My uncle, Ray Revor, was blind since age 1 month. His father wanted him to be independent and not be treated as "handicapped" so the family offered him assistance only until he became acquainted with the situation. Ray owned his own business, employed 6 sighted employees, was the leader of a popular band (the 3 blind mice), canned his own pickles, was a master carpenter, tested blind equipment like watches and talking books, beat me at checkers, always knew when someone cheated at cards, married a gorgeous nurse, and on and on. You don't need partial sight, blind people can be amazing! He was the most amazing person I've ever met. Never underestimate anyone.
Amazing he's apart of my England family the American John Metcalfe is my 7th great grandfather. Michael Metcalf was one of Rev sons who went to America.
Except for the part about him impregnating a woman and subsequently abandoning her and his child, (in my opinion a most shameful thing) I enjoyed learning about this man. Peace. Out.
I've heard of Metcalf and had an idea who you were referring to at the start, as in the blind guy who "discovered" a method of building roads across bogs. He was a remarkable chap and I agree is largely unknown. I know him because he is mentioned in a helpfile in the video game Empire: Total War. Also I think he might have been mentioned on an episode of QI also because I seem to recall seeing something comedic many years ago where he was mentioned.
I've known of him since inheriting my late brother Paul's illustrated historical book in 1961, when Paul, then nine years of age died of a brain tumour. My ma used to read to me from it at bedtime. She's still going, aged one hundred.
The older I get, I find that the most famous of people are often equaled or bested by someone who I'd not heard of. UA-cam contributors point this out very well, with stories like this, and current young athletes or musicians doing incredible things while being little known. Thanks for taking the time to pt this together.
Whether "Blind Jack" had partial sight or perhaps, had an assistant on some of his excursions is irrelevant. We must realize just how remarkable these feats were for anyone in the 18th. century, let alone for a handicapped man. Figuring out a way to build over marshes and similar terrain, shows us just how intelligent this man truly was. Thank you for the education on someone I almost certainly would never heard of otherwise. Well done.
So a blind man on foot won a 200-mile race against a man in a coach with horses and a driver? That’s one of the most remarkable feats I have ever heard of.
@@warmbrucuriosity I know legally blind people who can get a lot done with seeing a tiny bit of light contrast. I would ask could he see a little bit and how did he use his other senses to compensate and did he have a loyal assistant. He clearly had a top brain and physical fitness so there must be a lot to his story.
@@chrisruss9861 There is a lot more to his story including his career as a recruiter for the army but I had to draw the line somewhere. I have noticed that very few people want to watch a video of this type for longer than ten minutes. The purpose of these videos is to stimulate interest in little-known people and subjects. Two blind people I know told me that, apart from touch, the quality of the sound and how they perceive it, tells them a lot about their surroundings. They both found it difficult to explain it to a sighted person. They asked me to imagine explaining a colour to a totally blind person. I found no records of a specific assistant but, in an age when lots of people had servants, it's possible. He also might have had some sight. Many blind people do.
That is an amazing story about an incredible man! Thank you for sharing. I'm looking at my own accomplishments (or lack thereof), And I'm realizing I don't have much to show for my 43 years of existence. 😅
I felt like you when I was in my late thirties. I was really feeling bad about it when one day I saw a sign in a shop window. It read, "It is never too late to become the man you might have been." That really woke my spirit up. I am 76 now and still going. Google Longfellow's "A Psalm of Life" and start there.
not to take away from the truly impressiveness of this man, I want to remind people that blind people aren't necessarily unsighted. They may indeed be getting something from their eyes. areas of bright and dark, or shadows in fog, or even coloured blobs they can analyze. Or even that they can see if they hold a thing close enough. This makes the story imaginable, anyway, but as you say, maybe he worked with zero vision.
How does a blind man drive a coach - all the horses have eyes. He has ears and all the other senses that we have. Horses are well known to follow the routes they're familiar with - they'll even wait for you without being instructed.
Well done! Fascinating perspective. Truly an indication that we are designed to “fill the earth and subdue it.” Maybe someday we will be able to truly understand and enjoy fully this amazing Planet we are given.
With smallpox, total blindness was a rare complication compared to partial blindness. It's most likely that Metcalf had some limited vision. I have a friend with extremely limited vision who still manages to be remarkably independent. It's all a question of attitude, and Metcalf was clearly the kind of man who was going to make the most of what he had.
there was no mention of anyone helping him so he had to have had limited vision, probably something like tunnel vision or something that requires thick lenses but which wouldn’t be invented for decades if not a century or more
Thank you for putting up this story. I have been blind all my life and I am a retired special education teacher. Disabled people are not taught their own history because they really aren’t considered to have any. Notable figures such as Helen Keller, Ray Charles, and Stevie Wonder are put up to us as role models. Now I am in no way saying that they are not, but they become their own stereotypes and the general public doesn’t think blind people can do anything except teach other blind people or perform music. “If you can see it, you can be it” has become a popular saying, but even when those of us in the blind community know about other examples of people in different occupations, the general public does not. Instead, the public is presented with the image of blind people always needing help, usually being helpless, and only being successful at a very few low paying occupations or as the few who attain rare celebrity status which is unattainable for the rest of us. Thank you for doing what you can to change the public perception of what blind people have done and can do. I am going to be sharing the story so that other people can see it. Even so, I am sure that under employment and job discrimination will still continue. Yes, some people might say this is a very cynical viewpoint, but for us it is reality.
@@camelotenglishtuition6394 That's a really interesting idea. I am planning a mini-series about William Armstrong, the Newcastle industrialist. I visited Newcastle recently. He was into all sorts of things and, being from that area, that included shipbuilding.
Very interesting. Thank you. A 4x great aunt on my maternal lines became blind and deaf by the age of 14, but when she was about 60 became the first editor of a quarterly magazine for the new National Deaf and Blind Helpers League. She was able to type letters, but sometimes didn't always gauge the end of the paper and platter correctly, but was able to catch up on the next line. Clearly a clever lady who didn't allow her disability to hold her back.
I’ve heard of Blind Jack thanks to old Fred Major - our history teacher whom smoked like a chimney & tolerated us disinterested scamps & wankers for a Hampshire County Council secondary school in 1978 . Thanks for this 👍
A thing often forgotten about a horse and cart is that the "engine" can think and act on it's own initiative the horse would usually take the line of least resistance and as long as it didn't decide this was to stand still or graze, steering was only necessary if there was a choice of routes or a turning.
True but the reason that horses became the first railway locomotives was that pulling a cart on any road of the time was very hard. Rails gave little resistance and when it was possible to have horses pull canal barges, the resistance was minimal.
@@warmbrucuriosity Yes you are correct, but if you read about people who worked with a horse and cart or just horses there are many anecdotes of the horse knowing the route and not needing direction, and almost legless drunks being put on their horse and the horse finding the way. What Blind Jack did was still very remarkable.
@@philipdove6987 Such a story is that of a journey of a stage coach on the road from Sedbergh to Kirkby Stephen with Robert Foster the famous Quaker within. For some reason the driver dismounted at the Cross Keys Inn and went in to the pub. However when he came out the horses had set off again. A long story but the fear was the coach would overturn but in fact those following up found no disaster but the coach pulled up at the King's Arms in Kirkby Stephen. The clients were standing around baffled as to what had happened to the driver ! True story and both pubs still exist but only the second serves alcohol.
Hi, Thank you for this wonderful video. Jack Metcalf’s story is the telling of a miracle of human courage. As you said I did learn of Macadam and Telford at school. I grew up on the edge of Chat Moss so I learned of Stephenson’s exploits too. I spent many hours train spotting by the Manchester to Liverpool line.
I was born in the North Riding over 60 years ago and I had never heard of John Metcalfe. As a fully sighted person his achievements are obvious. Blind, amazing. This is an example of a Video where it is interesting, heart warming, informative and something that I am pleased to see that I will now understand his statue. Thank you for this.
Very interesting content, I'm sure that I've heard of this man in my school days, but admit that I had forgotten about him. Nice to revisit his story.😊
I met a blind man who was a Judo champion, musician, classical guitarist, whittled wood whistles, married a beautiful lady, raised children and was a fisherman.
I suspect that Jack was blind more in name than condition. He may have been partially sighted, but without a guide, canine or human, he couldn't walk hundreds of miles along dirt tracks, never mind engineer roads without some vision. Funnily enough, driving a horse and cart is very plausible, once the horse was accustomed to the route, he could make his own way.
Yes, very few blind people are 100% blind. I remember learning this when I was teaching English to blind telephone operators. As I said in the video, this is an explanation. Thanks for your comment.
Subscribed and shared great story You know there's a gun review or Misha I think that's how you say it and he's blind and shoots guns and reviews guns and what a story making good with what you've been given
@@JohnyG29 You are the first person I've heard from who had heard of him who isn't from Yorkshire. I think it says more about your level of historical knowledge.
@warmbrucuriosity you're welcome. I normally get my civil engineering students to research a engineer 'who made a difference. I get some brilliant information on Telford, Brunel and the fantastic Bazalgette. I must play your video in class next semester, all being.well.
Yes and he was in O Level History, syllabus C "British Social and Economic History". The difference between Blind Jack and Thomas Telford and MacAdam was the latter two were engineers and businessmen who directed others to do the work. Blind Jack was much more hands on
He probably had blurry or clouded vision rather than total darkness because infections like Smallpox cause scarring of the cornea. Blindness is a spectrum of visual impairments including limited field of vision and inability to focus properly.
Very interesting video 🙂 I shared it on a family WhatsApp group and he is well-enough known for it to have suggested 'Knaresborough' when I wrote Blind Jack of... AI is everywhere now huh?! (I had heard of him because I grew up about 3 miles from Knaresborough, and my Dad ran a garage there). Very interested to hear his first go was the road between Ferrensby and Minskip - it was between my childhood home and schools so I've been up and down it several thousand times, but didn't know it had historical significance ❤
It's no mystery how he could drive between towns. The horses knew the way, and anyway , surely someone among the passengers could advise him at forks in the road if the horses could not. I'm sure the horses could remember the way. I know that leader dogs can guide their inebriated owners home while they just enjoy the walk. So I readily can believe horses have similar capabilities.
… what a great and inspiring story. There is no comparison to flakey pop culture and today’s ‘slaves to celebrity’ - including Celebrities themselves. Hats off to ‘Blind jack’, I say.
Very impressive. It was my joy to watch your video. John Metcalf is a person who should have streets named. Lets call him the Beethoven of street-builders :-)
Great story. I always wondered how people got around. For example, Felix Mendelsohn traveled from Germany over the Alps to Venice before there were trains. How long would that have taken? Also, what is the bike-like contraption next to his statue?
While in college, I knew a totally blind guy named Jerry. He loved hiking, cave exploring, scuba diving, and many other sports. He walked around Michigan State University without the aid of either a cane or a guided dog. Didn't need them. He used a combination of step counting, memory, and hearing. Thanks to the wind and other sources of sound Jerry could literally hear the buildings and determine their size, location, and large recesses. Where Jerry had problems was in noisy places like busy restaurants where he would ask for a guide and very uneven surfaces like breakdown in a cave that he would crawl over while the rest of us walked. If Blind Jack could hear as well as Jerry, getting around by himself would not have been a problem.
Yes, when I was at junior school in Knaresborough (Castle Yard), we were all taught about Blind Jack and his achievements. Although they missed out the bit about getting a girl pregnant and leaving the area for a while! Well, this was back in 1970!
I imagine he just followed the hounds. As I understand, the main skill in English fox hunting (before it was banned) was to hold your drink and not fall off the horse. 🙂
My uncle, Ray Revor, was blind since age 1 month. His father wanted him to be independent and not be treated as "handicapped" so the family offered him assistance only until he became acquainted with the situation. Ray owned his own business, employed 6 sighted employees, was the leader of a popular band (the 3 blind mice), canned his own pickles, was a master carpenter, tested blind equipment like watches and talking books, beat me at checkers, always knew when someone cheated at cards, married a gorgeous nurse, and on and on. You don't need partial sight, blind people can be amazing! He was the most amazing person I've ever met. Never underestimate anyone.
This is really inspiring. Thanks for sharing this. I completely agree about not underestimating people.
Amazing if you loose a sense the other ones compensate for that loss.
❤❤❤❤❤❤❤thanks
What a life! , worthy of making into a fascinating film...
Amazing he's apart of my England family the American John Metcalfe is my 7th great grandfather. Michael Metcalf was one of Rev sons who went to America.
Except for the part about him impregnating a woman and subsequently abandoning her and his child, (in my opinion a most shameful thing) I enjoyed learning about this man. Peace. Out.
Another Great Britain 🇬🇧💯 worthy of a great movie💪🎬
Thanks for telling his tail🧐🤔 regards from LONDON 😍🇬🇧🙏💯
Thanks! If someone with the resorces and ability that I certainly don't have produces a movie. I'll go and see it.
Pretty damn impressive by any measure.
I've heard of him because I went to a primary school in the fifties that taught children about important figures in the past.
What an incredible man and a Yorkshireman to boot.
John Metcalfe would be a worthy subject for a film. It would be well received I imagine.
Indeed he would. I would go and see it.
Ok I've just saw this comment 😃☺️🤫🎬
Couldn't agree more 💯
Most definitely.
Absolutely incredible and inspiring story, thank you for sharing
Excellent! Thank You!
A great video with loads of content and no padding.
Thanks!. I'm glad you liked it. More on the way.
That was one heck of a life story. What a guy!
I've heard of Metcalf and had an idea who you were referring to at the start, as in the blind guy who "discovered" a method of building roads across bogs. He was a remarkable chap and I agree is largely unknown. I know him because he is mentioned in a helpfile in the video game Empire: Total War. Also I think he might have been mentioned on an episode of QI also because I seem to recall seeing something comedic many years ago where he was mentioned.
You’re right! I had not heard of him. Glad I watched this video!
I've known of him since inheriting my late brother Paul's illustrated historical book in 1961, when Paul, then nine years of age died of a brain tumour. My ma used to read to me from it at bedtime. She's still going, aged one hundred.
Bless her 🥰
That is amazing, sad about your brother though.
Thanks for sharing this. Sorry about your brother. Good luck to your Ma!
The older I get, I find that the most famous of people are often equaled or bested by someone who I'd not heard of. UA-cam contributors point this out very well, with stories like this, and current young athletes or musicians doing incredible things while being little known. Thanks for taking the time to pt this together.
Thanks for watching
I’ve heard of him, I used to work at Knaresborough Castle and I’m a Metcalfe! 😂😂😂🤣
Any relation?
Incredible noteworthy story. His lost of sight made him a great visionair.
Fascinating, thanks
What an inspiring person ! Thank you for bringing him to everyone's notice 👍
Thanks for watching. This is a compelling hobby for me.
Loved it so much! Thank you. This is probably one of my favourite videos so far ❤
Grew up in Knaresborough. Live a couple of miles away from Knaresborough town centre now. They taught us about Blind Jack in infant school.
Yes - what a guy!
What an inspirational man.
Let's not forget that the horses weren't blind and would been the 'cruise control' of their day!
Thanks so much for sharing this story. It was amazing to hear about this man
Thanks for watching. I enjoy researching amazing, little-known people.
I remember the name from History class at school circa 1967!!
Being a keen transport enthusiast, I heard of Blind Jack in my pre-teens. A real inspiration!
Thank you. Incredibly interesting and inspiring 👏 😊❤
Thanks
what a great man, and what an enjoyable video. liked and subscribed.
Thanks! there is more on the way.
Whether "Blind Jack" had partial sight or perhaps, had an assistant on some of his excursions is irrelevant. We must realize just how remarkable these feats were for anyone in the 18th. century, let alone for a handicapped man. Figuring out a way to build over marshes and similar terrain, shows us just how intelligent this man truly was. Thank you for the education on someone I almost certainly would never heard of otherwise. Well done.
Thanks for your comment. This is something I love doing.
Great story.
So a blind man on foot won a 200-mile race against a man in a coach with horses and a driver? That’s one of the most remarkable feats I have ever heard of.
Really enjoyed that video, very informative!
Thanks!
I read a book about him many years ago. Wonderful book.🇦🇺
If you remember the name of the book, please let me know. I only scratched the surface with Jack's life. Thanks for commenting.
I think it was called "Blind Man of Knaresborough"
Remarkable man.
As a blind bus driver, and also an astronaut, I appreciate this enlightening information.
What a fascinating guy!
Ty💝
He didn't let things keep him down!
Great story. I had never heard of this guy. He must have had a compelling personality.
Yes. Imagine meeting him. What questions would you ask?
@@warmbrucuriosity I know legally blind people who can get a lot done with seeing a tiny bit of light contrast.
I would ask could he see a little bit and how did he use his other senses to compensate and did he have a loyal assistant.
He clearly had a top brain and physical fitness so there must be a lot to his story.
@@chrisruss9861 There is a lot more to his story including his career as a recruiter for the army but I had to draw the line somewhere. I have noticed that very few people want to watch a video of this type for longer than ten minutes.
The purpose of these videos is to stimulate interest in little-known people and subjects.
Two blind people I know told me that, apart from touch, the quality of the sound and how they perceive it, tells them a lot about their surroundings. They both found it difficult to explain it to a sighted person. They asked me to imagine explaining a colour to a totally blind person.
I found no records of a specific assistant but, in an age when lots of people had servants, it's possible. He also might have had some sight. Many blind people do.
That is an amazing story about an incredible man! Thank you for sharing. I'm looking at my own accomplishments (or lack thereof), And I'm realizing I don't have much to show for my 43 years of existence. 😅
I feel the same way when I look at my 63 years! 😅
I felt like you when I was in my late thirties. I was really feeling bad about it when one day I saw a sign in a shop window. It read, "It is never too late to become the man you might have been." That really woke my spirit up. I am 76 now and still going. Google Longfellow's "A Psalm of Life" and start there.
@@2394Joseph Thanks for sharing those words, perfect timing for me at the moment.
Food for thought for sure !
Humility before honour
Is one of your virtues
Have a wonderful rest of your life
Great to know he's one of my England cousins! Currently writing a book on my family!
This is really interesting. good luck with the book.
Good story, thanks.
The man was blind, yet he liked hunting and dived in a river to rescue someone? Strange blindness indeed!
Strange man, but not unique by any means.
His parents did good, paying for him to learn the violin at young age. Real confidence booster .
I agree. They helped him make the most of the cards he had been dealt.
not to take away from the truly impressiveness of this man, I want to remind people that blind people aren't necessarily unsighted. They may indeed be getting something from their eyes. areas of bright and dark, or shadows in fog, or even coloured blobs they can analyze. Or even that they can see if they hold a thing close enough. This makes the story imaginable, anyway, but as you say, maybe he worked with zero vision.
I agree and as I said, this may be the case. Whatever the truth, I was amazed that he is hardly known outside Yorkshire.
Metcalf had helpers who were his eyes for him, they described it and he visualised it
Thank you
as soon as I read the title I knew it was going to be Blind Jack! such an amazing human being and so many wonderful achievements to his name!
I think you are the first to have guessed! I could have included some of his other achievements and will probably return to Blind Jack in the future.
this man is a real inspiration
That was really interesting and informative...what a fascinating individual! Cx
Thanks. Yes, an amazing man. There are more on the way.
A remarkable story. Thank for putting it on UA-cam
Thanks for watching.
Amazing!
Very interesting!
Just wonderful.
Thank you
How does a blind man drive a coach - all the horses have eyes. He has ears and all the other senses that we have. Horses are well known to follow the routes they're familiar with - they'll even wait for you without being instructed.
Good!
Well done! Fascinating perspective. Truly an indication that we are designed to “fill the earth and subdue it.” Maybe someday we will be able to truly understand and enjoy fully this amazing Planet we are given.
Thanks for your comment! I try to produce a video once a week. Work permitting.
With smallpox, total blindness was a rare complication compared to partial blindness. It's most likely that Metcalf had some limited vision. I have a friend with extremely limited vision who still manages to be remarkably independent. It's all a question of attitude, and Metcalf was clearly the kind of man who was going to make the most of what he had.
I agree. We are all dealt a hand of cards. Whatever the state of his sight, I think he played his cards very well.
there was no mention of anyone helping him so he had to have had limited vision, probably something like tunnel vision or something that requires thick lenses but which wouldn’t be invented for decades if not a century or more
Thank you for putting up this story. I have been blind all my life and I am a retired special education teacher. Disabled people are not taught their own history because they really aren’t considered to have any. Notable figures such as Helen Keller, Ray Charles, and Stevie Wonder are put up to us as role models. Now I am in no way saying that they are not, but they become their own stereotypes and the general public doesn’t think blind people can do anything except teach other blind people or perform music. “If you can see it, you can be it” has become a popular saying, but even when those of us in the blind community know about other examples of people in different occupations, the general public does not. Instead, the public is presented with the image of blind people always needing help, usually being helpless, and only being successful at a very few low paying occupations or as the few who attain rare celebrity status which is unattainable for the rest of us. Thank you for doing what you can to change the public perception of what blind people have done and can do. I am going to be sharing the story so that other people can see it. Even so, I am sure that under employment and job discrimination will still continue. Yes, some people might say this is a very cynical viewpoint, but for us it is reality.
This was really interesting, thank you!
I'm glad you enjoyed it. There are more on the way.
Fascinating video. I'll be sure to add his achievements to my classes. Thank you!
I'm glad you liked it and found it useful. Please check out the others. Also, there are more in the pipeline.
@@warmbrucuriosity yeah I was having a look through.. great choices.. I'd love some about the shipbuilding history of the UK..
@@camelotenglishtuition6394 That's a really interesting idea. I am planning a mini-series about William Armstrong, the Newcastle industrialist. I visited Newcastle recently. He was into all sorts of things and, being from that area, that included shipbuilding.
@warmbru curiosity fantastic! What a great choice! I do really enjoy learning about these lesser well-known figures.
Very interesting. Thank you. A 4x great aunt on my maternal lines became blind and deaf by the age of 14, but when she was about 60 became the first editor of a quarterly magazine for the new National Deaf and Blind Helpers League. She was able to type letters, but sometimes didn't always gauge the end of the paper and platter correctly, but was able to catch up on the next line. Clearly a clever lady who didn't allow her disability to hold her back.
She sounds like another example of an inspiring person.
Brilliant, thanks
Thanks for watching!
Great video. I have learned something new from this and I look forward to watching (and Learning from) more of your work.
Thanks! I enjoy making these videos.
I’ve heard of Blind Jack thanks to old Fred Major - our history teacher whom smoked like a chimney & tolerated us disinterested scamps & wankers for a Hampshire County Council secondary school in 1978 . Thanks for this 👍
it sounds like we were in similar classes! 🙂Thanks for watching
An impressive chap.
A thing often forgotten about a horse and cart is that the "engine" can think and act on it's own initiative the horse would usually take the line of least resistance and as long as it didn't decide this was to stand still or graze, steering was only necessary if there was a choice of routes or a turning.
True but the reason that horses became the first railway locomotives was that pulling a cart on any road of the time was very hard. Rails gave little resistance and when it was possible to have horses pull canal barges, the resistance was minimal.
@@warmbrucuriosity Yes you are correct, but if you read about people who worked with a horse and cart or just horses there are many anecdotes of the horse knowing the route and not needing direction, and almost legless drunks being put on their horse and the horse finding the way. What Blind Jack did was still very remarkable.
@@philipdove6987 I can confirm what you are saying from my own experience of riding horses.
@@philipdove6987 Such a story is that of a journey of a stage coach on the road from Sedbergh to Kirkby Stephen with Robert Foster the famous Quaker within. For some reason the driver dismounted at the Cross Keys Inn and went in to the pub. However when he came out the horses had set off again. A long story but the fear was the coach would overturn but in fact those following up found no disaster but the coach pulled up at the King's Arms in Kirkby Stephen. The clients were standing around baffled as to what had happened to the driver ! True story and both pubs still exist but only the second serves alcohol.
Hi,
Thank you for this wonderful video. Jack Metcalf’s story is the telling of a miracle of human courage. As you said I did learn of Macadam and Telford at school. I grew up on the edge of Chat Moss so I learned of Stephenson’s exploits too. I spent many hours train spotting by the Manchester to Liverpool line.
Thanks for your message. I'm hoping to stimulate interest in some lesser-known great people. More are coming.
I was born in the North Riding over 60 years ago and I had never heard of John Metcalfe. As a fully sighted person his achievements are obvious. Blind, amazing. This is an example of a Video where it is interesting, heart warming, informative and something that I am pleased to see that I will now understand his statue. Thank you for this.
Thanks for watching! I really enjoy researching stories like this.
Very interesting content, I'm sure that I've heard of this man in my school days, but admit that I had forgotten about him. Nice to revisit his story.😊
I met a blind man who was a Judo champion, musician, classical guitarist, whittled wood whistles, married a beautiful lady, raised children and was a fisherman.
And yet, if he could walk on modern roads, he’d be lucky to survive 20 yards, before falling into a pothole.
I suspect that Jack was blind more in name than condition. He may have been partially sighted, but without a guide, canine or human, he couldn't walk hundreds of miles along dirt tracks, never mind engineer roads without some vision. Funnily enough, driving a horse and cart is very plausible, once the horse was accustomed to the route, he could make his own way.
Yes, very few blind people are 100% blind. I remember learning this when I was teaching English to blind telephone operators. As I said in the video, this is an explanation. Thanks for your comment.
Subscribed and shared great story You know there's a gun review or Misha I think that's how you say it and he's blind and shoots guns and reviews guns and what a story making good with what you've been given
Thanks for this. I'll look into it.
Since there is a statue of him, it looks as though quite a few people have heard of him.
Yes, the people ok Knaresborough are very proud of him and he's quite well known in Yorkshire. In most of England and the UK he's unknown.
@@warmbrucuriosity I live on the South Coast and I've definitely heard of him. He's quite well known to be fair.
@@JohnyG29 You are the first person I've heard from who had heard of him who isn't from Yorkshire. I think it says more about your level of historical knowledge.
It's quite possible for a person from Yorkshire to live on the south coast.
However we must congratulate Johnny for his knowledge and interest.
@@thomasburke2683 A Yorkshireman living on the south coast? Possible, I suppose, but quite a strain to believe.
Brilliant information, brilliant vieo.
Thanks! I'm glad you liked it.
@warmbrucuriosity you're welcome. I normally get my civil engineering students to research a engineer 'who made a difference. I get some brilliant information on Telford, Brunel and the fantastic Bazalgette. I must play your video in class next semester, all being.well.
Great story. I remember he was mentioned alongside MacAdam etc in cse history in the early 70s!
I'm glad you enjoyed it. If you're ever in Yorkshire, I recommend a visit to Knaresborough.
Yes and he was in O Level History, syllabus C "British Social and Economic History". The difference between Blind Jack and Thomas Telford and MacAdam was the latter two were engineers and businessmen who directed others to do the work. Blind Jack was much more hands on
@@kevinjohnlancaster8333 Yes!
I guess coming from West Yorkshire i had heard of blind Jack. He didn't build as many miles as Telford or MacAdam but they were better made.
The sources I've read certainly confirm what you said.
The topics of your videos are so interesting.
Thanks! This is a hobby for me.
Very interesting, a man to be admired for sure, to the able bodied these kind of biographies seem impossible, bravo to this northern hero
Brovo indeed!
Fascinating!
Thank you! There are others videos on the way.
Thank you for this video. More info on Blind Jack can be found as I expect you know in 'Lives of the Engineers' by Dr. Samuel Smiles.
Great! Thanks for sharing this.
Great history!
Thanks!
He probably had blurry or clouded vision rather than total darkness because infections like Smallpox cause scarring of the cornea. Blindness is a spectrum of visual impairments including limited field of vision and inability to focus properly.
3:16 a bit like todays British roads
Very interesting video 🙂 I shared it on a family WhatsApp group and he is well-enough known for it to have suggested 'Knaresborough' when I wrote Blind Jack of... AI is everywhere now huh?! (I had heard of him because I grew up about 3 miles from Knaresborough, and my Dad ran a garage there). Very interested to hear his first go was the road between Ferrensby and Minskip - it was between my childhood home and schools so I've been up and down it several thousand times, but didn't know it had historical significance ❤
I'm really glad you liked it and it's great to hear from a local. More videos are in the pipeline.
@@warmbrucuriosity Thanks, willl look forward to that
It's no mystery how he could drive between towns. The horses knew the way, and anyway , surely someone among the passengers could advise him at forks in the road if the horses could not. I'm sure the horses could remember the way. I know that leader dogs can guide their inebriated owners home while they just enjoy the walk. So I readily can believe horses have similar capabilities.
… what a great and inspiring story. There is no comparison to flakey pop culture and today’s ‘slaves to celebrity’ - including Celebrities themselves. Hats off to ‘Blind jack’, I say.
My sentiments exactly!
Thank u
Very impressive. It was my joy to watch your video. John Metcalf is a person who should have streets named. Lets call him the Beethoven of street-builders :-)
Thanks for your comment. I enjoy making them and there more on the way. I love your suggestion, by the way. :-)
John Metcalf is our seven times great grandfather. I have researched his family history in detail.
Tell me more! I'm always interested in learning more about the people I research.
Inspirational.
I agree. He was.
Great story. I always wondered how people got around. For example, Felix Mendelsohn traveled from Germany over the Alps to Venice before there were trains. How long would that have taken? Also, what is the bike-like contraption next to his statue?
While in college, I knew a totally blind guy named Jerry. He loved hiking, cave exploring, scuba diving, and many other sports. He walked around Michigan State University without the aid of either a cane or a guided dog. Didn't need them. He used a combination of step counting, memory, and hearing. Thanks to the wind and other sources of sound Jerry could literally hear the buildings and determine their size, location, and large recesses. Where Jerry had problems was in noisy places like busy restaurants where he would ask for a guide and very uneven surfaces like breakdown in a cave that he would crawl over while the rest of us walked. If Blind Jack could hear as well as Jerry, getting around by himself would not have been a problem.
This is really interesting. Thanks!
Blind Jack, the British Zatoichi... but real.
Unusually long life for the times but Blind Jack must have known he had a true purpose in his life.
His was a long life, and a full one.
Yes, when I was at junior school in Knaresborough (Castle Yard), we were all taught about Blind Jack and his achievements. Although they missed out the bit about getting a girl pregnant and leaving the area for a while! Well, this was back in 1970!
They always leave out the interesting stuff. History is the most underrated subject in the world. ))
More so than his ability to build roads and drive wagons, how did Blind Jack hunt?!
I imagine he just followed the hounds. As I understand, the main skill in English fox hunting (before it was banned) was to hold your drink and not fall off the horse. 🙂