I got lost at the Bromford Track once when I went with my parents in the late l940's. The police took me into their tent and my name was announced on the loudspeaker for my parents to come and find me! I saw Prince Monalulu's photos in the paper over the years.
This is written by a punter:
"George Horsley was a Barton Bus driver who lived at Aldercar; I had known him for several years from my early days of working with Heanor U.D.C. I had travelled with him on two occasions, once to the Motor Show at Earle’s Court, and the other to a seaside resort on the south coast of England. It was no surprise to me to learn he was taking another bus party to see the Derby, to be run at a famous racecourse. My father liked a bet on the horses, and I went along to savour the ambience of the day.
This was my first chance to experience the thrill of live horse racing, and perhaps rub shoulder with nobility. It was at the racecourse that I met one of the most colourful characters to engrace the English Racing scene, and his name was Ras Prince Monalulu. I suspect ‘Ras’ was an abbreviation of the word ‘Rastafarian’, a name given to black people who originated from an area near The West Indies, and this is my tale…..
Prince Ras Monolulu was the most famous black man in Britain. Between the wars, he was a national icon renowned for his eccentricity, a racing tipster of such theatricality that even in the days when newspapers carried few photographs and television was in its infancy, he was still the most recognisable racing personality other than the top jockeys. Everyone knew that he wore a bizarre costume of massive baggy trousers, and a headdress of ostrich feathers atop ornate waistcoats, and colourful jackets. Prince Monolulu would be at all the important race meetings where he would sell his tipping sheets in envelopes. He was very funny, and would have the crows in stitches with his banter - just like a market trader, only with much more style. His catchphrase became "I gotta horse!" and the newsreels of the Derbies of the 1920s and 30s would always feature him.
He claimed to be the chief of the Falasha tribe of Abyssinia, but in reality he came from Guyana, as it is now, and was of Scottish descent - his real name was Peter Carl Mackay. According to his memoirs, called, funnily enough, "I Gotta Horse", he started out as a sailor but re-invented himself as a Prince after being press-ganged aboard an American ship in 1902. He was told princes were important people, and he figured a prince wouldn’t be shanghaied again. He was soon off round the world, eating fire in a travelling circus, working in Germany as a model, boxing in France, pretending to be an opera singer in Russia, and becoming a fortune-teller in Italy."
I remember Prince Monolulu. I never saw him in person but he was in the papers a lot.
You can hear him speak on this site. Scroll down until you see his name.
https://www.louisbarfe.com/gtaudio.htm
There are some other gems on this site to listen to.
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