“He decided the answer did not lie with low weight but instead more power.”
Having had the nickname ‘Oily’ bestowed on him, it conjures up images of a dirty, scruffy little fellow, but, actually Harold ‘Oily’ Karslake was anything but.
No one seems to know for sure where his sobriquet came from, though there is a suggestion it was owed to his employment by Speedwell Oils. But his appearance was anything but oily – in fact, he was a tall, dapper chap, often sporting a bow tie and trademark beret.
Born in 1881 (though there does seem to be some conjecture about that – it may have been a year either side)
