Something for the Big Daddy fans.

The following is an article from 1957, it feature's a 27 year old Shirley's forthcoming contest against "The Ghoul" in his hometown of Halifax. Now unfortunately the article is a bit blurred so i've typed it's contents below it .

The article reads as follows

Can Shirley Crabtree match his wits and strength in the professional wrestling ring against a wrestler of the experience and cunning of the famed “Ghoul” and hope to come out on top? That is the question fans in the West Riding are asking as they await the main bout at the Victoria Hall, Halifax on March 3.

The 27 year old Crabtree faces the biggest test of his wrestling career to date and has been training for the last three weeks in preparation. Training is nothing new to him however, for the 56in chest, 21in neck and 19 ½in biceps are the result of weight and strength training that have been his interest in life.

At one time he played with Sidal Junior R.L. team but it was not on the Rugby field that he was to find fame. He preferred the individual struggle of the wrestling ring, and made his debut against the former Bradford Northern forward Sandy Orford, then Welsh Heavyweight champion at the St. James’ Hall Newcastle-Upon-Tyne in 1952.

Since then he has met and defeated (among others) Bill Verna, Alan Garfield, Norman Walsh and that terror of the ring Jack Pye. He also met the mighty Felix Miquet at the Palais-des-Sports in Paris and came away with a draw to his credit- a remarkable achievement against such a man. For Miquet has vanquished many of the top flight of the wrestling world. Berlin and Hamburg have also been the scenes of triumphs for the young Halifax wrestler.

Few people know these facts about the blond giant they frequently see around town, and it’s slightly ironical that his wrestling prowess is probably better known in Paris than it is in his home town. Without doubt this contest with the redoubtable American star. The Ghoul, represents a decisive stage in his career, for although to lose to such an opponent would only be what many others have suffered , a victory would open tremendous opportunities n the wrestling world. He would then be well placed for accepting the offer of that fine Canadian wrestler, Chief Thunderbird, to go on a tour of North America.

Shirley Crabtree has long sought a contest with The Mighty Togo, but to get on the same bill on March 3 is as near he has been to his wish. The number one hurdle for Crabtree is The Ghoul and for six hours a day he is hard at it in preparation for the contest and says he will be fighting fit when the bell goes. He will not be short of support when he steps into the centre of the ring and among what will be the biggest crowd ever in Halifax for a wrestling audience will be his mother watching Shirley for the first time ever.

Switching on the illuminations at Skegness

A wee bit more of Big Shirls, this time from his appearance on "This Is Your life" in 1979.

Brother Brian this time.

I remember watching this film in the late 1970s. It was rated an "X" at the cinema so was shown on ITV after the 10 o'clock news. The film was based on a book of roughly the same title and was set during an apocalyptic period caused by man. It starred Nigel Davenport, and also a pre Miss Brahms Wendy Richards. It was quite the shocker when i first saw it but had no where near the same impact when i viewed it for a second time in the late 1990s on a minor SKY channel. There are a few cruel scenes in it along with some scenes that appear laughable these days such as Hells Angel style bikers with Horned Helmets marauding about. Probably the best part of the film is the theme tune sung by Roger Whittaker.

Thank you! Nothing much new, but always great to read what we know in fresh articles.

"The Wrestler" 1962

A wee bit more. I placed this feature in a Max Crabtree thread but it adds to information already discussed here too.

Shirley's "possibly" the only British wrestler to appear on both the front and back page (same edition) of a British newspaper? Albeit a regional publication.

Front page entitled "Big Daddy Hits Rhondda!"

Back/Sports page

Ringsiders attacking poor Banger and Honeyboy Zimba defeating Ray Steel (erroneously named Ray Kirk).

Thanks Ost, even more of a chance that Shirley and Breston faced each other during that years tournaments.

It wasn't a knockout tournament, it was a round robin style.

when Jean Louis Breston arrived in 1972 it was mooted Shirley wouldn't be happy facing him Breston was keen for sure,I'm almost sure I saw a poster on a bill I was on for following week Crabtree v Breston but that didn't happen,did the ever meet I found Breston a likeable guy but he could get heavy but professional always shown in the 2 0 win for ray

This thread has certainly improved my opinion of The Crabtrees,Shirley in particular come across as more likeable

An article i forgot i had, taken from The Sun Newspaper, Spring/Summer 1980.

Below possibly with one of brother Max's Sons.

Interestingly, it looks like one of the early backers for the Crabtree Brothers, for the night club business, was a certain Mr. Paul Lincoln and Mr. Ray Hunter.

Saxonwolf you are on fire! Brilliant research, generously shared.

And you are even bringing me (others too?) around to more respect for the Crabtrees.

Talking about their club, "Big Daddy's", I came across this on a Halifax history website, which was talking about a man called Paul Mountain, and how he got into owning and running night clubs.

".... In late 1967, able to sense that the year had brought with it many important changes to the music scene, he decided that the time had come for something different.

His timing was perfect. The Crabtree brothers, Shirley and Max - better known in the wrestling world, had decided that they had had enough of running their Big Daddy club in Crown Street, and after name changes that had taken it from Big Daddy's to The 2 + 2 Club, and then to The Scene they let it be known that the lease was for sale. Paul heard about the opportunity and after a brief meeting with the Crabtrees found himself with new premises...."

Here is the picture I mentioned.

Any mention of the pussycat club Saxon or Max pushing the Everley Bros to stardom.Berry was a very atute publicist by reading the bill matter you can clearly see when Max took over.

I didn't realise how many nightclubs the Crabtree Brothers ran in the 1960's, and I didn't know that one of them was called "Big Daddy's"!, surely that must be the source of the name he took on in the 1970's?

Also, in the nightclub ventures, Shirley was the front man and MC, and Max was the doorman!

Berry worked as a publicity man for Morrell then broke away to set up Twentieth Century Promotions with Max and Shirley.

With mention above of "the" European championship belt, we need to come back down to earth and realise that every country had its own European belts. The UK had in fact at least two "official" European heavyweight belts.

I must confess I like the line of thought that the whole Martinsen report is a ruse, probably from Max, to get wrestling back at his local hall. A very convincing one.

Should I know who Norman Berry was?

Here is a 1957 Palais des Sports bill from my collection. You can see Shirley Crabtree was billed but then looks to have been substituted by Jim Oliver/Olivera:

Good discussion so far. I enjoyed reading through all of that. Here's some of my thoughts on the topic. Martinson wasn't the European Heavyweight champion in 1959. And for the record, Miquet wasn't either. They were both former champions, but as best as I can tell they hadn't held the title for a number of years at that point. And just to clarify, I'm talking about the French version of the championship, i.e. the most established version of it in continental Europe. That version was also recognized in Switzerland for a good while. I've pieced together a history of that championship here: http://wrestlingclassics.com/cgi-bin/.ubbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=10;t=005411. It's not a full history by any means, but it's the best I've got. The only two Brits that I know for sure held the European Heavyweight Title (French version) were Bert Assirati in 1948-49 and Roy Bull Davis in 1965. It's possible there may have been a separate Belgian version of the European Heavyweight Title, but Belgium is extremely under researched so I have very little information as to what was happening there. For what it's worth I've seen no mentions of a Shirley Crabtree working there and I just did a quick search through a couple of Belgian newspaper archives, albeit very limited archives, and his name doesn't bring up any results. I've done a lot of research on Spain, France and Greece in particular and I haven't come across Shirley working any matches in those three countries. That's not to say he didn't wrestle in say France, for example, but I've seen no proof of it so far. I've posted a lot of the 1950s Palais des Sports Paris cards here: http://wrestlingclassics.com/cgi-bin/.ubbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=10;t=005238. No Shirley Crabtree on any of the ones I have. That arena was damaged by a fire in May 1959 and was then demolished. A new Palais des Sports (better known today as Dome de Paris) opened doors the following year. My information on the shows there is more limited, but again - I've seen no mentions of Shirley wrestling at that venue either.

The Roman holiday was fictional

But back in 1959 was it really popular to wrestle in Europe. If you look at Gwyn Davies who started out about the same time as Shirley and would have been well pushed because his father was more famous than Shirley's and maybe also he had huge potential, I can only find Davies in Germany in 1960.

May have answered my own question as Geof Portz did Germany in 1956, 57 , 58 and 60.

Dennis Mitchell was also out there in 1956,62,62,63

Picked up Albert Wall in 1960 and Bill Robinson in 1962.

Non of these heavyweights seemed to pop up in other countries.

So you would think Shirley would have been picked up in such indexing.

Only difference is these guys stayed with Joint so maybe worked a different circuit.

OK, I have found a mention of "Crabtree", which I assume is big Shirley, in June 1972, which would tie-in with the Vienna mention, further up the thread.

It's the only mention I can find, so far, here is the full listing.

June 23, 1972, Vienna

Crabtree vs. Gerhard Brecht

Jean-Louis Breston vs. Micha Nador

Jock Cameron vs. Kaissy

Johnny El Corso vs. Hans Stretz

Arpad Weber & Luis Salazar vs. Conde Maximilliano & Angel Grey

"Kaissy", (above),I would assume is Adnan el-Kaissey/Al-Kaissey, who wrestled as "Billy White Wolf", who is probably "Billy White" in the other Vienna match, mentioned earlier in the thread.

Just to be clear, I would be amazed if the young Shirley Crabtree didn't wrestle in Europe, in the late 50's, into early 60's. The young "Blond Adonis" would find plenty of work, I would have thought.

It's just, as I have said, I have seen no sign of it (apart from the posting of a result from Vienna, in this thread).

One problem is that some websites that detail the European tournaments don't give a full listing of competitors prior to 1970. The ones i've found over the years only state first, second and sometimes third place, and also not every tournament in a particular year. Perhaps a request to friends of Heritage in Europe might glean a more comprehensive website or even a request for info from Shirley's daughter Jane?

I think if Shirley had won the belt at the Palais de Sports, in front of a 12,000 crowd, it would have been in the press somewhere, and Phil Lions would have found it.

So the Reunion website article has Shirley becoming the European Champ at the Palais de Sport in Paris , no date, but late 1950,s (Vague) and yet I show Martinsen as champ in July 1959 with Shirley as Challenger conveniently doing battle at The Shay for Shirley to become Champ. Then in October 1960 Shirley defends it against Felix Miquet at the Palais de Sports but in Brussels.

Now have all the facts got twisted and people got careless when writing up history on Shirley , or was there a bit of swapping and changing of the title to fill a few stadiums and make money going on.

As far as my own collection of bills goes , once I have Shirley as European Champ , he seems to stay that way until he faded away from 20th Century and Jack Taylor etc.

So it begs the question , did Shirley get the belt off Martinsen twice , in Paris and Halifax and of course drop it somewhere or being just wrestling , did the truth of the story get mixed up in the many write ups .

Also I knew I had read about a tour offer , kayfabe or not.

This article genuinely coincides with the 1960 Rome Olympics and it seems Shirley went to watch them . You would almost expect him to have a few bouts while over there so that could be a good time frame. August 1960.

The Re-Union website has a good article that suggests he did Europe. There is some confusion as to the Palais de Sports being the Paris one or one in Brussels that was in the report I put on.

https://www.britishwrestlersreunion.com/shirley-crabtree-big-daddy

So Late 50's in Europe is to be confirmed. Not on Wrestlingdata.com.

Shall keep looking , I seem to remember he turned down a tour because he had enough work , but can't find that reference at the moment. Would have thought he would be more marketable once he had the Euro title so maybe 1960 and 1961 possible. A firm date would help because then we could check if there is a gap in his schedule.

On the cagematch website it shows the following result for Shirley Crabtree:

14th June 1972

Billy White vs. Shirley Crabtree - Draw

CWA - Event @ Heumarkt in Wien, Österreich

Nice articles Ron & Ken. In a wasted opportunity Ryan Danes in his book "Who's The Daddy" makes the most fleeting of references that Shirley wrestled in the European tournaments. The following is taken from Shirley's book "Big Daddy's Wrestling Book."

I'm sure that i have previously read elsewhere that although Shirley defeated the huge Felix Miquet he tore a calf muscle body slamming the Frenchman before pinning him. Also above, he clearly mentions touring France, Austria & Germany.

A rare nice account of Big Daddy, and his brothers Max and Brian. I vividly remember Brian Crabtree, as the MC and he was very good. Max the promotor, and of course Shirley as Big Daddy. Interesting read on their lives outside of the grappling game.

Hi Ron, just wondering which newspaper the press cutting above comes from, the one with the mention of beating Felix Miquet in Belgium?

I am not saying it didn't happen, but wonder if Max fed the story to someone in the press (this is wrestling after all!), as a sort of "he could wrestle in Belgium, but can't wrestle in his home town of Halifax!" protest?

So , Alan asks a question , Ken comes up with a vital clue , and yes it looks like he went to Belgium.

The mention of Shirley beating Martinson in July 1959 is also accurate. Promoted in Halifax by Jack Taylor it was reminiscent of Doug Clark beating Gerstmans in Yorkshire to win his title.

Also mentioned in the article above is winning the British title at Granby Halls.

here it is.

Not seen anything about him working in Europe.

Many thanks , much enjoyed the articles. For me charting Shirley from 1952 and working out how he ended up being not quite one of the best prospects of a coming golden age has been fascinating. He then took an alternative route with his brother's 20th Century Promotions that gave him honours before he faded out only to come back as the Guardsman and then Daddy. Max was certainly an innovating promoter who put some really exiting looking bills in the papers that have been so worthwhile collecting. Like it or not , this family are a part of GB Wrestling History.

I met Shirley a few times at Back of Kings Hall and found him to be a friendly guy.

subjued ,that article reads like pre Charles Mascall,Dale Martin's professional approach to the media is ight years away from this ,very much like the fare they presented to the public at the

Thanks alanapally, what a good observation of Big Daddy being the only wrestler to appear on the cover of both magazines.

Begs the question, has any other wrestler appeared on the cover of Radio Times?