Just a quick note to say that I have found our old mate, Carver Doone, spending a huge chunk of 1936 (June to December), wrestling in Argentina and Brazil, with a troupe of wrestlers, headed up/managed by Stanislaus Zbyszko.

Never heard of the film so I looked it up, sounds terrible!

Welcome!, if you, or any of your family want to share any memories, this is the place to be.

Ian Campbell is one of my earliest TV wrestling memories, along with The Royal Brothers.

Hi Dana, Tell him he is very fondly remembered by all who saw him live, or on TV, back in those days.

Great to see this!

Great stuff, thank you Ron! Baileys and Somme Barracks were a little before my time, City Hall was my era. Somme Barracks are situated where West Street meets Glossop Road, it's only a 10 minute walk from there to the City Hall, so not too far out of town. City Hall was slap bang in the middle. I didn't know Abbeydale Cinema (where I saw Ben-Hur!) ever hosted any wrestling, and Baileys (now long gone) was another new one on me.

"...Another guy came over who was photo'd with Baltus , think he was called Pedieski. he was big , not much in it..." Ron, are you thinking of Leon Pinetzki?, the giant Pole who we discussed on here a while back, huge bloke, he is in the Youtube footage wrestling an Elephant.

Also, a quick search on here has found our own Ron Historyo saying that Oakeley would sometimes bill a wrestler called Jumbo Giles as Goliath?

Just wondering if "Goliath" was Polish wrestler, Wladyslaw Talun., who used the "Goliath" name a lot. Not sure he was in the UK in 1939 though. He is sort of similar, facially, and at 6ft 8, would be very tall for that era. Can't remember if he wrestled over here, but I think he did, because I seem to recall he was talked about on this forum, many years ago. Edit: Probably not the above, as he didn't use that name until many years later

Thanks Ron, great stuff.

Good stuff. Her name is prominent (along with "technical advisors") at the foot of the program cover, below. Was "Wrestling Ltd." her company?, and who was Mr. Wenter? Oakeley was advertised as wrestling on the next card, and there is a mention of the International Wrestling Agency, in London, who provide wrestlers for events, was that Oakeley, do we think?

I see, thanks. It's still theft, of course! Do we know (or think) if she was really the brains behind promoting or was she a front-person? I think (at that time), a young, female promoter was probably a great story, great for attracting attention and publicity. I am not trying to do her a disservice, just curious.

Ah ok, so she stole from her employer? Maybe she didn't make as much money from Wrestling as we think she did?

Great news!

"...Especially if it included her meteoric downfall..." What was the cause of that?

I could be way off base here, but the bloke on the right, in the suit and tie, isn't he the lad who ended up marrying the Princess of Saruak, or something like that?

I used to have that book, and if memory serves, I thought a lot of the holds needed a willing participant to help put them in place. I could be wrong, of course.

G'day John, an interesting letter, what was it in response to?