THE two King brothers were the genuine monarchs of courage and enterprise. They’d uncomplainingly face up to any severe health problems and succeed in all their sporting challenges.

Their nephew, Bill Mullins, boosts them for special mention, following my recent articles about daredevil Billum Ormrod, ‘Tattoo’ Smith and the rest of the old skinny-dippers who used to bathe in the lake-like Flashes, dividing Haydock and Parr boundaries.

The King brothers, of Lithuanian descent, were from a family of eight kids. They lived in the long, terraced Station Road area of Haydock. This was a stretch then known locally as All Nationalities Road, because of the rich mixture of its residents - people from the Russian zone, the Poles, the Irish and Welsh. It was a lively place, to say the least!

Eddie King had been a highly promising footballer with Manchester City but had lost both legs after an accident. “A broad set man, he carried on as a skilled roofer, somehow managing to scramble up the ladders to get on the slates”, says Bill.

His brother Frank (‘Rubber’) King was a formidable outdoor swimmer, plunging into lakes and canals. “Nobody had any money then”, says Bill of Dunmail Avenue, Moss Bank, reaching back down the decades.

“And his swimming costume was made from an old jersey. The waist band was stitched together in the middle, to form a couple of leg-holes. And it was kept in place with an old-fashioned S-belt.”

A red-hot swimmer, he raced the legendary Baden Southern, along the canal from Parr’s Southport Colliery to the Nine Arches bridge at Earlestown Common and back again!

He easily won the long-distance double trip and became a bit of a sensation by being the first to dive off a high bridge near the colliery and into the shallow canal water below.

Rubber would face any challenge and was ready to take a dip even in wintry weather. “With snow on the ground he dived into the local canal to retrieve a get-away bag dumped there by a thief.”

The police called him in. Rubber stripped off, dived into the impenetrable water and came up again after a spell with the bag in hand.

His reward? A threepenny piece.

His dad went mad at the paltry payment and made sure Rubber did no more ‘police work’ in the future!