I remember Jane Porter (Klondyke Kate) as being a very friendly girl; quite the opposite of the character which she portrayed in the ring. She was a genuine fan attending each week at Hanley's Victoria Hall and it was Bobby Barron who introduced me to her and suggested her for some bouts. At the time Jack Cassidy's oldest daughter, Chris, was working as Klondyke Kate (later to become Hellcat Haggetty) and I recall Dave (Bobby) suggesting I bill her as either Big Bertha or Klondyke Jane. Basically she was a safe opponent for his wife Rita who was wrestling as Gypsy Sarah (and later became a Cherokee Indian). Without going into too much detail, I do recall that she possessed an interesting collection of magazines which she picked up in Germany.

I have contributed previously about it happening surreptitiously on Brian Dixon's shows when he would promote Mitzi Mueller versus The Black Widow ("Romeo" Joe Critchley).

I knew that Dennison died in the dressing room following a bout but had no idea that it was in Southport against Dave Duran. Duran was John Palin and the first bout he did for me was against his father Harry at The Civic Hall, Bollington. I could not bill him as John Palin so hit upon the name Steve Kennedy and a few months later booked him again as Steve Kennedy to face punk rock wrestler Johnny Vicious (Rick Wiseman) at Nantwich Civic Hall. In my third booking for him I did bill him as Johnny Palin in tag with father Harry against Les Diables Rouges at Norton Recreation Centre, Runcorn. Unfortunately father Harry had ambitions to promote in the function room of a Runcorn pub called The Cherry Tree so announced in the local paper that he and son John were pulling out of my show at the recreation centre to concentrate on his forthcoming match for the Northern Heavyweight Championship against Pat Curry at The Cherry Tree. It was an interesting way for me to find out that Harry and John would not be on my show and I did not use either of them again. I had no problem with John. I believe he had a bit of a reputation for being a bit of a hard nut but I caught him right at the start of his career and found him to be a friendly and amenable lad.

I remember Martin introducing him to us at The Wryton Stadium Bolton. He was introduced as John Halsop and was wearing a medal around his neck which he had won at an amateur event. Within a matter of weeks after this I attended a TV taping at said venue where he had become John Casanova and was facing Marty Jones. I recall seeing him working for Wryton at The Pavilion Gardens, Buxton, against Steve Haggetty; King's Hall, Belle Vue, against Ray Steele and on several occasions at The Gaiety Theatre, Rhyl, against Bill Bennette, Kevin Conneely and in tag with Mark Rocco against Roy and Tony St.Clair. I also recall a couple of Dale Martin shows where faced Steve Logan (Coventry Carnival) and Robby Baron (Royal Albert Hall) and a Norman Morrell show at Leicester's De Montfort Hall where he faced Pallo. I also recall turning up to The Pavilion Gardens to see him face The Destroyer (Jack Fallon) but he was nowhere to be seen and you replaced him. And that was it! He was an entertaining worker but must have decided that the pro life didn't suit him!

Thank you. So there's nothing I can do about it without appearing illiterate!

I saw Mc.Manus versus Masambula at The Wirrina Stadium, Peterborough, in the early seventies and it went to four cats with Mc.Manus loyally selling all the Masambula hoo-hah. I also saw them in tag against each other as part of a four team tournament around the same time at the Ice Rink, Nottingham. It was quite a short bout with Mc.Manus and Logan being disqualified against Masambula and his partner Les Kellett who then went on to win the entire tournament beating The Royal Brothers (who had previously ousted The Pallos) in the final. (I don't know why but when I type in Mc.Manus the Mc.Man appears in white which can hardly be seen).

I think most wrestling fans will remember the first time they saw Mick Mc.Manus live and, in my case, it coincided with my first visit to The King's Hall, Belle Vue, and, to be relevant to this thread, he was facing Kalmon Gaston. In fact, it was a tag match with Mc.Manus and Logan facing Gaston and Peter Szakacs. At that time I had gone as a boy with my father to Wryton shows at Rhyl's Gaiety Theatre and the ballroom in Prestatyn Holiday Camp so it was quite something to attend a show in such a cavernous arena. The main singles bout was Albert "Rocky" Wall versus Peter Stewart; Mick Mc.Michael faced Johnny Saint and the opening bout featured lightweights Deep River and Andras Swajcsic.

Thank you for the kind comments.

I promoted a handful of shows at The Parr Hall in the mid-seventies and have fond memories of them. My first ever promotion was in my home town of Wilmslow at The Public Hall there but it was booked for me by Abe Ginsberg. My second show, in April 1976, was at The Parr Hall which was booked by me. I offered Ginsberg a place but he took the hump accusing me of using him to buy my way in to the sport and expected once again that I would give him the money and allow him to do the booking. My top of the bill was The Borg Twins versus Les Diables Rouges with Eddie Rose and Ian Wilson wrestling each other lower down the bill. My main supporting bout saw local boy Mike Dallas facing Lord Bertie Topham (accompanied by valet Ponsonby) and Harry Palin featured in the fourth bout of the night against a lad named Keith (I forget his surname) whom I billed as "Beergut" Brannigan. Two other shows followed, one topped by John Lees which I have reason to believe was his final contest and one where I ambitiously staged an eight team K.O. tournament in which Al Miquet not only provided the ring but also wrestled as Kung Fu and as Kamikaze and as himself. The winners, Bill Clarke and Rick Wiseman (wrestling as Lincolnshire Poachers Bill and Rick Clarke) came back on the next show to face the team of Klondyke Jim and Lee Sharron. Because Bill and Rick had built up such a hatred on the previous show, Jim and Lee were the unlikely blue eyes.

I was at The Ice Rink, Nottingham, when he fought Butts Giraud. The bout was over quite quickly with Giraud signalling his retirement with a shoulder injury. It was also the opening bout. Not really a good opportunity to showcase him. I would have liked to have seen him against Wall, Robins or Yearsley.

He was a gentleman to do business with and gave me some very good advice when I started promoting shows. His last show for me was at the Gala Baths in West Bromwich when I put him and Jackie Jnr in against a makeshift team of Johnny Kincaid and The Dropkick Kid (I forget his name. He travelled up from Bournemouth with Nikki Munroe and her opponent. At the time Crabtree was pushing The Dynamite Kid on TV so coming up with "The Dropkick Kid" was not particularly difficult). Promoting did not come naturally to him however and he and jnr made all sorts of cock-ups along the way. Very old-fashioned views regarding a woman's place in the wrestling ring but that did not stop him promoting them if he thought it would get bums on seats. On the last show he did for me he had had two hip replacements and the hardest part of the bout for him was walking from the dressing-room to the ring and then climbing up to the ring apron.

In my teenage years most Saturday nights were spent at The King's Hall, Belle Vue, and, for most of that time, Morrell and Beresford were the promoters (later Wryton and, later still, Crabtree) with the two Ernies, Baldwin and Lofthouse, alternating as MCs. There could not have been a greater contrast. Baldwin was loved by the punters whereas Lofthouse was universally disliked; cold and arrogant in contast to Baldwin's friendliness and warmth.

I can tell you as I was there that night. It was Gordon Corbett who faced not Kendo Nagasaki but The Wildman of Borneo. It was an entertaining bout but, of course, not the one billed. At the time I was corresponding with Gillette who wrote to inform me that Kendo had not even been approached about appearing. Incidentally, the "one other contest" was that popular standby, Pedro The Gypsy versus Butcher Goodman.

Kevin Conneely was usually billed from Liverpool although I used to introduce him as being from "the war-torn streets of Belfast" which he failed to find amusing. In fact, for someone who portrayed such a comical character, there was little that he actually did find amusing! I recall that Joint usually billed him as being from Liverpool unless he was up against Roy Paul. Then Paul was billed as being from Liverpool and Conneely as being from Belfast.

I remember promoting him at The Civic Hall, Bollington, against Bob Bell. They travelled together from Ellesmere Port. I billed him as Ragnor The Viking. He was actually Dave Crosse. He made his TV debut as The North Man on a Relwyskow and Green show where he faced Dalibar (Gil) Singh. I believe Crabtree billed him as Ox Brody.

Thank you. I've shared so many anecdotes over the years that I've not really got that much more to say. I'm still promoting every second Tuesday of the month at The Morley Green Club in Wilmslow but, of course, it's jazz, not wrestling. The last wrestling show I did was back in 1987 (and my last bout promoted was Pete Evans versus Mickey Gold).

Royals versus Colbeck and Penzekoff?

It was indeed. On another thread recently I nominated Jon Lapaque as a wrestler whom I only heard of in tag matches. I now recall one night in the seventies there was deep snow at Trowell and only half of the bill had arrived at the show's official start time. The evening was due to end with a Royals versus Lapaques tag match but, due to the sparcity of wrestlers, Royal faced Pete Lapaque and Faulkner faced Jon Lapaque in two singles matches of quite some length which, when added to the interval time, allowed the remaining six wrestlers to arrive. If indeed this is Jon Lapaque's only singles match, it was one of necessity rather than promotorial choice.

Sid Millward and The Nitwits

The only one I can think of is Jon Lapaque. Whereas Pete had a few singles encounters, I don't recall Jon having any.