He existed and even thrived on a diet of “subrancid cheese and milk in every form, coarse and hard bread and small drink, generally sour whey”, as William Harvey wrote. … "On this sorry fare, but living in his home, free from care, did this poor man attain to such length of days".

Thomas Howard brought him to London to meet King Charles I.

Parr was treated as a spectacle in London, but the change in food and environment apparently led to his death.