Fair crack of whip for cowboy fanatic

Major Horton is the West Midlands' answer to Indiana Jones.

Expertly brandishing a long leather whip and sporting jeans and a stetson, the 66-year-old looks like he has stepped straight out of the Wild West.

It is only the Wolverhampton Wanderers emblem on his white T-shirt and his Black Country twang that give the game away. The father-of-four, from Slade Heath near Wolverhampton, has recently returned from an international whip-cracking convention in Texas, where he scooped two gold medals.

His passion for the pastime comes from a life-long love of cowboys and Indians, Indiana Jones and John Wayne films.

But it was only in his late 50s that the former engineer decided to try out whip-cracking for himself after impulse-buying a 6ft 4ins whip from a market trader.

He has spent hours teaching himself, poring over instructional DVDs and devoting hours to the art.

"Once you retire you have to find something to do," jokes Mr Horton, as he cracks a bull whip and sends a "thwack" reverberating around Calf Heath village hall in South Staffordshire, where he trains every fourth Tuesday of the month.

"When I first started, I bought a wide-brimmed hat and a pair of safety glasses and I must have hit myself just about everywhere. There's a saying that the sound of learning whip-cracking is 'ouch'. But it's just such great fun."

Having honed his skills, Mr Horton can now hit targets with alarming ease, snapping spaghetti out of a willing assistant's hands, whipping a cigarette from their mouth and smashing plastic cups to smithereens with a lighting quick snap of his whip.

It was his ability to hit targets with pinpoint accuracy and display a range of impressive moves that won him two gold medals at the Dallas Fort Worth International Whip Weekend, held last month. "I went over to Dallas with my mate Pete Gamble, from Wales, to try to learn more," he says. "I never expected to win anything. If we had come back with a couple of bronze medals, we would have been happy. We had a great time."

In 2007 and 2008, the Wolves season ticket holder was responsible for hosting the British Whip Cracking convention at Aldersley Leisure Village in Wolverhampton, which attracted enthusiasts from all over the world.

"It is a minority sport but there are a lot of people in this country interested in it," he says.

"Over the last eight or nine years, more and more people seem to have become interested in it and people come to crack whips from all around the country.

"You can use a whip outside and sometimes I'll go over local parks to whip. A lot of people come along and say 'I've always wanted to do that' and before you know it, you've got youngsters involved from five or six years old to grandmothers. I don't know if it's an empowerment thing or for others it may be a stress reliever but for me, it's an exercise thing."

Mr Horton, who is married to Sue, even holds the unofficial record for the number of whip cracks in one minute, notching up a staggering 266. He hopes to be able to get this feat formally recognised.

And he revealed the secret to cracking a good whip for anyone keen to try their hand at it.

"It's simple really – it's all about the timing."

Mr Horton was named Major after his father, who was delivered into the world by an army major. He insists whip-cracking is an activity suited to women just as much as men.

"To whip, you don't really need muscle – it's more about technique, which is why you can teach a woman how to crack a whip easier than you can a man," he says. "Men tend to fight against the whip."

His ambition for the future is to help make whip-cracking an Olympic sport.

"It's a minority sport at the moment but there are countries right across the world that do it," he says.

Mr Horton and friends spend hours improving their skills.

Target practice involves cracking the whip against polystyrene cups placed on a wooden stand, while a row of hanging teddy bears are used to help Mr Horton hone his technique.

He says the trick is to gently whip and "tickle" the bears without causing them any damage.