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The Northern Apollo
Not one of the famous names in wrestling, but definitely one worth reading about. “The Adonis of the North” Syd Ingleson was born on 16th October 1900.
Weight lifting was his main interest and physical exercise in general. In the 1920s he could be seen around Yorkshire putting on weight lifting and muscle control displays. In 1930, whilst living in Bradford and working in Leeds as a mechanic, he won a competition for Yorkshire’s Best Developed Man. He repeated the success the following year and when he won the title for a third time in 1932 was awarded the challenge cup for good.That success reached a climax with winning the 1933 Mr Britain competition outright. Another sporting interest, soccer, led to him training the Whitehall Printeries football team in Leeds.
Syd was Principal of the Sydenham Physical Culture Club in Bradford and mostly celebrated for his success as a physical culturalist.
Syd fraternised with many in the wrestling fraternity, including Norman Morrell and Joe Taylor, and in 1934 he began wrestling professionally. In November of that year he wrestled Guilaume Estelles, champion of Switzerland, pinning the Swiss wrestler in fifteen seconds and beating him by two falls to one. An impressive result indeed, but that it was in Hull and being billed as a local boy may well have been an instrumental factor. A few weeks later he beat Estelle again in Bradford, this time billed as the local Bradford wrestler. Most of Syd’s matches were around northern England against the likes of Fred Unwin, Les Stent and Jack Alker.
It was a short wrestling venture as we have found matches between 1934 and 1939. In January 1938 he had set up his own business in Otley Road, Bradford, as a masseur, specialising in manipulative therapy, electo therapy, rheumatism and injuries.
In 1939 he was living in Bolton Road, Bradford with his wife, Mary. We find his last wrestling match in 1939, and in the census of that year he declared his occupation as a masseur and physical training expert whilst also a volunteer in the auxillary fire service.
Sydney Ingleson, born 16th October, 1900, died in 1980.
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