Story of
the sausage
king
SHARING an exchange of emails about East Griqualand in days of yore, I discover to my sorrow that my old pal Bill O'Hagan, who hailed from those parts, has died in England where he had taken root a long time ago.
Bill was one of those vivid characters that EG so often produces. Born to newspapers – his mother's family owned the local Kokstad Advertiser and East Griqualand Gazette – he ended up working for the Daily Telegraph in London, a wonderful raconteur and connoisseur of good pub food and real ale.
It was in London that Bill discovered to his distress that the English sausage had not re-adjusted from the days of wartime rationing. He set about correcting that, making his own sausages in the garage, using the best meats and spices, often dousing them in beer as well, then flogging them around Fleet Street and beyond.
He became something of a celebrity, not least for the beery bonhomie that went with his sales pitch. He launched a Save Our Sausage society (was also member No 12 of the highly successful Campaign for Real Ale) and himself produced something like 160 varieties of sausage with names like Drunken Duck, Tipsy Turkey and Gussy Goose.
Bill won the "Best Sausage-Maker in Britain" award. He won contracts with the Dorchester Hotel, Harrods and Harvey Nichols. A new career beckoned.
But business was not for him. Too many people trying to burgle his sausage secrets, too much hassle. He stuck to the Daily Telegraph which, after the Kokstad Advertiser, was a doddle.
The man had the gift of the gab. Once he phoned my flat in London, asking for me. The Aussie girl who answered said I wasn't back yet. Half an hour later she was able to say: "Oh, here he is now." Bill had kept her on the line all that time, totally entertained. It was a gift. Fleet Street abounded with characters and Bill O 'Hagan was one of them.
Yankee Wood
THE Kokstad Advertiser and East Griqualand Gazette had an interesting genesis. It was founded in the 19th century by a black American sailor named Yankee Wood, who had jumped ship in East London and made his way inland to seek his fortune. There he met the Griqua Kaptein, Adam Kok, who was on his way back from the Cape where he'd arranged with the governor for his territory – until then known as Nomansland – to be annexed.
A condition of annexation was that the territory had to publish a newspaper to carry the Cape government's proclamations. Yankee Wood happened also to be a trained printer. Hence the Kokstad Advertiser and East Griqualand Gazette – the gazette part carrying the proclamations.
Yankee Wood prospered. He built the Royal Hotel in Kokstad. Then he went to Johannesburg, where he hobnobbed with the Randlords and became a racehorse owner.
Then he went to the Kimberley diamond fields, where he lost everything. He ended up back in Kokstad as doorman at the hotel he'd once owned.
It's also an interesting glimpse of the relaxed racial attitudes of the time.
East Griqualand is full of stories like this. Bill O'Hagan knew how to tell them.
Tailpiece
HOW many punk rockers does it take to change a lightbulb?
Two. One to change the lightbulb and the other to eat the old lightbulb.
Last word
If it weren't for baseball, many kids wouldn't know what a millionaire looked like.
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