PERHAPS you have never heard of Herbert Pasquill, one of Bolton's "world beaters". And to be honest, I had forgotten about him as well until I received a letter from Joan Szymanowski asking if at the Evening News we had any cuttings about Bert.

She told me that in the 1920s, Bert wrote an entire book on a postcard, and won the world miniature writing contest. He also wrote the Lord's Prayer on a grain of rice.

That was not all. He was also a memory man, and could out-do the Great Dando who played the variety theatres. "In advance of his theatre bookings, Dando used to advertise for volunteers to come on stage in his memory act; Herbert applied and was refused."

Then, when he was 74, Herbert won a prize for walking from Manchester to Blackpool.

Mrs Szymanowski, of Bedford House, Wood End, Leigh, tells me that "unfortunately, none of the 'exhibits' remain, but what a wonderful man he must have been. I do voluntary research into the history of Howe Bridge, and Herbert's family have told me about him."

Well, he obviously was a remarkable man. Bert was born in Howe Bridge in 1895, the youngest of 12 children, and attended Howe Bridge School. Later he went to work in the coal industry in Trimden, then returned to Howe Bridge for a spell before moving to the Bolton area when he married. And the first cutting I can find, from September, 1930, records how "An unemployed Bolton miner, Bert Pasquill (35), 24 Rutland-st. claims to have broken the world's miniature writing record.

"A few days ago he read in the Evening News that if the claim of Herr Freischlader, of Bergneustadt, a village in the vicinity of Cologne, was eventually allowed, Great Britain would lose the world record set up by an Englishman in 1923. The Englishman wrote 3,466 words on a postcard, and they could be read with perfect eyes without the aid of a microscope, but Herr Freischlader claimed to have written 3,587 words on his postcard.

"Thus was Mr Pasquill's patriotism roused. He set about practising miniature writing and today he produced at the Evening News offices a postcard (53/8in by 33/8in) on which he has accomplished the remarkable feat of writing 4,929 words. This is 1,342 more than the record. The writing is on one side of the postcard only."

And where Herr F. had copied his words from the First Book of Moses, presumably because short words were fairly numerous, Bert Pasquill's "epistle" included a love story and an Evening News report of a recent Wanderers v Liverpool match "in which use is made of such words as transformation, passionately, manuscript, and theoretical." Only one side of the postcard was used, and it took Bert about six hours - two hours on each of three days - to complete his work. I understand from Mrs Szymanowski that Bert later beat his own record by writing 10,000 words on a postcard!

Then in 1935, Bert had a challenge from another source - and won. An Evening News article headed "World's Best Memory" told of a Mr V. Sunderasan claiming to have the best memory in the world because, in the presence of a number of witnesses, he was given the following 90 figures (nine more than the world record): 509, 624, 357, 276, 243, 880, 445, 220, 312, 321, 989, 097, 418, 528, 650, 701, 833, 294, 500, 349, 899, 745, 475, 574, 347, 457, 672, 532, 352, and was able to repeat them without a mistake after reading them for 10 minutes.

This caught Bert's eye - and memory - for he spent seven minutes perusing the figures, added the following: 341, 560, 134, 900, 712, 388, 436, 924, 715, 020, 519, 162, 612, 222, 064, 986, 413, 724, 179, 382 to the list, tucked away the two lists, and was able to repeat the lot without effort.

Even that wasn't enough. He later added even more figures (making a total of 340), and to take away a little of the monotony, also added zibqresmtheenygufpxahkdojwvtdxilfmpwezougsqnbrcvjkahy to his account. As Bert himself said, over 340 figures and "the alphabet inside out twice!".

Then, as I have already said, when Bert was 74, he completed the sponsored walk, in aid of Somerset Road Presbyterian Church, in fine style, followed by other walks for various causes.

And according to the reporter who interviewed him at that time in 1969, "Bert also has a prodigious memory for anything from the winner of the 1906 Derby to the names of film star. He is a legend in his life-time.

"Before the war he went under the stage name of 'Electra'. I tested Bert with a list of Grand National winners since 1900. He rattled them off within minutes, then said "Ask me a really difficult question about dates.

"Er, what day was July 7, 1927?"

"'Thursday,' said Bert, quick as a flash. I later checked with our library files and he was right.

"How on earth did he manage it?

"Oh, I've always had this memory for dates and figures," said Bert. "In fact, the maths teacher once told me to go home so the other pupils would have a chance. All I can tell you is that it's like a light coming on inside my brain, and I can see all the relevant information quite clearly."

That obviously was not the end of Bert's talents, however. In 1970, the paper reported that he was going to entertain members of Bury WRVS Club - as a singer, a dancer, an impressionist, a raconteur, a comedian, a musician, and a memory man! When Bert died on February 13, 1974, it was the end of one of Bolton's most colourful characters. His son, Herbert Pasquill junior, still lives in Bolton.