Meet the father of modern body building, Eugen Sandow

New Delhi: Eugen Sandow is the world's first hunk.He rose to fame in the late 1890s as a weightlifter and bodybuilder.He was born 1867 in Prussia (Germany) by the name Friedrich Muller. Today he has been known as the “The Father of Modern Bodybuilding.”He possessed what was deemed to be the most perfect male body. In his heyday in the late Victorian and Edwardian era, Sandow was a music-hall celebrity and an international sex symbol.He was billed as the “world's strongest man” in 1890's in America .Sandow was the muscle superstar of his age; he developed some of the first bodybuilding equipment as well as also being responsible for the first ever bodybuilding magazine. Originally called Physical Culture but later the name changed to Sandow's Magazine of Physical Culture.Early accounts of his performances suggest that he was capable of stirring up an erotic frenzy akin to the impact of the Beatles on their female audiences three quarters of a century later. When Sandow appeared on stage, noted an 1890 newspaper account, ‘semi delirium seized the delighted dames and damsels. Those at the back of the room leapt on the chairs: paraquet-like ejaculations, irrepressible, resounded right and left; tiny palms beat till…gloves burst at their wearer's energy. And when Sandow, clad—a little in black and white, made the mountainous muscles of his arms wobble! Oh ladies!' Later, in North America, society ladies paid a surcharge to attend private viewings backstage after the show, where they were encouraged to fondle his muscles.In 1901, Sandow organized the world's first major bodybuilding competition in London's Royal Albert Hall. The venue was so full that people were turned away at the door. The three judges presiding over the contest were Sir Charles Lawes the sculptor, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle the author and Sandow himself.He travelled all around the world on tours to countries as varied as South Africa, India, Japan, Australia, New Zealand. He was even designated as special instructor in physical culture to King Edward VII in 1911.Sandow was married to Blanche Brooks, with whom he had two daughters, Helen and Lorraine.He made a visit to India in 1904.Sandow's arrival in Kolkata's Howrah Station was a momentous occasion. The crowds gathered at least an hour before his train was due.He inspired countless men to look at their bodies as something at least as important as their minds, since for several decades in the 19th century, more men were working in offices as clerks, bankers and other jobs which turned many bodies pale and weak. He changed countless attitudes about health and fitness, and we continue to feel its effects today.In 1925 Eugene Sandow suffered a stroke and died at the age of fifty-eight. His legacy still lives on as a statuette known as a ‘Sandow'. It's given to the winner of the most prestigious bodybuilding competition in the world: Mr Olympia.