Omi the Great

Omi the Great (1892? – 1969) was a British-born self-made tattooed oddity.

Omi was born Horace Ridler in Britain. Most of what we know about him is based on his own stories that are, in the usual sideshow manner, at least somewhat exaggerated because that was part of the act. According to them, he was born into a well-to-do British family reputedly in Surrey and was educated either in Oxford, Cambridge or in a military school.

At the outbreak of the World War I, Ridler joined the army and was assigned to desert mountain corps. He served in Mesopotamia and reached the rank of major. After the war, his inheritance spent, he could not survive only on his pension and so decided to become a sideshow attraction, a tattooed man. His original tattoos were traditional.

After couple of years Ridler decided to change his look. Instead of more traditional collections of tattoos, Ridler decided to have full-body stripes. Sometime between 1924 and 1937 he contacted tattoo specialist George Burchett and hired him to first cover his old tattoos and then cover him from head to toe with broad black-and-white pattern. He later claimed he spent $10.000 for the procedure, although Burchett said it was only $3000 and that he was never paid in full.

Ridler also had his teeth filed to points and added nose rings and piercings. As a part of his act he sometimes claimed that savages in New Guinea had tattooed him. In addition to Omi the Great and the Great Omi, he also billed himself as The Zebra Man.

Ridler toured far and wide and appeared, for example, in Ringling Brothers Circus and Ripley's Believe It or Not show in Broadway. His non-tattooed wife "Omette" introduced him to the stage.

When the World War II erupted, Ridler tried to join the military again but was refused – either for medical reasons or because he was so unusual. Therefore, he promoted the sale of the war bonds. In 1950 he retired and moved to Sussex with his wife.

Horace Ridler died in 1969.