George Kidd went to Clepington Primary School, and being a wee lad, he would get picked on sometimes, which lead to him being a bit of a scrapper. To develop his skills further he took up boxing, Ju Jitsu, yoga and was a regular at the gym. After a stint in the Navy he opted for wrestling as his profession.. He used to be on tv quite a lot in the 60's & 70's. Wrestling went on around 4.00 pm on Saturday afternoons, before the football results. I watched it quite a lot as a schoolboy back then because it was often a good laugh. George himself came up with some amusing moves and was particularly well liked. He even performed in London's Albert Hall in front of royalty!
Back home in Dundee he also ran the Ellenbank Bar in Alexander Street.
He died in 1998.
Here's George below in action.
His physique even then, was more publican than athlete. Very amusing, and there were some great wrestling characters on our screen back then. Very staged, which added to the fun & entertainment.
ReplyDeleteWhen young people say they are bored, in this Ipod ,internet and Xbox age , just remind them of the good old days of 3 TV channels and spending a wet saturday afternoon watching wrestling, then tell them that they have never had it so good.
ReplyDeleteHe was a neighbour of mine and one day I was dared by my pals to go and get his autograph. I rang his doorbell (..with my pals keekin' round the corner from the bottom of the street..) and asked him for the autograph and he took me out to his garage where he had cardboard boxes full of publicity photos which he signed and gave to me.
ReplyDeleteIt's a shame that the only youtube footage of George is so late in his career. In the 1950s and early 1960s he was fit and agile, and someone Dundee should be vry proud of.
ReplyDeletehGeorge Kidd the master of a thousand
ReplyDeleteholds.A wonderful technical wrestler
and a tough guy despite his small
physique.