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| Christopher Bush  Christopher Bush was born in Great Hockham in 1885. One of nine children, he won a scholarship to Thetford Grammar School and went on to study modern languages at King’s College, Cambridge. He became a teacher before serving in both world wars, finishing his military career with the rank of Major.  He returned to Hockham after the First World War and bought two cottages and some land, adding two wings to the cottages to make one grand house and garden for him and his family. He became a successful detective writer and wrote well over 60 detective novels under his own name, most of which featured the character Ludovic Travers and his story "The Perfect Murder Case" catapulted him into the best seller list, both here and in the USA. Here is a 1930 review of another of his best sellers, "Dead Man Twice".
His detective novels were published in many languages and very much worldwide.
A successful cricketer, he played for Hockham as well as for Old Buckenham and South Norfolk in a high standard of the game. He was perhaps best known locally for the novels he wrote about Breckland life, under the pen name of Michael Home. The first and perhaps most famous being “God and The Rabbit”, published in 1934, which was very popular in both the UK and the USA (where it was published as "The Return"). This local classic portrays Great Hockham, called “Heathley”, at the turn of the 19th century in all its isolation and poverty. It tells the story of a local boy who makes good, a theme that Michael Home pursued in several of his novels. The story of the author’s boyhood and his vivid reminiscences of Breckland life are recorded in the 3 autobiographical novels “Autumn Fields” 1944, “Spring Sowing” 1946 and “Winter Harvest” 1967. He publicly admitted that in reality Michael Home was indeed Christopher Bush. He left Hockham for Sussex in the early 1930’s almost totally cutting himself off from his friends and family but returned to East Anglia and lived at the Great House in Lavenham for a number of years passing away in 1973. Despite writing vividly about his Hockham boyhood, his split with the area meant that he only returned twice to the village in the last 40 years of his life. The changes that he saw in those visits were so disturbing to him that he did not want to spoil his youthful memories. | |
| Tinker Joe  Joseph Ashton (better known locally as Tinker Joe) became a legend in his own lifetime, because of his very great age.
Born in Kettering he was apprenticed as a chimney sweep at a very early age, before running away from home and joining a band of gipsies. At some point he settled in Great Hockham where he spent the bulk of his very long life.
As a tinker he became a familiar figure, setting off with his pony and cart each day and it was this way of life that he would take to his grave, emblems of a kettle, a stew pan and a bowl being engraved on his coffin.
He died on October 8th 1881 and according to his tombstone (which is easily found on the left of the path through the graveyard of Holy Trinity Church) he was 112 when he died.
Rumours abound that he could have been older than 112 (some say 116) and the Vicar of Hockham, the Reverand John Spurgin clearly believed this whilst Joe was still alive (read his letter to the newspaper here), but whatever his age he remains to this day one of the oldest recorded people in the county. | |
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