Thanks for trying folks.

Thanks to both Ron and Power. I was trying to find out how long a period this venue had wrestling for. Is there anyone local to this site that could help please ?

There is another face of Les but I have no photograph. When he wrestled in Newcastle in the early 50's,before he became a TV star, he wrestled with no false teeth in .

Who am I to cast doubt on the thoughts of you more clever people? Just to say that I saw Dave Armstrong from the 1950's and never saw him out and about without spectacles. He was very short-sighted.

Hi Sax. that latest picture with moustache does look more like Jim Hussey, but look at the photo on Stampede with Geoff Portz. no moustache and almost going bald.

According to the A-Z Edwards was with the Independents in the 1950's, so he would not have come to Newcastle with strict Norman Morrell in charge.

One other thing. I noticed on one of the bills, the name of Angelo Papini. That rang a bell. He came to Newcastle once and the name stuck. Another rough,tough boy like Verna but not as big.

I don't think that I can help too much on Bill Verna. he was not a regular visitor to Newcastle. I think that he only came 3 times between 1950-54. He was a fairly big man ,well built , yes blonde hair. I do remember parts of a match with Bert Assirati in May 1952. A hard fought match with a bit of rough stuff on both sides. I had seen Red Kirkpatrick and said that he would be handy in a street fight .I think the same applied to Bill Verna.

Hi Ron. This is a monumental piece of work. It must have taken ages for you to find all of these bills and results. Very helpful to worldwide wrestling historians. Well done.

Merry Christmas to all.

Sorry Anglo. I have only seen these boys on youtube. I got mixed up with Johnny Czeslaw.

Zolly? don't remember him as a lightweight. If you want to go that bit heavier, I liked Steve Grey as well as the forementioned. If I was the only one who saw Johnny Stead , then I was privileged. He was capable of holding Kidd and keeping up with his moves. Very entertaining.

I saw Jack London at Newcastle. I vaguely remember that he was up against another ex- boxer. Too lazy to look the fight up It may have been early in Jack's career but I wasn't too struck with either of them. Turned into a slugging match for about 4 rounds. London won by a knockout.

I always arrived at St James Hall early, to see the wrestlers come in. Often I was lucky if three or four arrived in one car. Sometimes they would talk to me when unloading the gear out of the boot. Once I was lucky enough to be picked up by Norman Walsh and sat in the back seat with Felix Kerschitz.

Come on then John. Put us all out of our misery.

Robert Duranton?

O K John.When is that ice cream seller coming out?

They are obviously waiting for the top of the bill wrestler to enter the ring.

Looking at the photo, on the right is D Assirati. Can anyone tell me if this is a relative of Bert please?

I remember quite a few matches between referee Les Kellett and wrestler Norman Walsh at St. James Hall. As an addition to the topic title ,I would like to ask does anyone else remember a referee v wrestler match that was top of the bill? Some of my examples were. But of course both contestants were top favourites at Newcastle.