Sam, you're a star

A few months ago I happened to stumble across an old school buddy doing his busking thing in the streets of Hobart. Now this appeared in the Sunday Tasmanian.



You make your point, Sam
By SIMON BEVILACQUA
20nov05

A LAUNCESTON busker has gone to extraordinary lengths to prove he is the real deal.

Sam Clark swallows swords in a fascinating show of physical dexterity.
But the 20-year-old contortionist has wearied of people who suspect he uses a trick sword in the act.

"People thought the sword was fake or collapsed or something," Sam said.

So the talented showman walked into the Royal Hobart Hospital last week and had a series of X-rays taken.

A hospital insider confirmed the blade banquet was fair dinkum.

"It's quite bizarre, the sword goes beyond the level of the heart to the bottom of the oesophagus," the doctor said.

Sam now carries the bizarre X-ray images with him to make the sceptics swallow their words.

The Sunday Tasmanian yesterday met the deep-throat in action at Salamanca Market in Hobart.

Sam is believed to be the youngest sword-swallower in the world and one of only about 50 doing the act.

He has a medical condition which gives him hyper-mobile joints and allows him to dislocate body joints including his shoulders.

So, for an encore, you can watch him pass his entire body through a stringless tennis racquet.

Go Sam!