By Bernard Hughes
Wrestling Heritage welcomes memories, further information and corrections.
I saw The Ghoul (the original) many times. In those days, there was no music, dimming of the lights or any other gimmicks that you modern fellows got up to. This was a sport(?) for men, or so it seemed to my young eyes.
I have done some research using Ray Plunkett’s fine records. In the late 1940’s early 1950’s, the most popular wrestlers at Newcastle were local boys Norman Walsh from Middlesbrough and Alf Rawlings from Stockton on Tees. However promoter Norman Morrell’s top drawing card was undoubtedly The Ghoul.
This immense and powerful man made almost one hundred visits to St James’s Hall, between his first fight on 19th June 1948,when he was billed second as opponent to the wonderful Jim Hussey and the last visit that I can find on 21st July 1956 vs. Francis St. Clair Gregory. In the book “Headlocks and Handbags” the editor quotes sixty four visits, so last night using Ray’s results, I counted them. I make it ninety-three visits in 416 weeks, i.e. an average of one every five weeks. I told you that he was the big drawing card!
I reckon that I saw at least forty of these bouts. The first time that I saw The Ghoul, when I was nearly thirteen, he was sandwiched in the back seat of a car with a wrestler either side of him. He was bigger than the two of them put together! When he got out of the car wearing his old white mask he was at least two foot taller than me. He was huge! I later saw the Mighty John Quinn, but The Ghoul in his overcoat and white mask struck me as the biggest man that I had seen.
His entrance was little different to all of the other wrestlers, other than the fact that he was, or seemed, bigger than most and wore a grubby off white mask, which seemed to cling close to his face and push his lips out. The Ghoul was never beaten at Newcastle. My first sighting of him in the ring was January 1949 vs. Alf Rawlings. Most of his fights followed a similar pattern, the opponent got a fall in rounds four to six and The Ghoul knocked him out in rounds seven or eight. He generally won by K.O. using what was called the Guillotine Garrotte, a downward chopping motion on the opponents neck with the edge of his hand. What this had to do with the Garrotte, I don’t know.
Sometimes he won by two falls to one. The falls were normally pinfalls administered by chopping his opponent and then folding him into the pin. The Ghoul was a very heavy and powerful man. I have to admit that four of the opponents I don’t remember at all; Bill Malloy, Wally Seddon, Martin Deneef and Eric Day. Some opponents were often repeated – Gluttons for punishment. I recall some of the bouts quite well and think that you might like some details. About 8 bouts ended in draws and it’s interesting to note that local man Norman Walsh ,after he became a full blown heavyweight , got 3 of these draws and was not beaten by The Ghoul in Newcastle. Norman Walsh adopted the tactic, that when the big man’s hand went up to chop he would put his arm up, the chop came down on his side, not his neck, and he was able to grasp The Ghouls’ arm and proceed with an armlock. Using this method he avoided defeat.
The most surprising result was Geoff Portz. When this bout was advertised, I feared for Portz. He was a very good wrestler but at the time he was only a mid heavyweight and The Ghoul was a superheavyweight. However the movement seemed to put The Ghoul off and Portz attacked at the start of each round zigzagging across the ring at speed and catching the big man still in his corner. The chops were few and far between and never seemed to land just right. Geoff Portz got a well deserved draw.
Jack Pye had three draws with The Ghoul, with a few losses, but the draw that I remember most was on the 12th January, 1952. Jack, despite punching on the blind side, using the ropes illegally and all manner of fouls, was surprisingly not disqualified by referee Les Kellett and got a ten round 1-1 draw. When Kellett got the microphone down to speak Jack took it from him and he said “I was on top and I want one more round to show that I can beat him”. The crowd was shouting “Yes, Yes.” The Ghoul, who by this time had his dressing gown on, shook his head violently. Pye gave the mike to Kellett and said “Give him this and make him say why” The crowd went wild. Kellett made The Ghoul take the mike and The Ghoul in the worst imitated Italian accent that I have heard said, “The English are supposed to be fair. I have trained hard for this bout over 10 rounds and now you want to change it to eleven. No, I can’t do it” and off he went to the dressing rooms. Well, as you can imagine the place was in uproar. The crowd did not quieten down and let the next bout start until a man came down to the ring and Les Kellett announced that the promoter had promised a return match as soon as possible. That night for the first time in a ring Jack Pye was the most popular man there. The return was on March 8th and Jack Pye was knocked out.
The other match that I remember well was when The Ghoul’s opponent was The World’s Strongest Man – Hassan ali Bey from Egypt. Hassan came to the ring in his red fez and black boots. He got a submission fall in about round four. In about round six The Ghoul’s right hand went up to chop and the crowd shouted. Hassan just stood there. Chop! Down came the hand and Hassan smiled. He indicated to The Ghoul that it hadn’t hurt and stretched his neck out for The Ghoul to hit him again. Chop! Same thing. Hassan said quite audibly “harder”. Chop!
The hand came down with full force and Hassan put his hands on his hips and laughed. Disaster! The left hand came up cruelly and swiftly into Hassan’s known weak point, the solar plexus. The count was a formality.
The funny thing is that although it is stated on Heritage that John Bates also wrestled under his own name with no mask on, I never saw his face. Even when he was coming to or leaving St. James’s Hall the nearest I got was when he got into a car with just a scarf covering from his chin to his hairline.
Bernard Hughes
Reviewed 12/03/2022
14693
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