Beautifully illustrated by Hans Saefkow, Dave Sudbury's famous song tells the story of Charlie Hudson, a working-class man who raised racing pigeons in Derby. In 1913, he entered one of his pigeons in a race from Rome to England. On the day of the race, a storm came up and all the pigeons disappeared - all except for Charlie's pigeon, which went on to international stardom and became known as the King of Rome.