A newcomer to the welterweight ranks in the mid sixties whose initial promise failed to materialise. Perth born Faichney trained at the Barbush Amateur Wrestling Club, Dunblane, before making his professional debut against fellow Scot, Bill Ross, and beating him by the odd fall.

Jack Fallon was a stocky mid heavyweight of the sixties and seventies. His style never caught the  imagination of fans and he remained an undercard wrestler throughout his career.

The truth was that Fallon was a very underrated wrestler. He was an extremely tough and rugged man who had learned the trade the hard way in the Lancashire style.

Much respected by his fellow wrestlers he could have done many of them a great deal of damage if that had been the name of the game.

Fallon, real name Billy Chambers, ran his own gymnasium and wrestling training school in Wigan, and the many fans should be grateful to him for his influence on  one of the most successful British wrestlers, Dynamite Kid.

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There may have been many farmers in wrestling but mention the name of  “The Farmer” and there is only one, George Broadfield. George was the older, and heavier, brother of Harry Fields. He was a professional of the pre-war all-in days who returned to the ring following the second world war. George  found championship success at the highest level, holding the World Mid heavyweight title from 1947 until 1949.

A blond haired youngster who initially used this, his real name, before adopting the name Vic Hessle and becoming one of the post war heavyweight greats. See Vic Hessle.

The younger of the Royal brothers Vic Faulkner was handsome and popular with fans, but allegedly not so much with wrestlers because of his reluctance to let them look good.  Born in Bolton, Lancashire,

Vic was the son of Lew Faulkner, better known as heavyweight wrestler Vic Hessle. Although a skilful wrestler, Vic supplemented his skill with speed, so much so that he could be tiring to watch.

A favourite move was to play “dead” up to the count of nine before springing to his feet and attacking his opponent. Highly predictable after being seen for the millionth time fans loved this ploy, though whether opponents enjoyed being humiliated is another matter. 

Although he was hugely popular Vic wasn't to everyone's liking. To be honest he  was just too sickly nice! During his career Vic held both the British Welterweight title and the European Middleweight title.  

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To say that Jean Ferre’s physique brought gasps from the crowd may well be an exaggeration, but his size was certainly a surprise to fans seeing him for the first time.

André Rousimoff , a Franco Bulgarian, had wrestled in his native land under  the French fairy tale character’s name Geant Frerre (The Iron Giant). Joint Promotions missed the point and mangled his name into the Jean Ferre form that took him around Britain on two late sixties tours. 

This Iron Giant was undeniably big. Standing almost seven feet tall and weighing around twenty-two stones,  his physique did nothing for his performance as a wrestler.

He was simply too big and clumbersome, but his strength and size did result in considerable success, both in terms of his record and a box office attraction.

He honed his skills with winning and losing streaks against Britain’s best and appeared once on television against Jumping Jim Hussey. 

In the United States he later  ballooned and changed his name to Andre the Giant to become one of the World’s greatest, until his untimely death in 1993.

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True skill of the traditional style expected by post war fans. Here was a wrestler whose reputation was dependent on his ability rather than flashy gimmicks. Harry Fields was the younger brother of George Broadfield, the Farmer.

Harry turned professional just after the war, aged sixteen years old. He was something of an overnight sensation at a time when rings were dominated by heavier men, many returning to the ring after a wartime break.

This early success allowed Harry to travel early in his career, and he worked in Mexico in 1948. Harry was a popular wrestler throughout his career, which extended into the late 1960s. His farm near Dewsbury restricted his wrestling commintments to the north of England.

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The popular Preston light heavyweight was a regular of the independent circuit of the 1960s. He is often overshadowed by fellow Prestonian Bill Tunney, partly because Finch often used the name El Medico, the alleged Portuguese visitor. A talented wrestler who deserved more recognition.

He was called the Belfast Bruiser and his wrestling style showed why. He was trained by his father, a former wrestler, and ventured across the Irish Sea to pursue his career in Britain in 1978.

Finlay was a quick learner and was soon trading blows with the best of them and became a television favourite.

Like many others Finlay left Joint Promotions and worked for Brian Dixon’s All Star Promotions. He began working with his wife, Paula, who acted as his manager.

Finlay won British titles at four different weights, and went on to gain further success in Germany, Japan, Mexico and the USA.

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Arthur  Fisher turned to professional wrestling in 1948 after starting his sporting career in a ring of a different kind, the boxing ring.  The Fishers hailed from Poplar, and were seen very much as South London boys.

Tough and rugged, they more or less stayed inside the rules. In London they were very popular as the local boys but tended to receive a more mixed reaction in the rest of the country.

Both were good value for money wrestlers.

That's Arthur on the right.

One of the seven family Fisher brothers who started their sporting careers in a ring of a different kind, the boxing ring. Charlie turned to professional wrestling in 1936.  Charlie  hailed from Poplar, and was seen very much as a South London boy.

Tough and rugged, he usually just about stayed inside the rules. Charlie wrestled on and on, becoming a much respected veteran of the ring.

Even after retiring he carved out another as one of the most popular master of Ceremonies in wrestling.

See him in our 1968 review.

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Danny Flynn took up wrestling in the early 1940s and combined an early career with his contribution to the war effort. This meant that he was a regular at his local Manchester’s Belle Vue Stadium, which was one of the few in the country to continue with weekly shows during the 1939-45 hostilities.

With the outbreak of peace Flynn took up wrestling full time and was a favourite throughout the north and midlands. He was a skilful wrestler, usually working within the rules but the Irish temperament showing itself on occasions to produce a fiery and all-action style. In the late 1940s Flynn was a regular opponent, and oft conqueror of many of the post war names that are still remembered: Mick McManus, Tommy Mann, Vic Coleman, Jack Dempsey, Cliff Belshaw, Alan Colbeck, Bill Howes and Les Kellett. 

Danny Flynn played as big a part as any in establishing wrestling as a post war spectator sport, and when Joint Promotions were formed in 1952 he continued to find regular work with the newly formed cartel against the big names of the day. The advent of television brought new audiences to wrestling and fame to many. Alas, Danny Flynn was not amongst those chosen for exposure, and we can find only one 1956 televised bout against Frank O’Donnell.

Like so many others Flynn became disillusioned with the way that Joint Promotions organised the business and chose to work for the independents from 1959 onwards. Shortly afterwards he began to promote shows through the North and Scotland in partnership with fellow Salfordian Fred Woolley. Flynn continued to wrestle until the late 1960s.

He tragically lost his life in a car crash returning home fro a wrestling engagement.

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In a sport that produced larger than life characters the north of England seemed to produce more than it’s fair share. Enter Grant Foderingham, the West Indian Manchester domiciled wrestler of the 1950s and 1960s. Foderingham, known as The Black Panther, was a regular feature of  Joint Promotions bills, especially in the north and midlands, during the 1950s, opposing men of the stature of Billy Joyce,  Jack Beaumont, Geoff Portz and Johnny Allan.  Overlooked by promoters when it came to television bookings Foderingham left Joint Promotions in 1959. He spent the remainder of his career, which extended into the early 1970s, training a multitude of talented newcomers at his Manchester gym as well as  wrestling and promoting on the independent circuit.

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Trained at Billy Riley’s Wigan gymnasium John Foley was one of the hardest and most skilful 1950s and 1960s middleweights.

He came into wrestling after working  as a coal miner. His first professional bout was against Tommy Milo. Well regarded as a one of the country’s top middleweights his greatest notoriety came as a member of the Black Diamonds tag team, partnering Abe Ginsberg, 

John Foley also wrestled as the masked wrestler, The Katt, with the real mystery being why a wrestler of his calibre needed to have his identity concealed.  Later in his career he travelled to Canada and Japan, achieving further success.

John’s son in law was Ted Heath, and when the two of them wrestled as a tag team in the USA they called themselves “The British Bulldogs,” predating another higher profile British Bulldogs team by quite a few years.

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A  light heavyweight, known as the “Jewish whirlwind,” whose rugged style was never going to make him a fan's favourite. Bethnal Green's Al Fontayne gained his early experience in the rings of Paul Lincoln and the independent promoters.

Trained by veteran Al Lipman, Fontayne turned professional in 1958, following a stint in the RAF and boxing as an amateur. Al worked extensively in southern England, Austria and Germany before being signed up by Joint Promotions in the mid 1960s.

Those early Continental bouts included matches against far more experience wrestlers such as Rene Lasartesse, Leif Rasmussen, Felix Gregor and George Blemenshultz.

He was equally at home in rings against the smaller acrobatic antics of Johnny Kwango or the rugged heavyweight slugger Johnny Yearsley. Frequent encounters were made with Bob Kirkwood in the early days and later for Dale Martin Promotions. His 1966 ko by Ricky Starr in Leeds was the talk of the town for years afterwards.

He was a regular mid carder in Joint Promotion rings before disappearing from our rings around the middle of 1969.  

It always seemed appropriate that welterweight Leon Fortuna, who seemed to have a permanent smile, came from the Friendly isles. Born in Tonga it was in 1951 that the eight year old first stepped foot in the UK. In 1960, following a short amateur career, he turned professional for Paul Lincoln, but within weeks was signed up by Dale Martin Promotions.

His original ring name of Young Sullivan disguised an even more unusual real name.

His fast, skilful style was hugely popular with fans in the South, where he mainly wrestled, and it wasn’t long before he became a nationwide favourite through the miracle of television.  In 1970 he formed one half of The Sepia Set tag-team which foundered with partner Linde Caulder’s departure two years later.

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Manchester was a hotbed of young wrestling talent in the late 1960s. Whilst Al Marquette, Johnny Saint, Pete Lindbergh, Bob Francini and Eddie Rose had already begun to make their mark a younger generation was snapping at their heels. Amongst these was a schoolboy, or at least very recent schoolboy, going by the name Roy Fortuna. The older guard listed above each had a hand in helping the youngster develop  from the time we first took an interest in his career which was in 1969. We watched him grow in confidence and skill for the following seven or eight years but then Roy Fortuna disappeared from our horizon as quickly as he had arrived.

A tough nut who looked the part. Bob Francini trained at Hollywood Amateur Wrestling Club in Stockport but made his professional debut in Australia. He returned to Britain in the mid 1960s and after gaining a bit more experience was soon snapped up by Joint Promotions, with a decade of regular bookings from Jack Atherton and Wryton Promotions.

His all action style didn’t always endear him to fans but Francini’s bouts were never short of drama or emotion. He was a regular opponents of all the big names in the middleweight and light heavyweight divisions, but rarely a winner, and lacked television exposure.

Occasionally he wrestled as the Red Mask and the Red Marvel, beaten and unmasked by the Black Mask at Malvern in 1972.

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Tony Francis is a man well remembered by wrestling fans of the Big Daddy and Giant Haystacks era. Too many of those memories are of playing a supportive role in an era when oversized immobile objects were filling halls around the country.

Nowadays Tony can be found living in the Lancashire resort of Blackpool, a town he has called home since childhood. Often seen walking along the promenade taking in the sea air he will pause briefly as he passes the pleasure beach, the Central Pier, Blackpool Tower, and a handful of other halls,  recalling  cherished memories of the golden years of British wrestling.

Read his story, and of those who influenced him in our Personality Parade extended tribute.

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Read our extended tribute: Blackpool Rock

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In a sport filled with hooded terrors, colourful characters, the weird and bizarre it was always the case that fans were more than willing to appreciate the wrestler who relied on ability and hard graft.

Such a wrestler was Dagenham’s Ray Fury. He was neither flamboyant or dull, just a more than competent wrestler who would entertain fans by skill alone. Born in Istanbul to British parents, and spending his childhood in Greece, Egypt and India meant that his personal life was more colourful than his professional one.

Learning to wrestle at the Foresters Club and the London Central YMCA he was guided by ex wrestler Mike Demitre who encouraged him to turn professional, which he did in 1961, eleven years after entering Britain.

After that first bout against Monty Swann it took just twenty-five months for him to win  the Southern England Light Heavyweight Title and simultaneously established himself as a tv favourite.

He left Joint Promotions around 1970 to go into the promotional side of wrestling.

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