Ukridge takes on the role of boxing manager to Wilberforce 'Battling' Billson, a merchant seaman and good scrapper. Billson can absorb a huge amount of punishment but needs a lot of provocation before handing it out.
Billson's first bout is an abject failure as he takes pity on his opponent when just at the point of victory ...
| Ukridge | a chancer |
| James Corcoran | his friend |
| Bowles | his landlord |
| George Tupper | Ukridge's friend |
| Wilberforce 'Battling' Billson | a boxer |
| Florence 'Flossie' Burns | barmaid at The Crown, Kennington, engaged to Billson |
| Professor Devine | a bird imitator |
First published June 1923 in Cosmopolitan magazine (US).
Also published July 1923 in the Strand magazine.
Bezique
- a card game for two.
Finnan haddie
- a Finnan haddock; a haddock smoked with green wood, peat or turf, originally from Finnan or Findhorn in Scotland. Said by those who appreciate such things to be a particularly good smoked haddock.
Gaiety
- a music-hall in the Strand, now gone.
The Coal Hole
- a public house off the Strand, also now gone.
Trimmer
- a seaman employed to move coal around a ship to maintain its stability or trim. This was a physically hard and dirty job.
Kennington
- an area of central London just south of the Thames.
Ebury Street
- a street at the southern border of Belgravia, so probably not as up-market as the rest of it.
Wonderland
- a boxing venue at Whitechapel in the East End of London, also a music hall / theatre. It existed around 1908-11 and probably later.
Bob Fitzsimmons
- Robert FitzSimmons (1863-1917), British-born New Zealander, the first fighter to hold the world boxing championship in three weight divisions.
Jack Johnson
- (1878-1946) the first black heavyweight boxing champion of the world (1908-15).
James J. Corbett
- 'Gentleman' Jim Corbett, (1866-1933), one-time world champion heavyweight boxer.
James J Jeffries
- (1875-1953) a hard punching boxer who fought from a crouching position and sprang in to land his blows.
'Hearts of Oak.'
- the official march of the Royal Navy (not Merchant Marine) with words by David Garrick and music by William Boyce.
Barnes
- to the south of central London in a bend in the river west of Fulham and Chelsea.
'Kind hearts ... are more than coronets.'
- Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Lady Clara Vere de Vere, Stanza 7.
Alhambra
- a music-hall. Demolished in 1936, the site is now occupied by the Odeon, Leicester Square.
Shoreditch Empire
- now demolished, it stood in Shoreditch High Street in the East End of London.