A big thank you to conductor Helen Harrison and the Blackpool Symphony Orchestra for the world premiere of Nigel’s `Sir Hiram Maxim’s Captive Flying Machine’. The concert was part of a concert series hosted by Lancashire Music Society at Russell School in Fleetwood near Blackpool.

The whole concert was a superb event full of musical commitment, musicality and professionalism.

Situated on Blackpool Pleasure Beach, Sir Hiram Maxim’s Captive Flying Machine is reputed to be the world’s oldest working amusement ride.

Sir Hiram Maxim was an American/British inventor born in Sangerville, Maine, in the USA in 1840 and he later emigrated to the UK. His inventions include the mousetrap, hair-curling irons, and steam pumps, as well asthe first fully automatic machine gun known as the Maxim Gun. He received a knighthood for his inventive work in 1901, and today London’s National Portrait Gallery has ten works of art in its collection which feature the inventor.

Conductor Helen Harrison conducting the world premiere of ‘Sir Hiram Maxim’s Captive Flying Machine’ with the Blackpool Symphony Orchestra

To help fund his research into early flight, Hiram Maxim designed and built his famous Captive Flying Machine and presented it at the 1904 Earl’s Court Exhibition. He originally intended riders to be able to control their up- and downwards flight, but this was deemed unsafe. So Maxim’s ride ended up as a large spinning frame from which the riders sat in hanging cars.

Many Captive Flying Machines were manufactured and the first ones were located in Crystal Palace, Southport and Blackpool. The last remaining Maxim’s Captive Flying Machine in Blackpool is still a popular attraction, although many rides around the world owe a debt of thanks to Maxim’s original design.

Nigel with Helen Harrison (Conductor)