Adrian Street’s books

Not sure who said he told lies. Certainly not me.

Interesting subject going on here. I must say I absolutely love all his books, although his last one seemed a bit rushed I thought. The 60s/70s UK scene and all the characters and Adrian's frank writing style seems to be the best insight yet written on the era. Why are people dissing them ? How do we know there are lies and embellishments ? I read them believing them to be an honest account. But who am I, I also really enjoyed Atholl Oakely's book too and the Dynamite Kid's and Steve Regal's...the best UK wrestling books in my eyes.

One of your better ones Graham.It must have been buried deep in your memory.Keep 'em coming

I went into my local library to borrow one of Adrian Street's books but found none were available. I decided instead to borrow a book about committing suicide and was told that they were on the bottom row of the end shelf. When I got there, the shelf was empty so I reported back to the librarian who shook her head despondently and said, "They take the books out....but they never bring them back!"

I found Adrians books to be entertaining,and enjoyable.mostly factual,maybe his memory of some events was a bit fuzzy,but worth reading,

I think that's just where he was living at the time Anglo.

He bought property in Manchester to rent out (I think, in partnership with Bobby Barnes maybe, would have to read the book again).

I notice how he was billed from Cardiff yet seemed to wrestle out of London.

In the two articles he is billed from Manchester and Rhyl.

Real NFA stuff!

He’s in my to 5 too Adrian, in fact probably top 3. The fact that he was no Angel is the very reason I rated him so highly. I know many on here loved the Royal bros but to me (and you) it’s the Hells Angels all day long! Please don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t hear a bad word said about him but I did find his book exaggerated to say the least. He clearly has a huge ego but there’s nothing wrong with that. All great Sportsmen and women have huge ego, it’s what pushes then to become so good. Cheers.

Cheers for the feedback, appreciated.

Good to see everyone in agreement as to how good Adrian was and how important he was to the Grapple game both as a solo wrestler and as a part of the best tag team ever. I’ve just finished one of his books, to be honest the other will probably remain unread as it all seems a little embellished to say the least. Doubt Adrian was quite the hard nut he’d have us believe, let’s not forget he sued Johnny Kincaid when John hit him for real away from the ring. Also claims to have put Les Kellet in his place and very few could lay claim to that! Great wrestler tho, absolute legend. Just not a great book writer ...

Unlike some reviewers comments I've seen, I wasn't worried about the lack of wrestling in the first book, as I find usually most people are very open about their upbringing and their stories are easy to believe. However, I wonder how many Heritage readers would have got on as a teenager with Adrian, picking fights with other teens who he believed would want to fight (did they have a say) and punching a cop (well, he said he did) is not nice behaviour at all. The passages from his dad's wartime memories were as dull as ditchwater (sorry Mr Street) and I skimmed and ignored most of them. In another book I found it amusing that whilst praising George Kidd, Adrian took the credit for finding the right ingredient that made their subsequent matches so good.

I will say I'm a big fan of Adrian and he was one of the very best workers of his generation and had he been around today he would have been a super star in Japan (where most of the best ply their wares).

Or else has a remarkable memory.

Like most Wrestler's books, fact and fiction can become blurred somewhat, but I did find them great fun to read and they each passed a few hours on planes and trains and stuff.