These fascinating pictures of a daredevil have been sent to me by Mr Harold Bridge, of Belmont Road, Bolton, who tells me that it was his uncle doing the stunts. Let's start at the beginning, though.

On November 2, I printed a photograph of the Clarendon Street School life-saving swimming team in 1908, and it was of particular interest to Mr Bridge because his grandfather and grandmother, Jonathan and Emily Welsby, were the instructors, his mother Ethel was on the picture, as was his uncle, Billy Welsby, at the time a young boy but wearing a lot of medals.

"Billy Welsby served during the First World War, and became a Lieutenant, winning a medal for valour," writes Mr Bridge. "At the end of the war, he came back to Bolton, married and had twin girls. Unfortunately, the marriage did not work out, and he decided to tour the seasonal resorts as a professional high-diver, billed as 'Lieutenant Daring'.

"He dived from a platform 30ft up into a 4ft deep tank, doing various types of dive. Unfortunately, at one of his displays at a carnival at Willington, near Newcastle-on-Tyne, he was attempting a feat known as the 'death dive'; he appeared to strike the water head and feet together, and did not come to the surface as expected.

"He was lifted out of the tank by stewards, and after being examined by a doctor was taken to the local Infirmary, where he was found to be suffering from a dislocated spine.

"This accident happened on August 29, 1929, and six weeks afterwards my grandfather, Jonathan Welsby, hired an ambulance to bring Billy from Newcastle to Bolton General Hospital. Two years later, he died aged 34.

"My mother, Ethel Welsby - Billy's sister - married George Bridge, drummer at the Grand Theatre in Bolton for more than 25 years, Their marriage did not last, and I was their only child."

Mr Bridge sent me these great pictures of his uncle Billy, not only diving, but also riding a bicycle off the end of the diving board (he was wheely good!) and into the shallow tank. He certainly had more guts than most of us.