James Sadler - King of All Balloons

This is a hybrid meeting starting at 8pm (UK Time) – Exeter Hall doors open at 7:30pm, Zoom meeting opens at 7:55pm.

Sadler’s Balloon Flight

Speaker:  Mark Davies

Talk Summary:  In this talk Mark looks at the life of the Oxford hot-air balloon pioneer James Sadler (1753-1828), the ‘King of all Balloons’ first Englishman to fly? Mark says:  “The talk is timely because 2024 marks the bi-centenary of the accidental death of Sadler’s son, Windham (1796-1824), when he became Britain’s only second ever aviation fatality – the exact date was 29 September 1824. (The first death had been earlier that same year.) Not the cheeriest of anniversaries, I know.  James himself on the other hand lived well into his seventies. Neither man – nor the women balloonists they helped – gets the recognition they deserve, even though they achieved much in addition to their ballooning exploits, so I hope you’ll want to rectify that. It is a talk which always generates much interest and surprise.”

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