These are our shorter Biographical portraits which we would like to extend if you can provide information or memories.
Pedro Bengochea
The Spanish heavyweight whose strong legs led to him being known as “Legs of Steel.” He was a regular visitor to the UK in the second half of the 1950s and first half of the 1960s, and unlike many overseas visitors did not confine his appearances to one part of the country. Opponents included the best of the time – Norman Walsh, Mike Marino, Tibor Szakacs and Eric Taylor. Lost to Charlie Fisher at the Royal Albert Hall in February, 1958, and did no better in November 1964 when he was beaten by Gerry de Jager. Interestingly faced Kendo Nagasaki twice in November, 1964, during the first two weeks of the masked man’s long career. We didn’t see much of Pedro Bengochea following that visit but his career lasted until the early 1970s. Pedro Bengochea died on 21st November, 2012.
Colin Bennett
Colin Bennett was easy to identify. He was the one that climbed through the ropes wearing a fireman’s helmet and jacket. We were easily pleased in those days. Yorkshire fireman Colin Bennett was a popular welterweight of the 1970s. Initially learning to wrestle in a gym he set up near his home in Wilsden Colin was taught the professional trade at George deRelwyskow’s St Patrick’s Gym in New York Road, Leeds. Colin turned professional in the mid 1960s, making his debut on a Relwyskow and Green bill in Morecambe. A skilful technical wrestler Colin made around a dozen television appearances in the 1970s and 1980s, including a drawn verdict against Jim Breaks and a win over Steve Grey.
Michael Bennett
Having watched the cherub like Michael Bennett woo fans of all ages during the 1960s we couldn’t believe what he turned into when he returned in the 1980s as Marvellous Mike Bennett. Our earliest memories are of a baby faced darling, a very accomplished wrestler who justified the occasional top of the bill matching with the likes of McManus and Pallo. Watching wrestling with his father whilst a young teenager Michael got the bug and was determined to become a professional wrestler.
Trained initially by Joe Hill and later by Ernie Baldwin Michael turned professional in March 1964 when he was eighteen years old, opposing Steve Best at Bradford. In 1965 he won the TV Trophy and was presented with the trophy by Sportswoman of the Year, Mary Rand. At some point Michael returned to the ring as Marvellous Mike Bennett, an arrogant rule bending alter-ego of his previous incarnation. Precisely when the transformation took place we cannot be sure but it seems likely to have been in the first half of the 1980s.
Heritage member Ohtani’s Jacket cast some light on the timing when he said. “I can’t be sure when he started working as Marvellous Mike other than the transformation I saw on TV in ’84 & ’85. He worked on a few Joint Promotions cards in the early 80s and in a non-televised capacity and appeared to be a straight blue eye at the time.”
“MMB certainly played the ‘hard man’ to perfection. Supreme wrestling ability plus the edge of being the villain and dishing out some ‘stiff’ punishment,” said Geoff Shoots. Good guy or villain Mike Bennett was certainly one of the unsung heroes of British wrestling.
Al Bennsiton
Midlander Al Benniston was another from the Jack Taylor stable of wrestlers travelling the independent circuit in the late 1950s and 1960s, opponent of the likes of Killer Ken Davies, Billy Yukon and the Lapaque brothers. Al trained with Jack Taylor with his professional debut delayed due to national service, when he was posted to the Far East. Outside the ring Al was a builder, retiring due to ill health in his mid 50s.
Baptiste Benoy
Belgian middleweight representative (Graeco Roman and Freestyle) in the 1948 London Olympic Games was Jean Baptiste Benoy. Not only that, but at 21 years 351 days he was the youngest member of the Belgian team. Five years later he was back. Now a professional and billed as Belgian light heavyweight champion Baptiste faced the likes of Vic Hessle, Emile Poilve, and Jim Foy. The Belgian returned the following three years and again in 1960. Maybe he liked the food. Or the weather!
Karl Berg
Karl Berg was the name adopted by Hungarian Kalman Vegh after he had fled Hungary following the 1956 uprising. Having arrived in Britain he was placed in temporary accommodation at Haverton Hill in the Belasis Hostel which had been opened in 1917 to house workers at the new Furness Shipyard.
He was in his late teens at the time and made his way to Jim Stockdale’s Apollo gym. He set up permanent home in Thornaby with his wife Joyce, and parented two children. Using the professional name Karl Berg he worked for Stockdale and various independent promoters mostly in the north of England, often travelling and wrestling his friends Jim McCormack and Jimmy Devlin. Karl Berg died on 25th June, 2022, aged 83.
Sammy Berg
Sammy Berg was billed as Mr Canada, and had the body to prove it.
Standing 6′ 4″ tall and weighing a muscular nineteen stones the Canadian made a short visit to Britain in 1960, facing the British heavyweight hopeful Billy Robinson on television.
At the time he was in his early 30s (born in 1929) and had around ten years wrestling experience. Unlike many North American visitors Sammy did have a considerable amount of technical skill to back up his power.
His visit to Britain was towards the end of a wrestling career as he moved into acting, and was set to appear in many films during the years that followed. In the 1980she moved to Hawaii and worked on tv series Magnum, P.I. until it ended in 1988 fast, even in their late fifties and early sixties!”
Paul Berger
Swiss heavyweight champion Paul Berger was born on 11 February, 1923, in the lakeside town of Thun.
Paul Berger turned professional in 1948, visited the UK in the during the winter of 1954-1955 and again in 1956, including a one fall apiece drawn encounter with Rebel Ray Hunter at the Royal Albert Hall in London, a good result considering Ray Hunter was an Albert Hall favourite who was at the peak of his career.
Paul wrestled around Europe and in the late 1950s worked in the United States. He was also a major promotional force in Germany, and founder of the Association of German Professional Wrestlers (VDB).
With a career that had spanned more than twenty years Paul Berger retired from professional wrestling in 1969. He died on 13th January, 1992, aged 69.
Naldo Bernardo
A short duration visit by Italian Naldo Bernardo for Dale Martin Promotions in January, 1955. Opponents included Johnny Kwango, Johnny Peters, and Judo Al Hayes.
Norman Berry
Norman Berry dabbled in wrestling both under his own name and as a maskedGreat Bula (not to be confused with Charlie Scott), but he is best known for his influential management positions. We came across him for the first time in 1946 promoting in Ossett in partnership with Norman Morrell.Berry went on to work for Morrell in his publicity department, a partnership that lasted the best part of a decade. It caused quite a shock in 1958 when Norman broke away from Morrell and joined up with Max and Shirley Crabtree to form Twentieth Century Promotions. It wasn’t a happy uncoupling. In May 1959 Norman Morrell and Ted Beresford issued a writ alleging libel against Norman Berry, Max and Shirley Crabtree
Hillbilly Bert (Also known as Bert Ellam)
A regular on Independent shows in the North and Midlands in 60s & 70s. Six foot four, sixteen stone, dressed in dungarees, a whisp of hay in his mouth and a stone jar of “moonshine” in his hand. He always wrestled barefooted, too.
Bert was an amiable guy with a ready smile and took on the likes of Streiger, Cassidy, Topham, Bert Nuttall, Big Bill Blake, Bill Coverdale and a clutch of masked heavyweights. He did not demonstrate the complete repertoire of wrestling moves but was a likeable good guy and enjoyed a lot of supprt from the younger generation.
He was another graduate of the Black Panther gym in Manchester and popular with the lads. Bert retired to a houseboat on the Norfolk Broads but, unfortunately, he died at a comparatively early age and the pallbearers at his funeral were Ian “Mad Dog” Wilson, Peter Lindberg, Eddie Rose, Danny Clough, Alec Burton and Mark Wayne. One of the good guys…
Francois Berthod
French heavyweight champion made short visits to Britain in 1931, 1932 and 1933.A skilled wrestler he defeated Atholl Oakeley by a single submission at the Victoria Hall, Nottingham on 4th December, 1933.
Steve Best (Also known as Roger Adams)
We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it a hundred times again. There was just so much wrestling talent in the 1960s and 1970s, it was so difficult to stand out in the crowd, that good men were lost but to all but the more ardent fans. Such was the case with Bradford’s Steve Best. We saw him in the sixties, and enjoyed him as much as anyone, but he remained the Johnny Saint that never was. A class act indeed, a fast and skilful technician, popular welterweight Steve Best combined wrestling and teaching careers. Trained by Ernest Baldwin he made his professional debut in 1964 whilst still a university student. A television debut against Jim Elder in September 1965 was good enough to earn a seccond tv outing against none other than World lightweight champion George Kidd. Steve lost, of course, but it was the foundation of a successful tv career against more than twenty opponents including Mick McManus, another inevitable loss. As well as being a successful solo performer Steve Best formed a popular tag team with Johnny Saint, known as “The Elite.”
Jim Bevin
One of the grand old men of wrestling Leigh’s Jim Bevin turned professional in 1949, worked mainly in the north for the independent promoters regularly until the mid 1960s and must have been in his sixties when he made his last appearance.
Eddie Rose told us, “Ian Wilson and myself were on a bill with them and Ian reckoned their aggregate age at that time was 128 years!!”
In the later years many of Jim’s matches were against another veteran, his brother in law, Joe Reid. Sam Betts (Dwight J Ingleburgh) Joe and Jim very well, “Into the 1960s when they were both getting on in years they were capable of regularly putting on entertaining eight round draws.”
Another ex wrestler, Mike Agusta, told us: “I always saw Jim entering the ring with his flat cap (called a ratter in the north). He would then hand it over to his second and begin to wrestle. His fights with Joe Reid were extremely entertaining and to say the least very fast, even in their late fifties and early sixties!”
“Angel Face” Bob Bibby.
A welterweight from Clitheroe in Lancashire active in the 1970s. Appeared on television in April, 1976, losing two falls to nil against Colin Bennett.
Bob Bibby was trained at the famous Riley’s gym in Wigan.
Billed as Angel Face, he strutted to the ring in a magnificent full length gown, armed with a hairbrush, and combing his locks provocatively. Bob told Wrestling Hertitage, “I debuted in Hull, Madley Street Baths against Pete Meridith in the early 1970s. My bouts varied, could be 1 a month to 5 a week because I was working as well and they felt like all over the place… Wolverhampton, Leeds, Bridlington, Morecambe, Aberdeen, Liverpool, Rhyl and others.”
A biceps injury unfortunately cut his career short, and Bob became an artistic blacksmith in his home town.
Frank Bibby
We have found around a dozen matches for Frank Bibby between 1956 and 1960. In Nelson, working for Billy Riley, he is billed from Wigan, whilst elsewhere from Sudbury in Derbyshire. Opponents included Joe Critchley, Jack Beaumont, Jim Hart and Bill Ogden.
Jack Bice
Jack Bice, from Liskeard, Cornwall, made the transition from Cornish style wrestling to all-in style in 1934. Opponents ranged from welterweight Harold Angus to the heavier Bert Mansfield and Jack Atherton. We can find contests for Jack in 1934 and 1935, all of them in Cornwall.
Bobby Bierne
The welterweight from Roscommon in Ireland, moved to the United Kingdom in the mid 1950s, to set up home in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire. We remember him as a worker for the independent promoters, often working for Jack Taylor. He did work for Joint Promotions at times and was also a referee for Devereux Promotions.
Johnny Birchall
Supporting role middleweight billed from Mansfield active in northern England from 1935 to 1939.
Reviewed 01/01/2023
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