HOW would you like to be strapped in a set of "ducking irons", handcuffed, taken out to sea and then thrown overboard into the water? And be expected to escape.

Don't bother answering. I know what you think. So do I. Anyone doing that must be mad!

Well, perhaps so, but that it exactly what a Bolton man used to do in the 1920s and 1930s. In fact, in 1931 Frank Hibbert, who described himself as "England's original handcuff king", performed the trick in front of 3,000 people at Whitley Bay. Three men made a collection for him, and from the audience they got the princely total of 2s 5d (12p).

Mr Hibbert, who was at the time caretaker of the Corporation Flats, 80, Blackhorse Street, Bolton - he had lived in the town for 12 years - said: "I have performed the feat of escaping from a Russian belt and handcuffs when in the water on several occasions. I used to dive from piers and do it, but as there is no pier at Whitley Bay I was taken out in a boat and thrown into the water.

"On this occasion it was a terrifying experience. I had not done the trick for some time, and when I entered the water I swallowed 'half' the sea. I thought I was done for, and, believe me, my past life flashed through my mind. I thought I would never come to the top, but at last I did and managed to get the belt off. I thought I was free then until I found the handcuffs were still on, and I got rid of those."

Was it worth it for such a measly amount of money? "I think the collection was made at the wrong time," he said. "Everyone was too excited. Anyway, it's all in a day's work."

When he was interviewed, Mr Hibbert had only just returned from Whitley Bay (and no, I don't know who looked after the flats while he was away!). He had been giving exhibitions on the sands, and as part of these he was fastened in a straitjacket from which he quickly escaped.

On one occasion an onlooker also tied the jackets, but others in the crowd were not satisfied and asked that they could secure him further with chains and handcuffs. He agreed, and freed himself in 20 minutes.

Mr Hibbert, it seems, was a friend of the great escapee, Houdini. He had first appeared on the stage when he was 18, but it was only when he read a book given to him by his first wife while he was ill in hospital, called "Big Indian Mysteries", where it told of a man who had freed himself from handcuffs that he decided to try the trick himself.

He bought a pair, put them on, and managed to escape in an hour. "After my first success I became intensely interested and gave up the sleight of hand and conjuring work I had been doing.

"Houdini and I are the only two men to escape naked from a regulation cell," he continued. He had performed that feat in several towns and held a police certificate to prove it. Mr Hibbert was stripped and taken into a police cell, his hands secured with nine pairs of handcuffs. He escaped from the handcuffs and the police cell within five minutes, and was back in the police office.

At the outbreak of the First World War, he had joined the army. "I was the first man to entertain the troops in Belgium," he said. "I performed before 100,000 troops in my spare time and at my own expense. I had plenty of money then. I have performed before the Prince of Wales and other royalty.

"I was knocked out at Ypres and invalided home. While convalescent in hospital at Doncaster, I raised enough money by my exhibitions to build a new ward with a capacity of 22 beds." It was named after him, "Sergeant Hill's Ward" - Hibbert was his stage name.

So what did the future hold for the "handcuff king"? At the time he was anxious to go on another tour of the variety halls, where over the years his friends were most of the well-known music hall artists, in particular Marie Lloyd and Vesta Tilley.

Whether he went on another tour is open to speculation. Certainly, in about 1934 the Evening News told of how "when big cranes were in position on the Town Hall extension and new civic centre, he expressed a wish to escape from a strait jacket whist suspended in mid air, but the contractors would not allow the performance."

However, Mr Hibbert died in 1936. In his obituary, it was said that at one time he had been considered a serious rival to Houdini, and that at the height of his fame, he had claimed to have mastered every trick and ruse of the famous Houdini.

Death, I expect, was the one thing he could not escape from . . .