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.

Whenever televised wrestling came from Sheffield, I recall Kent Walton reminding us that the back elbow was banned in the city.

My Kamikaze was Al Miquet ( who also wrestled as himself, as Kung Fu, refereed and put up the ring - but not all on the same night! Although there was one night at The Parr Hall in Warrington where he put up the ring for me then proceeded to wrestle in all three guises. I did the refereeing).

And, if I recall correctly, a TV appearance against Alan Colbeck

George Shaw did a few shows for me and often provided the ring as well. As Paul Carpentier he was the dashing blue eye but he was also one of several wrestlers who also donned the bonnet for me and worked as Doctor Death. The last time he did so was at The Gala Baths, West Bromwich, in 1983 when I matched him against a Bradford wrestler called Guy Mitchell whom I knew nothing about but had to book because he was driving Les Kellett to the gig. They did a good little bout together. Incidentally, I don't know why, but halfway through typing this everything has appeared underlined.

He did one show for me in April 1976 when I matched him with Lord Bertie Topham at The Parr Hall in Warrington. I recall him having some very good bouts for Brian Dixon and one that stands out was an extremely fast-paced contest with Monty Swann at The Granby Halls, Leicester, in a show at which Dixon threw the kitchen sink. His top was Ricki Starr versus Kendo Nagasaki and supporting wrestlers included Abe Ginsberg, Bobby Barron, Gordon Corbett, Giant Haystacks (then Haystacks Galhoan) and Wildman of Borneo. I also recall Dixon matching him with Steve Young, Majid Ackra, Harry Palin and Al Miquet. I MC'd him for my then friend Stuart Miller who matched him against Abe Ginsberg at The Borough Hall, Stafford, and Steve Haggetty at The Civic Hall, Nantwich. And I recall Martin Conroy using him as a one-off against Ray Steele at The Stamford Hall, Altrincham.

On the one and only time I promoted Lord Bertie Topham back in 1976 at The Parr Hall in Warrington I have no idea who essayed the role of Ponsonby. What I do remember is that he had double-booked himself so I had to put him on as the opening bout and he then had to travel to The Hen and Chickens pub in Oldbury near Birmingham where he was bill-topping for Gordon Corbett. There was a drinks vending machine at The Parr Hall and a punter had opted for a beaker of tomato soup which she threw on Ponsonby and it went all over his white shirt. Topham was furious with me and said I should have had security but I think his anger was mainly because Ponsonby was on later in the evening at another venue. Whether he had a change of shirt or not I don't know. I was refereeing that match and disqualified him in favour of local lad Mike Dallas. There were several Ponsonbys and one of them was fellow jazz promoter Ernie Garside. Through his work in jazz promoting Ernie had met Topham on the Manchester club scene and was a bit of a "personality" so enjoyed the idea of being Ponsonby until the reality of being attacked and abused by punters hit home. I don't know where Ernie "ponsonbied" but I do know that he was doing it on the night that Bill Benny allowed a female fan to over-excite him in the dressing-room and had his fatal heart attack. The best Ponsonby I ever saw was at a Cassidy/Carpentier show at the Houldsworth Hall on Deansgate, Manchester, when he fought Monty Swann as it was a female Ponsonby and she really got the crowd riled. So much so that visiting wrestler Orig Williams took matters into his own hands and stormed the ring attacking Topham which resulted in a future challenge contest which culminated in the non-PC Williams putting female Ponsonby over his knee and smacking her bottom.

From what I read on this site, I missed Billy Two Rivers in his hayday but was more than impressed at what I saw in the early seventies. Mainly for Joint, I saw Martin Conroy promote him under the Wryton banner at The King's Hall, Belle Vue, against Pete Roberts ( a "clean" bout which was something of a disappointment seeing Two Rivers without the chops and with a lot of hand-shaking) and The Wryton Stadium, Bolton, against Colin Joynson. I saw Morrell and Beresford promote him at The De Montfort Hall, Leicester, against Lee Sharron and The Nottingham Ice Rink against Johnny Yearsley whilst I recall Jack Atherton promoting him at The Queen's Baths, Derby, against Pat Roach. I saw Max Crabtree promote him twice at The Sports Centre, Newark, against Ian Glassmore (as The Mighty Yankee) and Kendo Nagasaki. I hitched up from Leicester where I was studying at the time and got the last seat in the house sold through the ticket office. I could have got four times the amount outside the hall where touts were selling tickets on the black market. I visited Newark many times and this only happened on this one occasion. Indeed, for the Two Rivers versus Glassmore fight, the hall was only half full. By far the most exciting live encounter which I saw Two Rivers involved in was an independent affair promoted by Gordon Corbett at The Granby Hall, Leicester, when he faced Hans Streiger winning by disqualification when an exasperated Harry Yardley finally gave Streiger his marching orders. Not long after I saw this fight Two Rivers returned to Joint Promotions, initially for a series of bouts for Martin Conroy where, once again, he fought Streiger. Thinking that I owned a fish and chip shop and that their poster would be displayed in the window, Wryton would send me their posters through the post and I still have the poster for the Bolton show somewhere in my box room. I mention it because the top of the bill is billed as Billy Two Rives versus Hans Streiger. Luckily Count Bartelli wasn't on the same card!

One of my earliest TV memories was of an appearance by these two. I'm sure someone who kept records, unlike myself, will know when and where but I recall an angry audience throwing chairs into the ring. Although it was only a one-off, may I add to this thread Doctor Blood and his manager Sir.Percival Pinkwhistle in 1977 at The Borough Hall, Stafford. Pinkwhistle took such a hammering from the audience (particularly when he passed a wooden block to the good doctor to use on opponent Harry Palin) that it put him off ever doing it again. The hated manager was, of course, myself, on a "Big Boy" Miller promotion which was jointly topped by Abe Ginsberg versus Mike Dallas and Bill Clarke's (Doctor Blood's real identity) wrestling midgets.

I was at the show in The King's Hall when Albert Wall faced Crabtree. I recall it particularly because it was the first time I saw Crabtree (although he had been on the previous two weeks against Lee Sharron and Leon Arras respectively). I can't think of any other wrestler whom Morrell and Beresford promoted for three consecutive weeks during all my Belle Vue attendances. Crabtree had a reputation for being a clumsy worker. I remember Pedro telling me of all the workers he had injured over the years due to his carelessness. I saw Wall quite a few times for Dixon when he came over (as either a second or timekeeper) and didn't notice any deterioration but it is true that he worked for Dixon (mainly against Nagasaki with occasional exceptions when he faced the likes of Billy Howes or Jim Moser) for a relatively short time before retiring. I approached him to do some shows for me but was just that little bit too late.

I used to love our trips to the swimming baths when I was at school so was very upset when I was sent home with a letter stating that the school was banning me from attending all future visits. I recall my father angrily marching into school and confronting the headmaster demanding to know why I was being banned. "Well," said the headmaster, "on his last visit with the school, the teacher in charge observed your son wee-weeing in the water." "Goodness me," replied my father, "he's a ten year old boy. All ten year old boys wee wee in the water." "Yes," replied my headmaster, "but your son is the only one in the class who does it from the top diving board!"

I recall that when Colin Joynson wasn't wrestling at Belle Vue, he could often be found next door at the speedway stadium.

Sorry, it should read "a bit of a song and dance routine with him".

I wasn't at The Victoria Hall, Hanley. The show would have been three weeks before I promoted my first card. But I do remember chirpy cockney Monica Rose who appeared as a contestant on "Double Your Money" and enjoyed some cheeky banter with Hughie Green who invited her back as a staffer. If I recall correctly, Julie DeMarco (who had quite a good singing voice) brought the contestants on and off and Monica came in with the sheet of questions once Hughie had bantered with them and given them a chance to choose their topic. Hughie's little repertory company was completed by a little man in glasses called Alec Dane who came in solemnly with his gong for the "Yes/No Interlude". I saw them both live when they did summer season at The Gaiety Theatre, Rhyl, which had Wryton wrestling every Saturday and a variety show for the rest of the week. Crafty Hughie didn't appear until the second half and he brought Monica on to do a bit of a song and dance routine with her. Unless anyone can tell me differently, she didn't seem to do anything (apart from presenting Gwyn with his belt) without Hughie Greem.

I recall catching one of these shows at Morrell and Beresford's weekly Thursday night show at The Victoria Baths, Nottingham. I forget who Frank Dhondt faced but Tino Salvatore (later to become Salvatore Bellomo for WWWE) faced local lad Brian Abbott (who was wrestling more frequently at the time as Undertaker Nathaniel) and Jacky Rickard faced Ted Heath in what I recall being an interesting clash of styles. I was absolutely amazed that this clean-cut fast-moving lightweight, Rickard, transmogrified years later into the blatantly gay and arrogant Travesty Man whom we saw on Eurosport presentations. I recall their TV appearance for Martin Conroy at Wryton and although there was a clash of styles with Dhondt/Mitchell and Rickard/Naylor, I recall thinking that the Tino Salvatore/Tug Wilson bout worked rather well.

Happy New Year to one and all. Best wishes for a healthy 2023.

Thank you for the kind words. As I've stated before, I'm still promoting, just not wrestling. We'll see who turns up for my festive jazz show next Tuesday (27th) at The Morley Green Club in Wilmslow.

Nor did he. He used every opportunity to make clear his views that I should have been nowhere near a ring in any capacity. I paid him to book my very first promotion (at Wilmslow Public Hall. Rose versus Wilson. Ginsberg versus T St.Clair. Sharron versus R St.Clair. Ginsberg and Sharron versus The Saints) then used the fact that I had a show under my belt to book things for myself whereas Ginsberg thought that I should still be going through him. I did however persuade him to attend the Summer Fair at Broken Cross (for a fee of course) where he did an official opening then joined me in the stocks whilst the pupils paid to hit us with soaking wet sponges.