Knottingley’s
Arthur Armitage, formerly Britain’s heaviest man, has lost a further
three stones since his "big slim" was reported in the ‘Express’
ten weeks ago. Now weighing 26 stones, Arthur has shed a total of 14
stones (his top weight was 40 stones) and he says he is feeling fit and
well. On Saturday he received a visit from 28-year-old Canadian student
Angus Goldie, who is at present working in the film industry.
Angus
sketched Arthur at his present weight and the end product will be a
painting of Arthur. He is also working on a painting of Arthur at his top
weight and hopes to paint him if and when he reaches 16 stone. Arthur has
also been able to help a lecturer and three students with the production
of a play. The lecturer, Noel Witts, of Leicester Polytechnic Theatre
Group, visited Arthur with the three students and asked his opinion about
the "joys, horrors, uses and inconveniences of being fat."
Arthur
told an ‘Express’ reporter: "I tried to explain things and they
said I had helped enormously." Noel Witts, with the help of Peter
Brady, also from the Polytechnic, has written a play simply called
"Fat." The play was performed for the first time this week and
is a fantasy on the life of Daniel Lambert, the famous heavy-man of
Leicester. Lambert, who was born 220 years ago, was said to be the fattest
man in Europe. He weighed 55 stone at his death, which makes Arthur sound
like something of a ‘Skinny-rib’s’.
