Can science prove this County Durham man's 140-year-old world record is genuine?

But now a professor of aerodynamics and wind engineering has examined the potential trajectory of the ball, the meteorological data of the day and the “calculated contours of throwing distance” and concluded that Robert’s extraordinary feat is a “realistic possibility”.

That would mean Robert’s is the longest standing sporting world record, and that he is Shildon’s first – and only – world record holder.

There are, though, plenty of mysteries surrounding Robert and his great achievement, but the Guinness Book of World Records is clear. It says without fear of argument: “The longest throw of a cricket ball (155g [5.25oz]) was thrown 128.6 m (422 ft) by Robert Percival (UK), a left-hander, on Durham Sands racecourse on Easter Monday, 18 April 1882.”

Wisden, the cricket bible, agrees. So therefore it must be true.

However, in that one sentence, there are several points that need to be unpicked.

Firstly, the Sands and the Racecourse are different riverside locations in Durham. Perhaps the Racecourse, with its history of great gatherings and now occupied by a cricket ground, is the obvious setting for this story, but we believe that it took place on the Sands, where the county council is currently building its controversial headquarters.

Secondly, Easter Monday in 1882 was actually on April 10.

From the Echo of April 13, 1881, advertising the Sands Races at which we believe Robert Percival set his record

But Easter Monday in 1881 was on April 18, and, according to an advert on the front page of The Northern Echo a few days earlier, the Sands was the venue for a carnival of races, which included “English Sports”.

There could be no more English a sport than throwing a cricket ball, and it was a popular event in late Victorian sports days. Indeed, it is a pure test of sporting skill: who can throw the furthest?

WG Grace, a cricketing legend

All around the English-speaking world, people tried to fling the cricket ball the furthest: WG Grace, of course, had managed 132 yards but then in 1872, King Billy the Aborigine broke the 140 yard barrier for a throw in Queensland, Australia. Until that day at The Sands, the world record was held by Ross McKenzie of Toronto, Canada, who had flung a ball 140 yards and nine inches.

Unfortunately, the Echo didn’t report what happened that day on The Sands, but its sister paper, the Durham County Advertiser, did.

It records that the weather was drizzly and breezy. It says: “There were a good number of shows, roundabouts, shooting galleries etc while two quadrille bands provided unlimited pleasure for the young people and dancing was freely indulged in.”

And it briefly mentions a cricket ball throwing competition: “1st Percival, 2nd Gnatt, 5 competitors.”

This must be Robert’s record breaking moment.

Little factually is known about his beginnings. Various censuses suggest he could have been born at Sherburn Hill or West Rainton, Alston in Cumbria or West Auckland, although Coundon is though the most likely. Perhaps Robert himself didn’t know.

The Hippodrome in Shildon near where Robert lived, although he died at least 20 years before it was built

It is said that he lived opposite the Hippodrome in Byerley Road in Shildon, although the Hip wasn’t built until after he was dead. The 1881 census suggests that he was a miner living in East Thickley, near Shildon, with his wife, Mary, and six children.

He was clearly a strong fellow: he made several appearances at local sports days as a wrestler, including in 1884 at Tudhoe Grange, where he won £10 in a best-of-seven falls contest against G Stockdale of Spennymoor.

He was also renowned for his prowess at throwing a cricket ball as it is said that he was banned from entering a contest at Barnard Castle to give everyone else a chance.

And he was a good all-round cricketer: it is said that he played for Bishop Auckland and then became a professional at New Brighton Cricket Club on Merseyside. He was also employed as a groundsman at the Liverpool Police Athletic Club but he probably enjoyed a drink too much, and he returned to the Durham collieries, dying young at South Shields in 1890.

It was around the time of his death that national sporting magazines began to mention Robert’s record, although they scoffed at it because it was just too far. No mere mortal, except WG Grace, could really throw a cricket ball much further than 120 yards.

Still, in 1908, Wisden recorded it as a record – nearly 30 years after the event, by which time the errors over the date and venue had crept in.

And there were still doubts over its veracity because 140 yards is a very, very long way.

Jim Anthony winning the 1978 cricket ball throwing tournament

In 1978, The Northern Echo organised a competition to see if anyone could come close. It was won by Jim Anthony, an advertising executive from Cheltenham, who was a world record holder for hoying the welly and tossing an egg.

But his winning throw of 106 yards 2 feet 11 inches was well short of Percival's mark.

The cricket ball throw finalists in 2001 at the Chester-le-Street ground, including West Indian international Franklyn Rose

In 2001, the Echo teamed up with Durham County Cricket Club for another competition which resulted in ten finalists having a throw-off at the Riverside ground in Chester-le-Street during the interval between innings. The winner was the West Indian fast bowler Franklyn Rose – who had bowled the first ball the Riverside in 1994.

He was the only thrower to beat the 100 metre mark, but his winning effort of 108.4metres was also well short of Percival – if the Shildon miner had thrown in metric times, he would have reached 130 metres. Franklyn received a £200 DVD player for his troubles.

Franklyn Rose receives his £200 DVD player for the longest cricket ball throw in 2001

The closest anyone has ever come has been Essex cricketer Ian Pont, who recorded 126.18 metres in Cape Town, South Africa, in 1981, although Great Britain javelin thrower Mick Hill managed a similar distance in 1991.

So could Robert’s remarkable record really have been reached, or, like the date and the venue, has an error crept in over time?

Mike Amos, the keeper of all things Shildonian, draws our attention to a blog written by Chris Baker, an emeritus professor at the Birmigham University School of Engineering who has had a long, distinguished career specialising in wind engineering and train aerodynamics.

He has tried to work out whether Robert could have thrown a five ounce cricket ball further than 140 yards.

“In simple terms, the calculations use Newton’s laws to determine the trajectory of the cricket ball, allowing for air resistance and the somewhat peculiar aerodynamic properties of the cricket ball,” he writes. “The maximum distances are always achieved at an initial throwing angle of around 40 degrees (so the trajectory is rather like that of a javelin rather than the normal cricket throw).”

Most modern cricketers skim the ball head-height to the wicket-keeper, but Robert probably would have hurled the ball in an old-fashioned way.

Durham University Observatory has furnished Prof Baker with its weather report for April 10, 1881 – the Echo that day forecast blustery, cold conditions, and the observatory recorded a six metres per second wind from the north-east.

Gusts could have been stronger, particularly when Robert’s throw got higher than ten metres off the ground.

“A 6m/s following wind will allow a throw of 140 yards to be achieved with the same initial throwing speed as a 120 yard throw with no wind,” says Prof Baker.

“Robert Percival was clearly one of the top throwers of the age judging by the number of competitions he won, and his wrestling activities suggest considerable innate strength. It seems there is a prima facie case that he would have been capable of propelling the ball at the necessary speed for a 120m-plus throw of an old cricket ball in still air.

“The conditions at the Sands on the day of the record were such that the winds may have given him considerable assistance. A throw of 140 yards seems a realistic possibility.”

All of which is enough for Mike Amos to claim for Robert Percival of Shildon a place in perpetuity in the pantheon of great sporting achievements.

“There have always been Percivals in Shildon with great claims to fame,” he says. “Jim Percival had a milk round with the best milkboy in the world – me – and Percival’s the butchers in Main Street made the best pork pies in the world.”

Now Robert’s place in the Guinness Book of Records seems assured. In fact, after exactly 140 years, he may qualify for a second entry as the holder of the world’s longest unbroken sporting world record.

• Mike Amos’ blog tells of all of his sporting meanders, both in and out of Shildon, and can be found by googling “Mike Amos Grass Routes”, or CLICK HERE.
• Prof Chris Baker’s blog is just called Chris Baker’s website, and his scientific analysis of the world record can be found by googling “Chris Baker Robert Percival” or CLICK HERE.