Samuel Franklin Cody Samuel Franklin Cody Samuel Franklin Cowdery (later known as Samuel Franklin Cody; 6 March 1867 – 7 August 1913, born Davenport, Iowa, USA) was a Wild West showman and early pioneer of manned flight. He is most famous for his work on the large kites known as "Cody War-Kites", that were used by the British in World War I as a smaller alternative to balloons for artillery spotting. He was also the first man to fly an aeroplane in Britain, on 16 October 1908. A flamboyant showman, he was often confused with Buffalo Bill Cody, whose surname he took when
Randall Williams (showman) Randall Williams (showman) Randall Kay Williams (17 July 1846 – 14 November 1898) was a Victorian showman noted for popularising moving pictures on British fairgrounds. The first known reference to Williams exhibiting films in his show was at Rotherham Statute Fair on 2 November 1896. Williams toured Britain for 25 years, first with a ghost illusion show, and then with a bioscope. He reached the height of his career in the summer of 1897 when he exhibited at the Victorian Era Exhibition in Earl's Court, London. His show that year was designed specifically to pay homage to Queen Victoria's sixty