These are our shorter Biographical portraits which we would like to extend if you can provide information or memories.
Joe Abella
The Maltese born wrestler with Australian credentials was honoured with a double page spread in The Wrestler magazine when he visited Britain in January 1966. Even so, we can find reference to only a couple of British appearances, one of those being a straight falls loss to Joe Murphy. We have found documentation of Joe in Australia in the early sixties, but even that is scant. The Wrestler magazine reported that Joe had moved from Malta to Canada when a teenager, moving on to Australia and turning professional in 1956. He allegedly went on to win the Australian light heavyweight championship. We find that hard to believe and apparently no one told Iron Jawed Joe!
Jorani Abraham
We are intrigued by the Israeli heavyweight Jorani Abraham, who visited Britain in November, 1964. He was here for less than three weeks working for Dale Martin Promotions and yet throws up two mysteries. Firstly, he wrestled Joe Cornelius at the Royal Albert Hall, and beat him! Now Joe Cornelius was a darling of the Albert Hall. It was quite a rare thing for overseas visitors to beat the Brits at the London venue, but for Cornelius to go down was unheard of. Yet Cornelius submitted twice to the Israeli. The second mystery relates to the television recording from Kingston on Thames on 14th November. Jorani wrestled the top rated Canadian Gordon Nelson. Yet the match was not broadcast, dropped in favour of three lesser contests. Other opponents during the visit were Ramon Napolitano, Josef Zaranoff, Alan Garfield, Paul Vachon, Tony Cassio, Bruno Elrington, Roy Bull Davis, and Gerry DeJaeger,
Achmed the Turk (Norman Kenworthy)
Numerous colourful Turks, many of them Achmed, graced British rings, mostly entering the ring in colourful national costume before proceeeding to do all kinds of dastardly things to their opponent. A moustachioed heavyweight of the early and mid sixties wrestled for both the independent promoters and Joint Promotions. Wrestled some of the big names of the time, including Dave Armstrong and Gordon Nelson, usually on the losing end.
Reader Mike Richards has supplied photos of Achmed during a bout with Billy Joyce at Bromsgrove.
Former amateur wrestler Allan Best recalled meeting Achmed when training in Lancashire, “I was astonished when he appeared in the ring sporting a moustache andapparently unable to speak English.”
In July 1965 the Sunday newspaper The People identified the Achmed of the Strong of that time as Norman Kenworthy of Hapton, a village near Burnley in Lancashire. Heritage member Phil Kenyon remembers Norman Kenworthy training at Bob Bannister’s gymnasium in Accrington alongside Ian St John, Andreas Svajics, Don Plummer and Phil himself.
Reader Mike Richards has supplied photos of Achmed during a bout with Billy Joyce at Bromsgrove.
Norman Kenworthy, born 18 September, 1929, died 1990.
Cowboy Ken Ackles
Cowboy Ken Ackles, the swaggering Stetson wearing heavyweight billed from the mid west of the United States was actually born in Nova Scotia, Canada, on 13th July, 1916. Most of his adult life was spent in the United States where he combined a wrestling career with that of actor in B movies.
Cowboy Ken brought his swagger and his rugged tactics to Britain in the winter of 1963 when he promised more than the over-rated Americans who preceded him. Whilst the boasting may have been real the achievements did not live up to expectation. A Royal Albert Hall loss against Tibor Szakacs and further defeats by lesser rated British heavies confirmed British fans’ opinion of American wrestlers.
Following a professional career that took him around the world Ackles died, aged seventy in Houston on 5th November, 1986
Dirty/Crazy Dave Adams (Also known as Pitmans Hercules, Undertaker Doom)
Crazy Dave Adams, the name says it all – a tremendous heavyweight villain. It seems that half of Barnsley must have been down at Charlie Glover’s Junction Gym. Dave Adams was there, learning the business alongside Pedro the Gypsy, Dwight J Ingleburgh, Karl Von Kramer, Bruno Elrington and the other Barnsley lads.
A one time fan who watched his wrestling at the Doncaster Corn Exchange it was a chance meeting with Leon Arras that led Dave to the Junction Gym of Leon’s father. That was in 1959 and Dave trained for two years before making his debut, aged just 17, against Dwight J Ingleburgh He learned the trade well, travelling up and down the country enraging fans with his dastardly deeds against opponents that included Les Kellett, Ricky Starr and Shirley Crabtree. In the 1980s Dave was re-fashioned Pitman’s Hercules by promoter Max Crabtree, a name revived from the all-in days of British wrestling. Dave Adams was also one of the faces behind the mask in the 1990s version of The Undertakers tag team, his son Johnny Angel being the other half.
George Adams
Welterweight wrestler from York who was very active in the early sixties working for Morrell-Beresford and Relwyskow and Green against the likes of John Foley, Chic Purvey, Alan Colbeck and Keith Martinelli. There was a George Adams in the 1940s, could this have been him? Or we wonder, could this have been Roger Adams, known to wrestling fans as Steve Best?
Robert Adams (Also known Black Eagle, Black Tiger)
Robert Adams was a pioneering figure in the rings of the 1930s who demonstrated that the colour bar of the day could be overcome in wrestling and the other professional area in which he excelled, acting.
For wrestling fans Adams was more familiar using the names Black Eagle and Black Tiger. He was the son of a boatbuilder, born in British Guiana. In 1920 Adams won a scholarship to train as a teacher at Jamaica’s Mico teacher’s training college. Robert took up amateur dramatics whilst teaching in British Guiana and following his move to Britain took up wrestling to supplement his acting aspirations.
Robert began appearing in films as an extra in 1934, and made history when he was the first black actor to appear on British television. This was in 1937, and the following year he was the first black actor to play a lead role on British television. In 1946 Robert had a leading role in “Men of Two Worlds,” another pioneering role as a lead non-American black actor in a British film. Robert Adams also founded the Negro Repertory Arts Theatre.
As a wrestler Adams was active in British rings throughout the 1930s, usually facing top names such as Atholl Oakeley, Bill Garnon and Sam Rabin.
Keith Addy
Scunthorpe’s Keith Addy, who worked mainly for Cyril Knowles in the latter 1960s and early 1970s, could certainly move around the ring; no doubt helped his experience as a gymnast. Mind you, being nimble didn’t stop him from being a tough fellah with muscular physique. Don’t take our word for it; that’s the opinion of Ray Robinson, himself recipient of the Hard As Nails Award from the Wrestlers Reunion. Keith and Ray trained together and Keith was Ray’s first professional opponent. As the more experienced man he gave Ray a hard time in that match, but Ray trained hard to return the compliment a short time later
Mohammed Afzal
Leeds based Pakistani wrestler who made a couple of televised appearances. The first was against Blackjack Mulligan, televised from Leeds in 1986. In a tv show from Walthamstow he faced Terry Rudge in May 1988. This was was part of a knockout tournament. The contest ended in a draw, but was awarded to Rudge on points.
Rolando Aguirre
Billed as Mexican, but actually a Peruvian according to our knowledgeable member Pantaleon Manlapig, He was born in Lima on 27th August, 1943.
Rolando weighed around the 13stone mark when he visited Britain for six weeks in the spring of 1975. Although in his thirties at the time he appeared a fairly inexperienced wrestler and may have come to Britain to gain experience in the business.
He made a televised appearance against Harry Palin, a hard man to handle we have been told, and came out victorious. A Royal Albert Hall appearance was a much more challenging proposition, showing the promoters were willing to do him no favours in the capital. He was matched with the mouch heavier, vastly experienced and hugely popular Mike Marino. There was nothing but a predictable defeat in store that night.
Other, more realistic, opponents during his short tour included Alan Dennison, Mick McMichael, Bert Royal and John Mitchell,
At the end of April Rolando moved on to Germany to work the German and Austrian tournaments. His British experience served him well as he earned international acclaim using the name Rolo Brazil until the early 1990s. Rolo Brazil sometimes teamed with his (real life) brother Katu Brazil (Maximo Aguirre).
Professor Akimojo
Israeli born but living in Belgium this barefooted wrestler popped over to Britain in March 1973 to obligingly go down to Steve Logan at the Royal Albert Hall. He returned to the same venue the following year to repeat the result against Bobby Barnes. With a background in judo Akimojo trained others at his gymnasium in Antwerp.
Frikki Alberta
A regular fixture on the British wrestling scene from 1961 until 1964 was a tall, bearded Rhodesian born heavyweight called Frederick Alberta, known to wrestling fans as Frikki Alberta. Ex rugby player Frikki followed in his father’s footsteps by turning to professional wrestling and was trained by the South African promoter Johan “Bull” Hefer. He turned professional in 1956, aged 23, stepping into UK rings some five years later. The skilful heavyweight settled in Britain for a couple of years and tackled a range of opponents, including those from lighter weights such as Clay Thompson and Johnny Kwango to heavyweights Charlie Fisher, Dave Armstrong, Majid Ackra, Tony Mancelli and Johnny Yearsley. Whilst no fall guy to the Brits his record was far from perfect with some surprising losses. One of those losses, but not one of the surprises, was against the mighty Russian, Josef Zaranoff, at the Royal Albert Hall, losing by the odd fall in the final round. Two television appearances resulted in mixed fortunes; a very creditable knock-out victory over Francis Sullivan in May 1963 at Wembley Town Hall after Frikki deftly side-stepped Sullivan’s drop-kick, and a loss the following year, this time when Frikki wasn’t so nimble, got in the way of a drop-kick from Albert Wall and failed to beat the count.
Modesto Aledo
An agile Spanish welterweight who wrestled frequently in the UK during the 1950’s and 1960’s, most often in the south for Dale Martin promotions. He met the big names of the day such as Alan Colbeck, George Kidd, Mick McManus and Jackie Pallo; usually on the losing end but seemed to have a surprising number of draws against Pallo. Modesto Aledo had some championship success and held the European Lightweight title for two short periods, in 1954 and 1967. In 1954 he lost it to the Frenchman Julien Maurice, and in 1967 to the Bradford wrestler Jim Breaks. Towards the end of his career Modesto Aledo adopted a mask, was known as Kamikaze, and was dressed completely in black and nicknamed the Black Demon. Wearing the mask he was a far more aggressive character.
John Alexander
Big John Alexander, Jocky to his friends, was from Prestwick in Scotland. He trained at the Old Mossblown gym. Stood around six feet tall and weighed around 18 stones. John was a regular second for Spartan Promotions, but was known to take to their rings as Doctor Death.
Hassan Ali Bey
One of the most prolific heavyweight performers of the 1950s and 1960s, and a regular of the tv screens in the first ten years or so of televised wrestling. Hassan Ali Bey wrestled, and sometimes defeated, just about every big name heavyweight of the time.
The red fez, spectacles and a white towelling robe were the hallmark of the “Strong man of the East” as he entered the ring. Despite being one of those colourful characters that filled the halls few fans were aware of the background of the man beneath the red fez. Hassan Ali Bey was actually Demera Mashavias, but he took his ring name from his father, who we were told was a member of the British Embassy in Ankara.
Born in Turkey Hassan Ali Bey was educated in Britain. He turned professional wrestler in 1944, making his debut in a tumultuous tussle with Doncaster’s Jack Pye. Based in Manchester for much of his professional life Hassan Ali Bey combined wrestling with successful business interests. In later years the outside interests took over and he was seen less often in the ring, but he continued wrestling until well into the 1960s, and on one occasion at least held the legendary Bert Assirati to a draw.
Michel Allary
Popular French heavyweight who regularly visited the UK in 1957,1958, 1960, and 1962, tackling the likes of Alan Garfield, Mike Marino and Bill Howes. Knocked out by Dazzler Joe Cornelius at the Royal Albert Hall.
Michel Allary died in May, 2015, aged 82.
Page added 09/08/2020
Reviewed 15/02/2022
Wrestling Heritage 