tonewheel

Did you know that Mick Macmanus co-wrote Hawkwinds Silver Machine which was a hit in 1972. Thought it worth a mention. Cheers

piroflip2

Thats an amazing fact.

One of my favourite records to listen to whilst breaking the speed limit in my Ford Capri

many many years ago. I can't imagine that being written by Mick the grappler!!


Regards piroflip

Fran

Another distant childhood memory bites the dust:

FROM THE TELEGRAPH OBITUARIES

Jackie Pallo
(Filed: 16/02/2006)

Jackie Pallo, who died on Saturday aged 79, was one of the best known wrestlers of his era; in the bouts which used regularly to be televised on Saturday afternoons, he was immediately recognisable for his peroxided hair tied back with a black velvet ribbon, his candy-striped Y-fronts and his gold-spangled boots.

Although only 5 ft 6 in tall and 11½ stones in weight, Pallo possessed considerable histrionic gifts, and had no difficulty presenting himself as a convincing "bad guy".

He once remarked: "The biggest draws in the game are the villains - I learnt that at an early age. I worked on it until I knew how to get people annoyed."

Part of this persona was his line in backchat. One night a woman at ringside shouted: "You're getting big-headed, Pallo." He shouted back: "If my head was in your mouth it would rattle."

Another woman was told: "Go and live in India, darling - you'd be sacred over there."

Pallo was best known for his "feud" with Mick McManus, otherwise known as "the Dulwich Destroyer", who later became an antiques dealer. Mark "Rollerball" Rocco, Kendo Nagasaki and Big Daddy also proved worthy opponents in the ring.

Female fans (or "ring rats") would not leave Pallo alone. "Timid housewives and elderly ladies with mauve rinses are usually the worst," he once observed. "If they had their way with three bits of my anatomy I'd have been able to get a job in a Turkish harem." They plunged hatpins into his bottom; stubbed out cigarettes on his body; and swung their handbags - sometimes loaded with jars of cold cream - at his head.

Up to 15 million people watched wrestling on Saturday afternoons on ITV's World of Sport in the 1960s and 1970s. The show was taken off the screen in 1988, shortly after Pallo had published an autobiography - You Grunt, I'll Groan - which revealed the secrets and scandals of his sport.

"In those days people weren't sure about it - whether it was fixed or not," Pallo said. "Of course it was, it was pure showbiz right from the start."

While referees would occasionally apply a razor blade to a wrestler's earlobe to satisfy the spectators' lust to see "claret", Pallo himself preferred to bite his own lip to produce the same result.

Jackie Pallo was born Jack Gutteridge on June 12 1926 above a gym at Islington. His father, also Jack, was a boxing trainer who worked alongside his twin brother Dick.

The two men trained professional fighters and also taught boxing at various schools, including Arnold House, the independent school in north London. Dick's son is the sports commentator Reg Gutteridge, who was thus Jackie's first cousin.

After being educated locally at Islington, Jackie had a number of fights as an amateur boxer, then went into wrestling. He was a well known name in the sport even before he came to the attention of a wider audience through television.

Pallo later used his skills to embark on a mainstream showbusiness career, appearing in pantomime with Dick Emery and Lionel Blair, and in the television comedy series Are You Being Served?

He also appeared in The Avengers, and was once knocked out while playing a fight scene with Honor Blackman at the ITV studios at Teddington. Pallo, who was playing a gravedigger, was fighting Miss Blackman for a spade when he fell into the grave, hitting his head.

"I want it to be made perfectly clear that this was an accident," he said afterwards. "I have never been beaten by a woman and never intend to be."

In the mid-1990s he and his son set up a company called Wrestling Around the World (WAW), with the aim of staging wrestling matches, taping them and then selling the film to foreign television companies, including American cable channels.

His son, Jackie Jnr, who fought tag-team matches with his father in a team known as Pallo & Son, said his father was "a bombastic character right to the end".

Jackie Pallo is also survived by his wife Georgina, always known as Trixie, who herself became well known to television viewers as she watched her husband from ringside.

She once said: "Some halls are rougher than others. When they know you're his wife you get cigarette packets thrown at you, and when they've finished their ice-cream you'll feel the spoons hit the back of your head.

"I've watched him hundreds of times, but as soon as I see him walk out of that dressing-room door my tummy gets in a knot, I'm ever so proud of him."

piroflip2

Hi guy and gals

Speaking of Mick McManus, poor Mick took part in an ill-fated documentary on TV a long time after his fighting days were over.

He was leading a group of ex-wrestlers that were desperate to get the grapple game back onto our screens. Many in the audience seemed hostile to the idea, citing the falseness of the whole thing.

When asked by the presenter what percentage of pro wrestling was fixed,
Mick immediately replied “absolutely none”, and the whole audience began laughing. It was very sad to see an old hero of mine ridiculed in this way.


Regards piroflip

Freddy

Good old youtube.

All grappling fans might like to know that the likes of Kendo Nagasaki, Jim Breaks et al have in the last month or so been put on youtube. The bouts appear to be from the eighties and each about 10 minutes. Put 'UK Wrestling' in their search engine. One er; two er; three er.

regards

Freddy

samkydd

Jackie Pallo once appeared in the black and white Avengers series in the episode Mandrake in 1964. During a fight scene he was accidentally kicked quite severely in the head by Cathy Gale (Honor Blackman).

"...the chairman of Littlewoods stores made a Keynote speech!"

Redstar

Jackie Pallo also appeared in an episode of "Are you being served"

Harleybloke

I remember a hooded American wrestler, 'The Outlaw' who, if defeated, would allow the victor to remove his mask.

Never saw him lose.............................

Steve Crook

There were a few that used that gimmick. They would usually come close to losing but their opponent would concentrate on pulling the mask off thus giving the masked wrestler a chance to come back and win

Steve

orpheum

Can i be the first to let all you grapple fans(Kents words not mine)know that World of Sport wresting is now shown on The Fight Channel on satellite.The new programme for each week is shown on Wednesday,and repeated throughout the rest of the week.There you can see them all,Les Kellett,Big Daddy,Giant Haystacks(did his opponents receive danger money)Mick MacManus.So just sit there and enjoy hour after hour of grunt and groan.Bye for now grapple fans see you soon(as Kent would say).

Freddy

A mask of course can hide who the actual wrester is and there were stories that sometimes different wrestlers would occupy the mantle.

Freddy

Steve Crook

And the really sneaky ones had a loose mask that their opponent could pull off - but they had a second mask on underneath
It was a form of strip-tease.

Steve