Prince Monolulu

Ras Prince Monolulu (26 October 1881 – 14 February 1965), whose real name was Peter Carl Mackay (or McKay), was a horse-racing tipster, and something of an institution on the British racing scene from the 1920s until the time of his death.

[2][3] Monolulu claimed to be a chief of the Falasha tribe of Abyssinia, but in reality he was born in St Croix, Danish West Indies (now part of the United States Virgin Islands).

His baptism (as Peter Carl McKay) is noted in the records of the English Episcopal Church of the Danish West Indies.

According to his own account, he made his way from his birthplace to the African coast, where he was shanghaied on board a British ship: he styled himself a prince in the hope of receiving better treatment.

Monolulu rose to prominence after picking out the horse Spion Kop in the 1920 Derby, which came in at the long odds of 100–6, and from which he personally made some £ 8,000, a vast amount of money at the time, equivalent to £ 400,000 in 2020.

It describes how Bernard at the time was working as a horse-racing journalist and visited Monolulu in the Middlesex Hospital to interview him.

[9] Monolulu's name is referenced by the character Rigsby in the 1974 pilot episode of the UK comedy series Rising Damp, in humorous comparison to the new tenant Philip, who had stated he was the son of a chief.