1946 MEMORIES-WRESTLER NORMAN MORRELL!

Les was for sure born Bradford in 1915 , but was in the Merchant Navy in the war so maybe up in Scotland.

Also, I had a few conversations with Norman Morrell (as a young boy), and he did not have a Scottish accent.

I meant to say that, it is written elsewhere that Les spent time in Scotland working or during the war.

We have recently heard that Les and Norman Walsh were the two English wrestlers at George KIdd's wedding, so I presume that they were well known, up there.

Ron may be able to help because I vaguely remember a mention of Les living in Scotland for a while.

I have never seen anything about Les's amateur record. I always thought that he was a Morrell man through and through.

I heard that he taught in Morrell's gym and I know that he refereed for Morrell bills.

However some of the things that he said sometimes reminded me of a scottish twang.

Remember that at Newcastle ,after the wrestlers and referee had been introduced, the referee did all of the other announcements, falls, disqualifications knock-outs etc. So I did hear Les's voice quite often.

Also many bills (not just in Scotland) showed him as being from Edinburgh.

Les was born 11th May, 1915 in Bradford.

Was Kellett really from Edinburgh and did he really have a good amateur record?

Hi MM, let me know if you come across any mention of The Farmer winning something called "The Nottingham Silver Cup" in 1946. It was mentioned later in Morrell's magazine.

Hi All. I never saw Norman Morrell wrestle. A bit too early for me.

It appears that his last bout at Newcastle was 27/7 1946, lost to Lew Roseby.

Another one who put a lot of weight on later !

Many of the names on the programmes are familiar to me.

Saw Sandy Orford , Alf Rawlings, Vic Hesselle (always spelled that way here )Les Kellett,many times . Kellett nearly every week as referee.

The Farmer was just finishing, Rex Gable never impressed me.

Regarding your comment Anglo.-Yes could be. Many wrestlers learned moves from Morrell. In fact a few of them were then used by Morrell as trainers.

Bernard Murray, Ernie Baldwin Jack Proctor and others taught the boys in Morrell's gym (S?).

As I never saw him wrestle I don't know if Norman knew about victory rolls. It seems a bit too risky for him.

I hope you are seeing this, Bernard? You often mention Bernard Murray's Victory Roll; it looks like he may have nabbed it from Norman.

Very, very cool stuff MM, thank you for sharing. Some new info there for me.

I wonder how many times The Farmer and Sandy Orford squared off, i'm sure i've seen it many times.

One of the first countdowns we did on Heritage was Wrestlings Most Influential. Lots of members tried to guess the winner, Norman Morrell, and that was Wryton.

Here he is (images will be reinstated in the next couple of weeks)

And My Programme Cover for the Above Show!........

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