The Guardia on line over the weekend published a very good obituary on Adrian Street far more sensible than the Daily Mail effort....but what else do you expect. Immodestly I can report that I rexeived a Guardian Pick for my comments on the piece!

The lady who sat behind me in the balcony of St James' Hall, Newcastle outed The Professor as Cyril Morris long before he was unmasked as she could identify him from the way he stood in his corner in between rounds with the majority of his weight on his right leg. Her favourite cry was "Couldn't you win a match Cyril until they put a mask on you?"

When I first heard about the "Billy Riley - The Man, The Legacy" book I couldn't wait to get my hands on it; but when I did - what a disappointment! Considering the wealth of information, history and views of from so many wrestlers from my era they have, as I once saw describing a music book, put vintage wine in a Coca Cola bottle. It looks as though once completed there wasn't even a re-read before publishing; no attempt at a spellcheck and even type faces differ within sentences. Amusing tales peter out without a punch line and some stories are repeated verbatim rather than having been edited to form some cohesion. I can't speak for the validity of all the wrestlers dates and results printed at the back of the book but one night in question that I attended and featured some of the wrestlers profiled in the book it had none of them appearing at my venue on that particular night. A fascinating subject unfortunately sold short.

Billy Two Rivers versus Dennis Mitchell is among the top three live bouts that I ever saw; a compelling 1-1 draw at St James' Hall, Newcastle, generally clean but with just a hint of needle. I was supposed to be selling hot dogs at the time but the action was so mesmerising that I couldn't take my eyes off the match for the whole eight rounds. Fortunately the punters were equally riveted so no sales were lost.

Francis Sullivan v Frikki Alberta May 1963. Just to see whether it would be as believable as it was when it shocked the TV audience back then.

I was sorry to hear this news last night. Bert was one of the first wrestlers that I saw on TV and then countless times live either solo or in tag with Vic. RIP

Very much like being at a live football match as opposed to watching the game at home or in the pub on TV; you were in among the crowd who were generally feeling the same way as you and cheering the same wrestler of tag-team and your emotions would frequently get the better of you. Once that you sampled the live experience televised wrestling was secondary.

Very much so and it is in that mode I recall many of his live appearances. He would display bouts of uncontrollable anger towards both opponent and audience; probably a good act but I wouldn't have wanted to put it to the test! Outside of the ring he was normally quite amusing and good natured. I was most surprised to see him a few years later as a good guy refusing the decision over a young wrestler who had injured himself and similar instances.

Tibor Szakacs against Bruno Elrington seemed to crop up quite often.

I'm still considered, among my fellow pensioners, that I retain a fairly decent memory so it must be that I was so jaded with the wrestling situation of that time. All the more surprising that Dennis Mitchell was on the bill as I was a great follower of him. Also that just a couple of weeks earlier I was completely enthralled by Kendo Nagasaki who stood out among the new batch of wrestlers emerging on the scene.

Like many others once that I had access to the internet I started searching for information on some of the wrestlers that I enjoyed watching during the Golden Age and Heritage came up. Taking an instant interest in the forum it wasn't long before I couldn't keep my nose out of the various discussions. The rest,as they say, is history.

As far as I can recall the 1966 St James' Hall presentation was the final night that I worked there. Unfortunately, even though Dennis and Donald Mitchell were on the bill, I can't remember a single thing about it!

Eduardo Carpentier, Don Leo Jonathon and Dory Dixon

After a while of watching wrestling every week you developed a feeling as to when the winning move was about to come. Often when a villain was being battered the good guy would just go one throw or posting too many and his opponent would turn the tables and gain an unpopular victory. Or the double knock out where one guy would get to his feet blind side of the referee but collapse again without the official noticing; you then began to question things! However having said that and, due to my job at the wrestling, observing many of the wrestlers at close quarters, especially some of the more seasoned individuals, the broken noses, cauliflower ears and scar tissue about the body certainly wasn't faked.

It would be either Dia Sullivan or Roy Bull Davis but since I had seen Sullivan on TV it would have to be Davis.

There was a bill from Newcastle on 26th Dec 1965 on Facebook a day or so ago which I remembered vividly. It was the last Christmas that I worked there and because it was Boxing Day we got double time (10% commission). The line up was England - Norman Walsh, Joe Critchley and Norman Cooper versus Scotland - Ian Campbell, Chic Purvey and Ted Hannon. Frankie Robb v Tony Elsdon was the support match. Campbell wished everyone a Happy New Year from the ring at the end of his bout.

Sorry to catch up on this so late and also sorry to hear this bad news although he did have a long life. John was a regular at St James and invariably involved in the top of the bill or main supporting bout; always good value for money.

Saturday 23rd November 1963 St James' Hall, Newcastle upon Tyne Donald Mitchell v Martin Borman disq. Francis Sullivan v Bob Sweeney 1 - 1 Billy Howes v Gwyn Davies n/c Jim Rawlings v Brian Trevors 2 - 0 My first live wrestling experience.

I was still working at St James' at the time of the above bill but I have no recollection of it; surely such an event as unique (for wrestling at that time) as having two masked men on the same bill should have stuck in my memory? Even more so as I was very impressed with Kendo of that era as he seemed to be a genuine villain at a time when I was becoming rather jaded with the wrestling and there was little new emerging to re-ignite my interest. Just over a year later I see that The Zebra Kid lost on disqualification to The Outlaw at St James', which marked the former's final appearance there, however I was long gone by then so I can't say whether he unmasked.

Interesting comment from Bernard as at Newcastle the introductions were performed by a couple of chaps, one also being the timekeeper, in a small alcove on a balcony above the ring. The referees Ernie Baldwin, Gordon Smith, Ron Johnson, Mike Delaney and Ernest Lofthouse described the moves and scores. Also interesting that I am not alone in my opinion of Mr Lofthouse.