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We first encountered Les Thornton in the summer of 1966 when we watched an electrifying clash with Hans Streiger at Blackpool Tower.
He was French in those days.
There was no Les Thornton on the bill, The name was Henri Pierlot, the all action star from France. In those days we were too naive to know the promoters would tell us anything to grasp those few shillings from our mitts. Well the French name might have been wrestling codology but the description was not. Les Thornton, the name he used in Britain more than a dozen years later was an accomplished wrestler who could change his style from a skilled technician to a rough and tumble brawler as the occasion demanded.
The name might have been all French, but the man himself was as Lancashire as they come, born in Salford on April 9th, 1934. Light heavyweight Les Thornton initially adopted the French name to add a bit of glamour to the already colourful posters of the northern independent promoters when he turned professional in the mid 1950s. Henri Pierlot had entered the professional ranks in 1957 shortly after leaving the Royal Navy. Not that wrestling was his first choice in sport. He was also interested in boxing and rugby before Bomber John Bates encouraged him to take up wrestling.
For the first five years he worked for the independent promoters, working simultaneously at Salford docks. Frenchman Pierlot clashed with other independent stars of the time – Hans Streiger was an on-going feud, a series of matches with Assirati were brutal affairs whilst other respected opponents included The Black Panther, Dwight J. Ingleburgh, Charlie Scott and Milo Popocopolis.
Whilst working for Paul Lincoln Management Henri came to the attention of the big promoters and was signed up by Joint Promotions in October, 1962. National exposure came his way just a month later, thanks to promoter Norman Morrell, who included him in a televised show from Preston against Bill Rawlings. Just a month later he was back on the screen, this time facing Roy Bull Davis. More tv appearances followed, firmly establishing Henri Pierlot as he met the best in the business: John Allan, Norman Walsh, and Georges Gordienko.
Not as high profile as some of contemporaries Les continued to build up his skill and experience during the 1960s, working around European rings, where he made a big impression in the German tournaments.
In 1969 British heavyweight champion Billy Robinson paved the way to North America and onwards to Japan. Where Robinson went, others followed, and in the autumn of 1970 one of them was Henri Pierlot, though no longer a French man but a no nonsense Brit, Les Thornton.
In 1970 and 1971 he gained worldwide success in Japan , North America, Australia and New Zealand. .
Now read Les Thornton’s Stampede Days
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