German bodybuilder and performer Eugen Sandaw was BOTD in 1867. Born Friedrich Müller in Königsberg, Prussia, he became interesting in bodybuilding after a childhood trip to the circus. He left Prussia in 1885 to avoid military service, becoming a circus athlete and taking the stage name Eugen Sandow. He moved to London in 1889 where he became a celebrity, performing in strongmen competitions and performing in vaudeville, music halls and circuses. He went to Chicago in 1893 where he became a star of the Ziegfeld Follies, drawing huge audiences who admired his muscular body and displays of strength. He featured in a short film series by the Edison Studios in 1894, becoming one of the first performers to be filmed. Returning to England, he opened the Institute of Physical Culture, where he taught exercise, weight training and dietary advice, published a bodybuilding magazine and how-to fitness manuals and organised an international bodybuilding competition. His celebrity fans included King George V, for whom he acted as a personal trainer, and Sherlock Holmes author Arthur Conan Doyle. Considered to embody the Grecian ideals of male athleticism and strength, postcards of him dressed in little more than a fig leaf became popular collectors’ items. He married Blanche Brooks in 1894, with whom he had two children. Biographers and historians have speculated that Sandow was bisexual, pointing to his close friendship with the Dutch pianist Martinus Sieveking. Also of note was his popularity with a dedicated queer fanbase, who collected his images and paid for backstage meet-and-greets where they were able to feel his muscles. He died in 1925, aged 58. He had a profound influence on bodybuilding and the fitness industry, setting a model for the eroticisation of the male body that dominated the 20th century.