Today is the anniversary of the birth of Ted Beckham, one of two Blue Masks we remember on Wrestling Heritage. We come across the name Blue Mask for the first time in June, 1937 wrestling Vic Hessle at the New St James Hall, Newcastle. He was back again the following month tackling Francis St Clair Gregory and was destined to become the top masked man at the venue for the following six years. In June, 2014, Ian Pringle told us that the Newcastle Blue Mask was a local miner from Chopwell who had worked with his father in law. The Blue Mask was Edmund Beckham, known as Ted, born on 12th October, 1913.
Beckham may have been the Newcastle Blue Mask, and a good one at that, but it was a localised name, in Newcastle and Middlesbrough, with at least one other known Blue Mask, more possibly more. Whether Beckham was the original is uncertain, whether the best is unknown, but he was certainly good and a celebrated name in the north east. He wrestled frequently at the New St James Hall in Newcastle and was a good opponent for another local man, Dave Armstrong. On January 13th, 1940, he defeated and unmasked his rival the Green Asp, to reveal the identity of Canadian Carl Van Wurden.
Dale Martin running a show in Kuwait, at some international trade show.