In the 50s 60s more so and 70s wrestling had regular and sporadic fans who were big names in their field,I met quite a large number below are two who were regulars. Has anyone one got memories we will see how it goes and I'll give my full list. Leslie crowther loved the atmosphere envied the pulling power and was vocal and enjoyed all the bouts for different reasons. Colin bean I wondered when you'd spot that Anglo was a believer and loved the sheer theatre obviously in the air in his Wigan high rise.

I hope unlike my last post I haven't covered this before,Dales at Brixton rd was a rambling building and rife with gossip one employee revelled in it I can hear his gossipy camp delivery now. One such bit of gossip I have never been able to yeah or ney. Namely Good old Les had beef to use Kent's terminology witnTerry Rudge,Terry was always totally professional so if true why,I witnessed les Punched full on by Terry and bout curtailed from the second gate below the band area it looked vicious but why,were we overrunning was the orange clock approaching nine.So did anyone see Old Les v Terry.

Picture this a Red Devil I'll fitting bonnet gains easy victory in front of Andrew Grimes M E N Tommy Mann Bernard Manning and foo foo Lamar, not in a Spanish estate no Weaste not many 24 hour people in attendance,year later same Red devil questions sports legit on granada another Spanish link. Clue not bob greaves

Sadly Jack who could do a bit of the technical stuff but didn't need to understated villainy totally professional and reliable rest easy Jack you were one of the best Kellet said so,no one would argue

Having been billed from Wigan Bolton Salford obviously Bradford Leeds Burslem ,I'm stunned by Fred Wooley being billed from Over Hulton totally accurate but so specific why not say New Brook Road the number and telephone number ,just round corner from Dave Armstrong and Ivan pencecoffs non ruski domicile

Looking through some old notebooks I came across a bout I remember very clearly,it was at Leigh British Legion a cavernous club with always full houses. My opponent was to be one Johhny Sanderson of Salford I'd never met or heard of previously to put it mildly he was an outstanding worker not in full flush of youth but this fair haired middleweight knew all the moves and then some his escapes and stamina left me breathless,only thing I knew about was my second mention Kidd famous in all of Salford not George,but kidds was a chippy,I never saw Johhny in the ring or heard of him and I deserted Parker's of Cross lane incidentally Les Kellet connection there to visit Kidds but never saw him.Anyone remember a Johhny Sanderson on the independents?

A reminder when it seemed to matter. Saw a YouTube promotional film about southport two London models having an unlikely holiday in southport yep they went to the wrestling. Meanwhile on the ever so middle england archers mustard land forum .Jill archer being discussed throwing flapjacks in a demo. Discussion moves to poster being related to the royals and Berts love of Garibaldi's ,cue wrestlers remembered hi jacks the topic

I'm a great fan of British variety acts ,the whole set up has always fascinated me,so whilst discussing Frank Randall with an even older guy than me,he informed me that he'd got a contract for A Randles Scandals show with costumiers called BOWMAN I mentioned my interest in this and he said well surely you know Frank intended to promote wrestling he thought it would replace the halls and he intended to start at a theatre in Accrington that was proving to be a liability and he regretted buying it,he told everyone that he went to school with Billy Riley but this could be nonsense as he claimed he went to school with George formby and every other notable Wiganer even if ages and dates proved otherwise.However fact is he knew jack Atherton and tommy and jack Pye. He also claimed that he'd wrestled as a youth as young McAvoy.

Good old Les in his pomp can be seen at either pembertons carnival martin conroy home town or possibly pitmans event at Haigh Hall Wigan. its on youtube as childhood memories of Scholes Wigan

It is with sadness we hear of the passing of Jim, one of the true greats and innovators,sleep easy Jim R I P

did he REALLY, None of the Dales claimed this,but Norman did it kinda makes sense ,thoughts please,Norman claimed he made old Jackie a superstar and Dales were totally against it. might explain the fiasco over Pallos this is year life Walton was unhappy at rescheduling.Norman believed the de monfort and lime grove boosted Jackie

any memories he caused raised eyebrows amongst workers when included in the who's who.Owned the venue in Rochester. Body builder with limited flexibility but was pushed briefly by DM had a couple of matches with him but can't recall much

Mike never seems to get a mention,probably much under rated,great to work with had his dad's and uncle Ted's work ethic.Great under the bonnet too,JACK Atherton used him a lot so that says a lot plus he was Jack's star masked man for a time .Any memories?

Looking through various stuff whilst working on my little project ,I came across the unbelievable fact that Mal Kirk held the Welsh heavy title for a short period.Got to be a misprint on this yellowing article or an uninformed writer getting wrong ,however when I recall the writer it becomes curiouser.it was one Charles Mascall. I wondered why I'd kept this piece no mention of Salford fair city,but an article detailing McManus win over Jack Dempsey at the R A H ,then in a few brief lines mucky Mal becomes a Welsh man .

so sad to learn of Spencer's passing at 93 years. Spencer was a lovely bloke to chat to and a consummate professional.A Dales stalwart .

it's with great sadness we learn of the loss of a true gentleman of the ring,an innovator along with Vic and a mentor who always supported us newcomers I'll never forget Bert for his professionalism and his friendship.truely an end of an ERA.

hopefully wont bore you al with this whilst investigating Wrytons origins I came across a strategy by two of Joints members that were I'm sure rare in the 1960s, that is self suffiency.Dale had a in house printing operation and an external company ,they had a pr dept for internal and external work,transport company,cafes and b and bs no wonder Jack Dempsey said Dales were the innovators in control and operations.Meanwhile Norman Morrel had a b and b a cafe and an Bradford printers all this activity whilst managing the logistics and massaging workers egos to produce results.So what about Wryton hopefully I'll soon complete my research and give details however I'm sure it' was the only wrestling promoters connected to prize winning Cheshire

I'm sure most of the stalwart fans on here could spot the guys who wrestled stiff,but I'm interested to know was it noticeable then or now with the benefit of YouTube to identify who had the rigid style who had the floppy style.I was told by several old pros that if I wanted to avoid back trouble to adopt the floppy style,basically this was a very relaxed motion during throws this was to protect during bumps. The great divide is difficult to explain as it wasn't a North south thing like so much of the pro game was.To illustrate this and hopefully get views on this I'll highlight a few styles Bert Royal floppy,Jim Breaks floppy,Ivan Pencecoff floppy,Vic Faulkner trained by same people as Bert surprisingly rigid, Steve Logan Rigid,old Pallo floppy.

Whilst digging into the Wryton dynasty a local historian said I should document it,I replied limited appeal .I recall saying same thing to jack Atherton in the 70s after he was approached by a guy off the Lancashire Evening Post,coindently same guy from Blackburn did an in depth piece about les Keller,in this Les went into detail about showmanship in the game but the need for integrity. What a book that would make so many unanswered questions about Les ,the Edinburgh connection,the Salford connection,learning French. Nick McManus was approached to do his biography by an Evening Standard hack,it didn't happen because Mick wanted to protect the game,the same reasoning behind the seemingly awkward treatment of Old Jackie's this is your life ,wrongly believed to be jealousy by Mick and Dales wanting to prove no worker was bigger than the game.Had to be shown it was sport not showbiz.I look forward to reading about Gordienko but imust say not a fan of previous books about the

I hope these observations don't come over as the bitter ramblings of an old sweat,but this weekend die to family being around I watched some wrestling from the U S A and I found it repetive, boring and chorgraphed to an inch of its believability.Spotsbwere telegraphed so the crowd whooped in anticipation.However production values were excellent and the performers were skilled acrobats to the point where reactions were shown prior to completion of strike. This reminded me to remove the rose tinted spectacles when joint first came to prominence the criticism it was almost ballectic in follow through link wrestling especially in the lighter weights ,however this was soon viewed as skillfull and when compared to the fag end of joint when operating out of Leeds as a generic Dale Martin it was sublime,so perhaps I'm being unfair to the stateside product, when we televised clueless guys suffering obesity and wearing passed on dralon leotards and who wouldn't know a double wrist lock from a chub lock There are guys here in the UK wrestling skillfully where we suffer is trying emulate the razzamatazz of big arena wrestling with long rambling intros and Crossroads storylines on a Poundland budget.And breathe ....feel better for that hope not too incendiary for s bankoliday.