Has the debate ever raged on who was the best British MC ? In my day, late 70s to early 90s, some would say smooth as silk John Harris was the man. A had one to argue. Brian Crabtree ? No, not for me, he fluffed words, expressions and was too cocky as if the whole show revolved around him...my opinion, others may beg to differ. For me the best of the lot was Fred Downes. A fellow Norfolk man, lived in Attleborough where he had an antique shop apparently. Worked East Anglia for Dale Martins and was occasionally seen on TV.
His finest TV moment again in my opinion was when Mighty John Quinn took on Caswell Martin, only for Wayne Bridges to jump the ring before the bout began and set up the heat for an imminent World title match. The bout was great, one of Martin's best bouts with a villain, but the verbal exchange between Quinn and Bridges was both exceptional and rather unprecedented for the time. Big American influence there. What followed was Quinn ripping up Bridges shirt followed by Bridges ripping up Quinn's gown. It was all egged on by a very serious looking Fred Downes, who had the last word in the exchange -- 'If he did that to your cape Quinn, God only knows what he'll do to your body'....terrific stuff. So what of Fred, was he an ex wrestler, an ex referee did he have connections to Dale Martins promoters ? Any one know anything about him ?
Brilliant, Bernard! And all must have been creatively and meticulously planned to keep all concerned in constant work. Possibly repeated in other halls, too. Real pantomime stuff, but at that time all executed within a serious set of rules.