Wrestling Heritage

When we first came across Harry Palin in the independent halls of the 1960s the youngster did stand out from the run of the mill independent supporting men.

Maybe that was hardly surprising as the Widnes middleweight came from the gymnasium of old-timer Ted Beckley, who had already unleashed Wonderboy Steve Wright on an unsuspecting wrestling public. 

Whilst Wright's acrobatic style had caught the imagination of young fans Harry Palin was from a different mould. He had  a much harder edge, appreciated by Lancashire fans, relying on a thorough wrestling knowledge combined with  strength developed through his rigorous weight training regime.

Mainly working around the midlands, north and Scotland Harry was  signed up by Joint Promotions where he was a regular worker for many years, with half a dozen televised bouts to his credit.

He also bestowed his son, Dave Duran, on a grateful wrestling public. The photo on the right shows Harry with a young Dave. 

One of the biggest names ever created by televised wrestling was born into  Islington's Gutteridge boxing family and had scaled no particular heights as a 1950s professional wrestler when he made his television début against Cliff Beaumont.  In this bout, a failed posting resulted in Pallo spreadeagling the corner and seemingly hurting his private parts.  The switchboards were jammed with viewers wanting to know how he was, his name became known, and Pallo needed little more encouragement to establish the persona of the pigtailed bombastic middleweight with for the time outrageous hair ribbon and striped trunks. 

His wife Trixie and young son were often to be seen at ringside and were worked into his bouts if at all possible, with kisses from Jack - and once, memorably, from his opponent.  His feud with Mick McManus from 1962 to 1973 was the greatest in wrestling history, but what remains rather unclear to this day is just how deep the rivalry went;  Pallo beat McManus once only during this feud (though he had done so in the fifties). Read our review of 1972.

His Mr TV tag came after an appearance on Sunday Night at the London Palladium, and for 6 or 8 years from 1958 he was seldom out of the limelight.  Let it not be forgotten that he used his fame for the benefit of wrestling as a whole, typically getting his Avengers co-star, Honor Blackman,  to a 1964 Royal Albert Hall show when she was at the height of her Goldfinger fame, and having her presented in the ring.

By way of illustration of how times have changed and what big names our sixties heroes were, when Pallo was billed to appear at Bishops Stortford in 1964 all tickets were sold out within three hours of the box office opening.

Never underestimate the skill of Pallo the wrestler, and the highpoint of his "competitive" career when on 12th April 1969 he defeated Bert Royal to become only the third holder of the British Heavy Middleweight Championship, a rare photo of the belted Londoner appearing right.  Take no notice of superficial obituaries printed in the national press purely for monetary gain and with scant regard for wrestling facts.

Possibly as a result of real rivalry, Pallo was the biggest name to breakaway from the dominant Joint Promotions and for a while successfully lured big stars and promoted colourful bills - "The Stars you cannot see on television" - and his Bexhill bills, top right, show that plenty of big names were content to follow him.  His 1985 exposé "You Grunt, I'll Groan" gives a poignant portayal of the business difficulties he faced as a promoter. 

In the ring he was a risk-taking athlete on the one hand (see our Feature Speciality Manoeuvres) but unsettlingly pushed believability to the limits at other times owing to his over-the-top cockiness.  A great traveller, he took the game reliably nationwide and made numerous television and stage appearances as well documented elsewhere.

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JJ had one of the hardest acts imaginable to follow when he started appearing as a professional wrestler in the early seventies.  Initially he wrestled solely in tag alongside his illustrious father and we all waited to see how his in-ring personality would develop.  This pairing was an instant bill-topper nationwide for about a year and climaxed in the inevitable clash with McManus & Logan at London's Royal Albert Hall. 

Soon solo appearances started and he was billed as "a chip off the old block", but was fixed firmly in preliminary bouts.   Circumstances then swiftly dictated that he would be appearing on the independent circuit, where his first two names roared out loud and unclear from posters, with the Junior misleadingly appended only underneath in the smallest of type.    He filled his dad's boots in that he had the same wrestling gear, but as long as Senior was around we were all left in no doubt that this was a very Junior family member indeed. 

In fairness we cannot comment on his late eighties work as we did not witness it.  He never returned to Joint Promotions.  JJ can regularly be seen on the frequent television airings of the prison movie "Porridge" as he was one of two wrestlers featured fairly prominently.  We are left with the impression that the pinnacle of his fame was actually as an infant when he sat by his mother at ringside to watch Mr T.V. in action.

The muscular Billy Parkey came into the 1960s wrestling scene after winning the Mr Britain competition, under his real name of Bill Parkinson.

The Mancunian used his formidable strength to his advantage, but never really hit the big time in wrestling circles.  

The short, acrobatic Spaniard whizzed his way over to the UK for a doomed televised  European middlewight championship attempt at Mal Sanders in 1979 at Wembley. Two weeks previous an earlier televised contest against Gary Wensor  gave Kent Walton a further opportunity to practice his exaggerated Spanish accent with a strong emphasis on the second syllable of the surname.. These were not his only visits as he had previously come to Britain in for two months in the winter of 1966, billed as Spanish Lightweight champion. On that occasion he had wrestled many of the top lighter men, going down by straight falls to Jackie Pallo at the Royal Albert Hall. A fast, high-flying mover who worked within the rules he was a popular visitor to British shores.

Whilst most of wrestling’s larger than life characters relied on costumes or abnormal physical appearance Pedro the Gypsy’s popularity was due to no more than a zest for life, a sense of humour and facial features that made it seem inevitable that Barnsley’s Gordon Allen should be transformed into Pedro the Gypsy. In the early days Gordon was billed as a Polish Jew, but his complexion and hairstyle made the name Pedro fit like a glove.  Over the years the comedy that Pedro built into his wrestling repertoire made him one of the most popular and successful wrestlers on the independent circuit. To Pedro working for laughs was simply easier than pure wrestling. For the rest of us his work was pure genius.
 
It was that tremendous sense of fun that made Pedro so popular with wrestling fans. His bouts were full of laughs, and many of those we would expect to know have claimed that better known funny men were greatly influenced by Pedro. He was a wrestler who was  loved by fans, respected by wrestlers, trusted by promoters and  (according to Pedro) told what to do by his wife. When Wrestling Heritage chatted with him it was obvious there were three loves in his life – his family, his wrestling, and life itself.
 
After a brief flirtation with boxing Pedro was taken  to Charlie Glover’s Gym behind The Junction Pub in Barnsley. Pedro made it sound as though he had little choice. This was a set up job between Charlie and his dad who thought it would do the youngster good because, as Charlie put it, “I’ve never seen that lad do any work.” He was only twelve at the time, but Gordon soon learned about work. He was working with weights, working on the mat, increasing his bodyweight, developing strength and skill.
 
Gordon was to go on and work for well over fifty years. He didn’t see it like that because he enjoyed his work. A wrestling career that spanned well over thirty years, playing bass in “The Rock Chords,” working as a television extra and organising events such as Blackpool’s summer season “It’s A Knockout” tournaments. When we touched upon the subject of Joint Promotions and the lure of television Pedro made it clear he was never interested in working for them because he was always too busy making money.
 
The decision to turn professional was an easy one for Gordon. A conventional job had no appeal, he enjoyed his wrestling and Charlie Glover told him, “Never do owt for nowt. Get summat for thi sen,” so he began to make money from the sport he loved. That first paid bout, against Granville Lawrence, was the start of his career that took him throughout Britain and across much of Western Europe. “They were great days, wonderful men. Butcher Goodman, I had marvellous bouts with him. Stoker Brooks who passed away recently. Then there was Karl Krammer, Max Raeger, Sam Betts….”
 
Charlie Glover was obviously a great influence on Pedro. He was the man who told him to “Always remember the fans,” which Pedro certainly did.

“I loved it all,” said Pedro, “I’d do it all again.” We bet you would, and we want to be there.

Anglo-Latvian Heavy-Middleweight active through the sixties and seventies, usually black-tighted, and with a lithe suppleness that led to his being billed as The India Rubber Man. 

Regular tagster, right from the very first televised match alongside Alan Colbeck; fleetingly with Sid Cooper in The Drop Outs then variously with Rann or Holton in The Riot Squad but most consistently from 1965 to 1970 alongside Tiger Ryan in The Rebels, the pair falling-out in-ring and the pairing ending. 

A late seventies partnership with Johnny Czeslaw was called The Iron Curtain Duo, rather uncomfortably given Czeslaw's circumstances - and Penzy's accent!  

TWC airings included a surprising draw against 18 stone opponent John Cox.  We and the promoters so wanted his demonic beard to conceal a true Red, but it was forever clearly stated that Penzy was from Bolton, and for once no pretence was made.

Penzecoff was an ex-miner and ex-amateur boxer, trained as a pro wrestler at Horwich by Dave Armstrong.  Apparently keen on animals from snakes to breeding guard dogs.

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A 1970s Johnny Peters, from  West Tanfield, near Thirsk, in NorthYorkshire.  

Blond haired Johnny was a popular middleweight in the northern rings of the 1970s.

Trained by Norman Walsh he acquired skill but not temperament from the World mid heavyweight champion.  

A couple of televised bouts saw him lose to the Rev Michael Brooks and Barry Douglas.

Three of his sons also went into the wrestling business. 

London born but usually assocaited  with  long time home of Brighton heavyweight Johnny Peters  was really on a roll in his mid-sixties tag partnership with Dazzler Joe Cornelius.

Nicknamed “Dropkick” for obvious reasons the fast,  furious, all action style of Johnny Peters made him a favourite with the fans.

Johnny retired rather abruptly in 1965 due to an ear injury and became a greengrocer.

A popular and athletic south coast matman whose amateur career had brought him various titles at several weights while in the forces in the Far East during World War Two.

Once demobbed and turned pro he actually claimed the unique distinction of a 12-second knockout victory over George Kidd.  Up to welterweight in 1947 and he had the equally unusual but less satisfying claim to having his British Welterweight title fight with Jack Dempsey cancelled - due to rain! 

Consolation came in Paris in 1953 when he defeated Gilbert Le Duc to claim the European Welterweight Championship.

He continued to climb through the weights to heavyweight and the record books show a drawn decision against Bert Assirati when he challenged the Islington Hercules for his British title in the independent rings.

Kidd to Assirati must make this popular wrestler wuite uniques. Holder of the Southern Area Heavyweight title for many years.

Also promoted his own shows often, but not excusively, in co-operation with Joint Promotions. 

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Eighteen year old Dave Phillips, the Camberwell middleweight, was given his chance in the professional wrestling ring by independent promoter Paul Lincoln.

That was in 1961 and Dave was soon swapping holds with other youngsters who were destined for future fame - Leon Fortuna, Zoltan Boscik, Johnny Williams and the like. After a couple of years he was signed up by Dale Martin Promotions and was soon  receiving regular bookings throughout the south.

Dave's clean, fast style made him very popular, never more so than when he made his televsion debut against Jackie Pallo in September, 1964. Dave lost that one, but was more fortunate in his second television outing when he beat the hard Lancastrian Colin Joynson.

Dave seemed to have a promising future but disappeared from our rings at the end of 1967. He i seen in action against Tony Bates, who we thank for supplying the photgraph.

Muscular Geoff Portz looked every bit the professional wrestler that he was. As he stepped into the ring we could sense that here was a serious wrestler who meant business. The powerful Shipley heavyweight turned professional in 1951, aged twenty, following a successful amateur career.

Just a few years later he was one of a select group of heavyweights with the honour of being matched with Lou Thesz during his 1957 British tour, holding the American to a fifteen round draw at Leicester.   

Portz  was a champion at both Mid Heavyweigt and Heavyweight before going on to gain even greater success in the United States. In 1964 he held the British heavyweight title for six months before losing to erstwhile champion Billy Joyce after suffering an unfortunate injury. Similar bad luck resulted in Portz losing his grip on the mid heavyweight title a couple of years later.

A gentleman of the ring we remember Portz as a purist wrestler who combined technical skill, enormous strength and submission style to make his mark as one of the most successful post war heavyweights.

His career gained a new lease of life in 1972 when he wrestled in the USA and Canada, finally winning the North American heavyweight championship not once, not twice, but on four separate occasions. Geoff retired from wrestling in the early 1980s, the end of his career due to a knee injury whilst working in Germany. He later moved to Australia.

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Gateshead's Ken Prest first ventures into the professional wrestling ring was on the continent in 1965, but it was another three years before he was seen in British rings. turned professional in 1968. Prior to this the British debut twenty-three year old Prest had learned a great deal in the fairground wrestling booths of the north east.  Despite being featured in a full page Wrestler article we have no first hand knowledge of Ken, but would welcome readers contributions.

The wrestling world is littered with good men who were never in the limelight but were the essential cogs that made the sport so great.

One such wrestler is the Middlesborough mat man Les Prest.

If ever a man enthused passion for  the wrestling business it was Les. Wrestling throughout the north, for both independent and Joint Promotions Les's career came to an abrupt end during a bout against Terry Jowett.

Saddened but undeterred Les was determined to continue in the business and bought a ring to promote his own shows.

With his contacts and reputation as an honest and reliable collegaue Les was able to book some of the bigger known names in wrestling for his shows.

Les Kellett, Mal Kirk, Peter Preston, John Cox, Barry Douglas, Lee Sharron, Johnny Saint and others were soon regular workers for Les Prest Promotions.

Read our extended tribute: A Man With a Passion

Fame and infamy wrapped in one bouncy ball of a wrestler. Intrigue and skulduggery, and an enigma to surpass any masked man.

That was Bradford middleweight Peter Preston. He was a fairly run of the mill middleweight, though something of a favourite of Bradford promoter Norman Morrell, until January, 1967. That was when everything changed and Peter Preston became an overnight star with one of the most sensational, and much talked about, wins in British wrestling.

Morrell matched the Northerner with Mick McManus in a televised bout at the Lime Grove Baths London,  in the heart of Dale Martin territory. McManus, undefeated on television, came in for a shock when he found that he could neither pin nor knock out the Yorkshireman.

The result, a disqualification for a frantic McManus, became the subject of rumour and speculation for the next forty odd years. That was until Peter revealed the truth about what had actually happened in a story that can be read elsewhere in Wrestling Heritage.

Preston’s subsequent televised giant killing feats over The Wildman of Borneo, Ezzard Hart and  Souris Tsickrikas made him a main eventer througout the north, his business commitments preventing regular commitments on a national basis. 

Alas, it all came to nothing, and although continuing to wrestle until the mid 1970s Peter Preston’s career went into decline in the late 1960s. Again, speculation was rife, but again the reason for his decline can be read in our feature.

A televised straight falls loss to veteran Les Kellett in July 1975 clearly demonstrated that the  career of Peter Preston had turned full circle.

Discuss Peter Preston

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Born near Pitlochrie  in 1927 Chic Purvey is fondly remembered by all fans of the Heritage years.

He  was a tough, cunning, skilful middleweight who was one of the bad boys of the ring. Fans sometimes referred to him as the Scottish Mick McManus, but we think his style and wrestling skill made him a more three dimensional wrestler than his southern counterpart. 

He had a bit of a wild look, and wild nature to match; we remember him as a wrestler always on the attack, giving opponents little time to catch their breath.

With a background in fairground wrestling (grandmother was a fortune teller)   and a successful amateur career he turned professional under the guidance of George Kidd; an odd couple indeed in pro wrestling circles.

Kidd took the young Scot to Bradford where he learnt the profesional trade at Norman Morrell's gymnasium. Purvey went on to win the Scottish middleweight title from Les Cannon and in the early sixties regularly exchanged the middleweight title with Tommy Mann. 

Chic and Tommy Mann exchanged the British title three times in bouts which are now almost legendary in wrestling folklore.  Chic, who was at the lighter end of the middleweight division and gave away quite a few pounds,  using his more aggressive style on those occasions  that he overcame the Mancunian.

That aggressive style and unpredictable nature made him one of the more exciting wrestlers of the 1950s and 1960s; a man who fans loved to see on the bill, and loved to boo and jeer.

With career  highlights that included championship success, winning the Belle Vue trophy in 1963, television exposure and continental travel one of Chic's greatest moments must have been the  night in 1962 when he wrestled and held  Mick McManus to a draw in front of five thousand screaming Royal Albert Hall fans. 

 Chic Purvey passed away in November, 1996 at the much too early an age of 69.

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Discuss Chic Purvey.   

 Unrelated to the famous Pye wrestling dynasty Bad Bill Pye was a villain of the independent circuit trained by Eric Pleasance, and later Brian Trevors in the 1960s and 1970s.

Although he was born in Lancashire Bill moved to Lowestoft whilst  a toddler. Other sporting interests includes  boxing and rugby but it was wrestling that Bill chose to pursue as a means of making his money.

The Norfolk based heavyweight worked mainly in the east of England and is best remembered for his partnership with John L. Hagger in The Stompers tag team (above right) . The pair could regularly be seen on the East Anglian holiday camp circuit as well as some of the larger venues.

Dirty Dominic Pye was the son of the one of wrestling’s greatest post war exponents, the uncrowned King of the Mat, Jack Pye.

Like that famous parallel heir apparent Dominic was not content at spending his professional life in the shadows of his famous parent, but carved a niche of his own in his chosen career. Fans of the 1950s and 1960s remember Dominic Pye and the accompanying frenzy as he barnstormed his way around the rings of Britain and the world.

Dominic was a very hard man with a good amateur background. There are stories aplenty amongst the wrestling fraternity about Dominic. For instance, the time he upturned a car on Blackpool promenade because it was in front of one of his wrestling adverts, or when he invited boxer Brian London to sort out who was the hardest.

"Dominic was a man who seemed to worry about so many things," one big name heavyweight told us, "One night he was really heavy and bad tempered in the ring. It was one of his own shows. Suddenly a smile came over his face and he whispered, 'It's okay, I've remembered where I put the advanced booking money.' "

If Jack Pye was the Uncrowned King of the mat then Dominic was most certainly the Prince of Darkness. Read about him in the Shining Stars section.

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Whatever definition is applied to the word legend we would contend that Jack Pye is one of the few wrestlers that could legitimately be called just that, a legend. Here was a man who achieved  national fame, amongst the public at large and not just the wrestling fans, without the aid of television. Dirty Jack Pye, the Doncaster Panther, was one of that exclusive group that can be said to have changed the face of their chosen profession. 

His arrogance and tactics made Jack the man that fans loved to hate, and Jack is largely acknowledged to have been the man who developed the role of the modern day professional villain. Black tights, cloak,  unruly hair and a complete disregard for the rules were the hallmark of a Jack Pye bout.  

Pye’s career spanned both sides of the war, being one of the first to introduce the all-in style to Britain in  1930 and wrestling through until 1963, when he retired aged 59. If none of this was enought to secure Jack Pye's place in history we can also add that his first professional contest was at Belle Vue in the Britain's first all-in rules tournament on 15th December, 1930. He defeated Norman Ansell by two falls to one, and Ansell went on to become Norman the Butcher. 

Wrestling Heritage reader Palais Fan told us, "I remember him grabbing the second's (Syd Crowhurst) metal water bucket and putting it upside down on the head of his opponent and banging the sides before being disqualified. Great entertainment! if not good wrestling."

Another long time fan was reader Beancounter, "On 30th October 1967, Jack was guest of honour at a Charity Night at my then ‘local’ The Hamilton Arms, Cabus. His role was to shove over a massive pile of pennies which had accumulated over the past year or two. I was able to speak to him at length on the current wrestling scene and he stated that without doubt Billy Robinson was the best heavyweight of recent times, disagreeing with my choice of Billy Joyce. (Naturally, I did not argue).

Such was the esteem for Jack Pye that when he retired in 1963 he was presented with diamond cufflinks and a gold watch from the fans of Blackpool Tower and Liverpool Stadium respectively.

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