Like BadWinky my Grandmother used the phrase "Nicky the Bladder Blower". They did have Blacksmiths in the family (her grandfather I think) but they came from Stockport and further south in N Derbyshire. I agree it is a devil reference and she used to use it to describe someone foolish.

[Moleskin14]

My Dad and Uncle (born in the 30s) used to say Old Nick the bladder blower! I said it in public once and everyone looked at me as though I was mad. I understood it was used as in 'yes, him and Old Nick the bladder blower' ie. 'he ranks with the other ignorant people'. Our family is from Luton but moved there from Northants about the end of the 19th century.