THANKFULLY, World Cabbage Day passed without incident last week. Cabbages, boiling with anger, did not take to the streets, demanding equality for cabbages, or the vote for cabbages or that cabbages should become kings.

In fact, in County Durham, the day passed without any form of cabbage commemoration whatsoever - even though the county is the home of the king of all the cabbagemen.

On World Cabbage Day (February 17), The Northern Echo mentioned that the world record for the largest cabbage was set in 1865 by William Collingwood of County Durham. We knew no more than that until Michael McGuinness, of South Shields, sent us a booklet entitled Aall Ye Want Ti Knaa Aboot Leeks and Swalwell Cabbage. Now, indeed, we know all we ever wanted to know about such things.

Originally, 4,000 years ago the cabbage was a loose-leafed vegetable growing in Asia. It travelled westwards - the Romans are said to have introduced it to this country - but the big breakthrough in cabbage-technology came during the Middle Ages when northern European farmers developed its rounded head.

The ancient Asian vegetable was called 'coles' (caulis and kale are variations of this word, as is kohl and so, although no cabbages have become kings, one has been a German Chancellor); the new rounded vegetable's name comes from the French word 'caboche' which means head.

And Mr Collingwood, of Swalwell, (home also of the MetroCentre) grew the largest one.

It was a red cabbage which stood 4ft 2ins high (1.27 metres) and measured 7yards 5ins round (6.5 metres). It weighed 8st 11lbs (even when converted into metric and put in brackets, this is still extremely heavy for a cabbage).

Mr Collingwood did not stop at cabbages. He was big in leeks, too. His heaviest was showed at Usworth in 1869 where it came in at 17lb 12oz. He showed his biggest one in a pub in Swalwell in 1876 where it measured 10ft 4ins long from end to end and was 14ins in circumference.

Nowadays, leeks are measured in cubic inches so comparisons are a little difficult.

"But that's a big leek," confirms Steven Blackett, chairman of the Royal Oak Leek Club in Butterknowle, near Bishop Auckland. "The long leeks that we put on the bench might be 14 inches to the tight button and then you've got the leaves after that so that's only about two feet.

"A lot of ours are bred to be grown under polytunnels which they didn't have in those days, so his would take some doing."

But Mr Collingwood went further than just giant cabbages and leeks.

"At the same show, he also showed in the class for beauty leeks, two leeks which blanched 16 inches and were perfect models in symmetry," says Aall Ye Want ti Knaa...

Beauty leeks seem unknown to modern growers - although the beauty industry believes eating leeks promotes digestion and cleanses the kidneys which purifies our bodies and so leaves our skin more beautiful.

Mr Collingwood, a bachelor, probably wasn't worried by such cosmetic issues. His friends were so confident of his abilities that they issued two challenges to the world "backing Mr Collingwood to show six of the heaviest and six of the best quality leeks for any sum, but neither of them were taken up".

Without anyone in the whole world daring to take him on, the champion cabbage cultivator of County Durham seems to have diversified into fruit. In 1896, he proudly showed the heaviest white gooseberry of the year at Whickham.

That was his last success for in 1897, aged 74, Mr Collingwood died. He is buried in Whickham cemetery, and the cabbages of the world should really unite to celebrate his achievements at least once a year.

Published: 25/02/2006