Billy Bluelight

Cullum was born in the slums of his home city of Norwich. He never received a formal education, but he did however teach himself to read. He worked briefly at Caley's chocolate factory and, by 1907, he was already legendary for his racing and street selling activities.

Cullum never married and lived with his mother, until her death. They lived at several addresses in the city including Oak Street, Colegate and Pykerells House at St Mary's Plain. After his mother's death around 1930 he was reported to have entered Woodlands, part of the West Norwich Hospital.

By 1939, he was living at Palmer Road on the Mile Cross Estate which was built between the wars. In his 80s, he entered the West Norwich Hospital and was later moved to St James Hospital at Shipmeadow, Suffolk, where he died in 1949, aged 90.

Five years after his death, writer R L Potter wrote this description of him:

That over-worked term 'nature's gentleman' was never better exemplified than in the gentle, unpretentious character called Billy Bluelight. It may seem astonishing that a humble little man could imprint his personality so widely on a large city, but it was so.

— R L Potter