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The Man with His Head in the Clouds: James Sadler: the First Englishman to Fly

This is the story of how an uneducated Oxford pastry cook became the first Englishman to fly, in a self-built balloon powered by primitive, and potentially lethal, hydrogen. Despite taking off in force 8 gales, crashing into hills and plopping into the Irish Sea, James Sadler became a rare pioneering aeronaut to survive such perilous ascents. Good luck was not hereditary; his son`s balloon fatally collided with a chimney. Sadler advanced the scientific evolution of lighter-than-air flight, and took part in both of the famous races that so captivated the public in late eighteenth-century Europe: across the Channel, and the Irish Sea. He earned Lord Nelson`s endorsement for improving the Royal Navy with applied science, created one of the first – perhaps the very first – mobile steam engines and was revered by fans like Percy Shelley and Dr. Johnson. Yet even the brightest stars one day collapse, as Sadler`s name emits virtually no light today. Like Sadler, Richard O. Smith emanates from Oxford`s Town not Gown. Like Sadler, he wants to look down on Oxford – literally – and his admiration for the balloonist culminates in him replicating the first ever flight, also over Oxford.But there is a problem. The author suffers from acute acrophobia, a crippling fear of heights. This prevents him from standing on a stool, yet alone dangling at 3,000 feet beneath an oversized party balloon. To overcome his chronic height anxiety, he seeks pre-flight counselling, learning all about current understanding of phobias and anxieties. Here he discovers that he is also bathmophobic – a fully-functioning adult who is afraid of stairs. Inspired by Sadler, Smith sets out to overcome his debilitating fear and ascend in a balloon over Oxford. `Be positive. You just need a will to do it,` counsels a psychologist. So, taking that advice, he starts positively, by making a will.

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