These are our shorter Biographical portraits which we would like to extend if you can provide information or memories.
Jesus Chausson
Dentist turned wrestler Jesus Chausson was born in Bilbao with French and Spanish parentage. A European mid heavyweight champion claimant was one of the top Spanish wrestlers of the 1950s and 1960s. He visited Britain in the late 1950s and early 1960s, facing top class opposition such as Alan Garfield and Joe Cornelius with a Royal Albert Hall match against Billy Howes.
Jack Cheers
A hard and skilful wrestler (because he was from Riley’s gym) but one of the lesser known men from Wigan. A railway man by day Jack was quite late in life when he took up wrestling, turning professional when he was around 30 years old. He wrestled professionally from the early 1950s until 1968 in the halls and on Matt Moran’s Fairground Booth. He had a reputation for being a very difficult opponent as it seemed to Jack that fans should get what they thought they saw. In other words, when it looked like it was hurting, it was!
Jack Cheers was born on 19th September, 1922 and died in 2006.
Rene Ben Chemoul
One of the great technical wrestlers to pay fleeting visits to the UK from his home country of France. Rene Ben Chemoul was introduced to wrestling by his father Albert, who was a wrestler also. A prisoner of war during the Second World War he pursued an interest in wrestling following liberation and turned professional in 1947. Rene Ben Chemoul made the first of many visits to Britain just four years later. Twice holder of the World lightweight title (winning and losing it again to George Kidd in 1950, and later in the decade taking it from Fransico Ramirez), Rene later increased his poundage to twice hold the European middleweight championship, again losing the title to Kidd in 1963. In 1959 he toured the United States along with fellow Frenchman Gilbert Le Duc. Rene Ben Chemoul passed away in September 2010, aged 85.
Baron Jorg Von Chenok
Son of Karl Von Chenok, a man who had visited Britain twenty years earlier, Baron Jorg Von Chenok defended (and lost) his European welterweight title to Danny Collins in the 1985 Cup Final televised wrestling show.
Twenty years earlier world class wrestlers from Europe and beyond had made frequent visits to British shores. By the 1980s such visits were far fewer in numbers, and in this case Baron Jorg Von Chenok seems to have appeared out of the blue, though his Continental and grappling lineage is beyond question.
We can find no record of Von Chenok winning the championship, but the title change added to Collins’ status for his forthcoming visit to France.
Karl Von Chenok
Karl Von Chenok was German wrestler Josef Martynchenok, born in 1927, who made his first appearance in Britain in 1956. In a ten day visit to southern England he lost to Charlie Fisher at the Royal Albert Hall, and went on to other matches against Bert Royal, Tommy Mann, Jean Morandi, Johnny Peters and Steve Logan. He returned to Britain in 1968, seemingly for just the one match, losing to Les Kellett at the Royal Albert Hall on 13th March, 1968. He was known as Karl Von Chenok only in Great Britain. In Germany and Austria he was known as Martin Chenok. He was the father of Baron Jorg Von Chenok
Charlie Chetwynd
Charlie Chetwynd was a heavyweight boxer from Leicester, active from 1924 until 1933. With wrestling gaining popularity and his 84 match career reaching an inevitable conclusion with a defeat by Tommy Farr in September, 1933, Charlie turned his attention to wrestling. We have found him wrestling Francis St Clair Gregory in April, 1934, with further matches against Zarynoff and Jim Anderson. It appears to have been a short foray into wrestling, with our last sighting in April, 1935.
Amet Chong
The wild barefooted Peruvian mid heavyweight ruffled a few fans on his way to the occasional victory or more likely disqualification during his six week 1974 visit from mid November. Well, Kent Walton told us he didn’t understand English or British rules. Yeah Kent! Not overly impressive during his tour his most memorable moment was most likely a Royal Albert Hall loss against Steve Veidor. Made a couple of television appearances, losing to Pete Roberts by a disqualification and kayoed by Mike Marino.
Ted Christy
One time World Junior Heavyweight champion the Los Angeles heavyweight strutted his way around the rings when he visited the United Kingdom in 1954. Opponents included Tony Mancelli, Ernest Baldwin, Black Butcher Johnson and Jack Pye. Already an experienced forty something, or more specifically 45 year old Ted was a genuinely international star who was a top liner in both the United States and Australia. Following his retirement he went on to minor roles in films and television. Ted Christy passed away on 11th September, 1976.
Max Churchill
Sheffield heavyweight Max Churchill worked for the independent promoters in the 1960s. Max was also known as a comedian and singer on the cabaret circuit around the working men’s clubs of northern England.
Arnold Ciplinsky
That’s Big Arnold from Ayr as he was known. A coal miner by day at night Arnold was one of the trainees at the Mossblown gym and pulled on a mask for Scottish independent promoters as The Outlaw. A powerful heavyweight, standing 6’1″ tall and weighing 18 stones he was much bigger than the original Canadian masked man. Born on 15th July, 1921 Arnold still lives near the old gym and attends the annual reunion in Ayr.
Johnny Clancy
What a character! Five foot two, bleached blond hair, strong an an ox, Johnny was a bin man for Stockport Corporation, a job that kept him as fit as the legendary butcher’s dog.
Eddie Rose told us he wrestled Johnny on several occasions and it was a no-win situation as he outweighed Johnny by a good three stone and audiences always sided with such an under dog. He fought most lightweights (and heavier) including Wally Delmar, Shem Singh, Jim Reid and Joe Bevan and his bouts with Tiger Delmonte were classics of their type!
Johnny was a good friend of Mike Landis, the Greek promoter and three-way conversations between those two and a third party often ran into the realms of fantasy as Mike’s English was poor and his accent heavy. Mike always introduced Johnny, quite deadpan, as “my interpreter”.
Johnny was one of the old school: a tough little man with a big heart and no small amount of skill and another product of the Black Panther gym in Manchester.
John Clarke
John Clarke was the eldest of the two Clarke brothers from Borrowby, a village near Thirsk. A rough pair who did little to endear themselves to fans. Although he did wrestle in singles matches he was often seen in action with brother Rob in a pairing known as both “The Yorkshire Farmers” and “The Invaders.” The two brothers were trained by the Blue Angel, Jim Stockdale, and turned professional in 1967 and had a fairly short career of about ten years, with westling activities were limited to the north east of England and Scotland.
Milton Clarke
Middlesbrough wrestler who wrestled Jimmy Devlin on one of the BBCs rare showings of professional wrestling, from Southend. Milton was the younger brother of Ray Clarke, and shared his wrestling commitments with his day job of motor mechanic. A popular young wrestlers renowned for his sportsmanlike tactics.
Ray Clarke (Middlesbrough)
Middlesbrough’s Ray Clarke was a popular middleweight for a short time in the 1960s, and the older brother of Milton Clarke. Ray turned professional for Scarborough promoter Don Robinson, which led to work for Paul Lincoln Management and the move to Joint Promotions. Ray had other business interests and we guess this is why he disappeared from our rings.
Ray Clarke (New Zealand)
New Zealand farmer Ray Clarke came to Europe in 1949. Standing over six feet tall he quickly established himself as a top heavyweight. He tackled the best that the UK had to offer, the likes of Jack Pye, Ray St Bernard and Bert Assirati. He wrestled in Britain in the early fifties, before setting off back to New Zealand in 1953, wrestling en route in Mexico and Canada. returning to New Zealand in 1953, where he wrestled for another couple of years before joining the police force.
Rob Clarke
Rob Clarke was the youngest of the two Clarke brothers from Borrowby,born in 1948. A rough pair who did little to endear themselves to fans. At fourteen Rob began working on a farm, and has been involved in some form of manual work all his life. It was a lifestyle that made him exceptionally strong and earned the nickname “Two Man Bob” because he was said to have the strength of two men. Although he did wrestle in singles matches he was often seen in action with brother John in a pairing known as both “The Yorkshire Farmers” and “The Invaders.” The two brothers were trained by the Blue Angel, Jim Stockdale, and turned professional in 1967. Wrestling activities were limited to the north east of England and Scotland. Only seemed to be around until the early 1970s. At the time of writing (2013) Rob is happily married to his wife of forty-eight years, parents of three daughters.
Stedman Clarke
London based Jamaican heavyweight Rick Clarke was known as Stedman. He had a short lived career for Dale Martin Promotions in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Born in January 1934, Stedman Clarke died on on 3rd August, 2011, aged 77.
Fred Clayton
Fred Clayton was a boxer, weightlifter, swimmer and occasional wrestler.We have found a handful of matches for Fred, working for independent promoters in 1961. Some good opponents included George Passalaris, Reg Trood, Eric Sands, Tony Cassio and Pat Kloke. Fred was born in Broadstairs in 1934. Of greatest interest is his swimming achievements. He moved to London and worked as a swimming instructor. He had aspirations to swim the English channel and in 1959 was one of over 100 applicants for Butlin’s cross-Channel swimming race. Frederick William Clayton died on 8th May, 2012.
Danny Clough
There was a very active wrestling scene in East Lancashire in the late 1960s and early 1970s, not just in cities like Blackburn but in the smaller halls of Darwen and Cole, and outdoor events such as the Burnley Horse Fair. Eddie Rose attributes much of this to the work of promoter and wrestler Sid Vickers and (only half jokingly) to the combination of wrestling with a good night out at the Cats Whiskers or a sit-in supper at John Connelly’s chippy on the way home. One of the frequent workers on this northern independent scene was Burnley’s Danny Clough, a very clever lightweight who could hold his own with heavier men and had a repertoire of disarmingly devious little moves with knee, foot and elbow that could bring tears to an opponents eyes.
Gary Clwyd (Also known as Gary Welsh)
Anyone that came into wrestling at the very end of the Heritage years and was still working twenty years later deserves some respect. Well Gary Clwyd, from Rhyl, did just that. Trained by Orig Williams he used a variation of names that also included Geraint Clwyd, Gary Welsh, Dunk the Clown and Gary B. Ware. That was a wide range of styles developing from the very young looking, wiry kid that made it on to ITV wrestling in August 1987, wrestling Peter Bainbridge. For those restricted to ITV wrestling that was all they saw of Gary, both men prostrate and counted out following a clash of end. Anyone watching wrestling around the halls, or with access to the S4C Welsh tv channel knew otherwise. Gary gained a few pounds and was seen on tv wrestling Tony Stewart, Jack Davey, Jimmy Ocean, Dave Finlay and Skul l Murphy. In tribute shows, post Heritage Years, Gary was transformed into Dunk the Clown and also adopted a darker persona, greasepaint added, as the villainous Gary B. Ware. Precisely when Gary finished wrestling we don’t know, but we have traced him working up to January 2010, twenty three years after that ITV debut.
Ernie Coates
A famous name from the 1950s but Ernie Coates was renowned for his body building exploits, and Mr Universe competitor, that preceded a short lived wrestling career that began around 1959.
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Wrestling Heritage 