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William Fitzwater Wray (1869''England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1837-1915'' – 16 December 1938),''The Bicycle'', UK, 13 December 1944, p3 who wrote under the
pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...
Kuklos, was a British journalist who was one of the most widely read cycling journalists of his era. He wrote in national newspapers in Britain and in cycling journals. Through his writing ran the conviction that "on every real bicycle there is the unseen pennant of progress, the standard of democracy, (and) the banner of freedom."cited http://www.cycling-books.com/Kuklos_biography.htm He also gave magic lantern shows, predecessor of slide shows, which were in demand in the 1920s and 1930s and to which cyclists rode "prodigious distances."Journal, ''Fellowship of Cycling Old-Timers'', UK, March 2012 p 81


History

Wray was born in Hitchin,CTC Gazette, UK, January 1939 the third son of the Reverend Samuel Wray, a Methodist minister in Sacton, west of Beverley, in the East Riding of Yorkshire. His mother was Ann (''née'' Fitzwater), of Laleham, Middlesex. He was educated at church boarding schools: the Kingswood School in Bath and Woodhouse Grove on the edge of Bradford. He did not share his father's religious belief, however, writing in 1896: "While still at boarding-school I revolted from the orthodox Christianity (sub-section Dissent) into which I was born and brought up... So I have never been since (to Church), except to temples not made with hands". He hired his first bicycle, a
safety bicycle A safety bicycle (or simply a safety) is a type of bicycle that became very popular beginning in the late 1880s as an alternative to the penny-farthing ("ordinary") and is now the most common type of bicycle. Early bicycles of this style were know ...
with solid tyres, when he was 17 in 1887 His first ride was from Bradford to
Otley Otley is a market town and civil parish at a bridging point on the River Wharfe, in the City of Leeds metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, the population was 13,668 at the 20 ...
and back. At his father’s insistence he then set out to tour England, an experience his father thought useful before his son started work. Wray bought a solid-tyred penny-farthing - the large-wheeled bicycle that the safety had replaced – and set out on that with no luggage and little money, sleeping rough when he had to or staying with friends and relatives. He rode between 700 and 800 miles. The experience guided the rest of his life. His father died while Wray was having what would now be called a
gap year A gap year, also known as a sabbatical year, is typically a year-long break before or after college/university during which students engage in various educational and developmental activities, such as travel or some type of regular work. Gap yea ...
and he started work as a lithographic artist, then a photo etcher and pen draughtsmen in Bradford and began writing the first of his cycling columns for the ''Bradford Observer''. He joined the Yorkshire Road Club. In 1907 he married Emily Gertrude Fisher, known as Klossie, and together they toured all Britain and continental Europe. He left Bradford in his 20s to work for the '' Daily News'', a national newspaper in London that was absorbed by the ''
News Chronicle The ''News Chronicle'' was a British daily newspaper. Formed by the merger of '' The Daily News'' and the ''Daily Chronicle'' in 1930, it ceased publication on 17 October 1960,''Liberal Democrat News'' 15 October 2010, accessed 15 October 2010 be ...
''. He wrote there for 25 years before joining the Daily Herald, where he wrote weekly until a few days before his death. He often mentioned Bradford and the
Yorkshire Dales The Yorkshire Dales is an upland area of the Pennines in the historic county of Yorkshire, England, most of it in the Yorkshire Dales National Park created in 1954. The Dales comprise river valleys and the hills rising from the Vale of York w ...
. From 1894, he began using the byline Kuklos (the Greek word for a wheel, or circle but also used for a circle of poems) and by the following year earned enough to live as a writer. While in London, he joined the North Road Cycling Club, one of the country’s oldest.


Opinions

Wray was a man of independent and firm opinions. George Herbert Stancer, the president of the Cyclists’ Touring Club, described him as the cyclist’s "doughtiest champion." ''The Bicycle'' called him "an individualist, and even those who disagreed with his opinions had to admit the sincerity of his beliefs." He wrote "with a sincerity so strong as to become almost violent." One of his campaigns was against a cycling institution which attracted thousands, the annual service for cyclists killed in the
First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, held at a memorial on the green at Meriden in the English Midlands. His article, ''Mendacious Meriden'', upset many but was often reprinted.


Picture shows

Wray and other cycling tourists such as W. M. Robinson and Neville Whall, who used the names Wayfarer and Hodites, were in demand for their picture shows in the 1920s and 1930s and cyclists would travel "prodigious distances" to see them. Wray took his pictures on glass slides three inches by three inches. He arranged them into sequences with names such as Wildest Britain, The Irish Paradise, A Cyclist in Lighter Vein and Old Inns and Nature and Novelist. The tradition and the slides died out with the start of the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
and the advent of 35mm transparency film. Wray's pictures passed on some years after his death to George Herbert Stancer, the secretary of the
Cyclists Touring Club Cycling UK is a trading name of the Cyclists' Touring Club (CTC), which is a charitable membership organisation supporting cyclists and promoting bicycle use. Cycling UK is registered at Companies House as "Cyclists’ Touring Club", and is co ...
and then to a Norfolk enthusiast, Les Reason. They are now held at the national cycle archive at Warwick University.


Books

Collections of his writing were published as books, notably ''A Vagabond's Note-Book'' (1908) and ''The Kuklos Papers'' (1927). Other works included ''The Visitors Book'' (1937), observations collected from hotel visitors' books. Earlier he wrote a series of articles for the Daily News about cycling in war torn France during the first part of World War I. These were collected together in Across France in Wartime, published in J.M.Dent's Wayfarer's Library in 1916. In 1916 he translated ''Le Feu'' (English: Under Fire: The Story of a Squad), a novel by the French communist,
Henri Barbusse Henri Barbusse (; 17 May 1873 – 30 August 1935) was a French novelist and a member of the French Communist Party. He was a lifelong friend of Albert Einstein. Life The son of a French father and an English mother, Barbusse was born in Asnièr ...
.


Death

Wray died on 16 December 1938 while under anaesthetic in the operating room of a London hospital. He was given a non-religious funeral at a crematorium in London, witnessed in heavy snow by "a handful of Kuklos’s personal friends, men and women famous in the cycling world, to whom their departed comrade had been the inspiration of many of their beliefs and ambitions." He asked for no mourning and no flowers. Emily Wray submitted a tribute to her husband at the request of ''The Bicycle''. She wrote: ''He does not die that can bequeath'' ''Some influence to the land he knows'' ''That dares, persistent interwreath'' ''Love permanent with the wild hedgerows.'' ''He rides the loud October sky.'' ''He does not die – He does not die.''


References


External links


Catalogue of Wray's lantern slide collection
held at the Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wray, Fitzwater English male journalists British sports journalists English sportswriters Cycling in the United Kingdom Cycling journalists Cycling writers 1869 births 1938 deaths