When he was on World Of Sport in the early seventies he was 53 when I was an 8 year old. That was a shock for me.
He was a brave age of a man. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/10074149/Mick-McManus.html Like Haystacks, McManus adopted a notably villainous persona. Sporting a precise thatch of lacquered black hair, he cultivated audience hatred with sneers and positively relished the catcalls and jeers that accompanied his every devilish trick in the ring. But unlike other villains – “heels” in wrestling terminology – McManus almost invariably won his bouts. This run of success baffled some onlookers, who failed to discern particular grace or skill in the carefully choreographed half-nelsons, short-arm jabs and Boston Crabs with which he forced his opponents to submit. He was not tall (just 5ft 6in) nor intimidatingly large – though well-upholstered, his fighting weight was a mere 12st 5lb. His most potent weapon was possibly the fact that he was a “booker”, organising fights with Dale Martin Promotions. As such, he ensured his own prominence on wrestling bills well into his fifties, sometimes to the chagrin of his adversaries. Yet to the British viewing public, flocking in ever greater numbers to their television sets, such details mattered not a jot. Introduced by Dickie Davies, ITV’s World of Sport became a Saturday afternoon institution. And though the show had segments on football and racing, it was the wrestling, beamed to homes around the country from municipal halls in Wolverhampton or on the Old Kent Road, that proved the biggest draw. Within the sport there were few bigger draws than McManus himself, particularly when he developed a lasting grudge with wrestling’s “Mr TV”, Jack Pallo. Their rivalry was played out in bouts on FA Cup Final day in 1963 and 1965 which, according to legend, drew more viewers than the football itself. A third showdown was staged at the Albert Hall in 1967. Each man had his own weakness: Pallo hated being pulled by his ponytail; McManus would routinely beg: “Not the ears, not the ears”. Theirs was an unlikely sporting partnership that, like that of Torvill and Dean two decades later, somehow managed to capture the national imagination. “They used to go potty for us when I fought Mick,” Pallo once said. “Why? Because we were both very good. You can’t beat the quality. Mick had that know-how: a great performer. Horrible bastard, but a great performer.” McManus was born William George Matthews in London on January 11 1920. He grew up in New Cross and, having left school at 16, joined a weightlifting club managed by Fred Unwin. Known professionally as the Pocket Hercules, Unwin was a regular lightweight on the wrestling circuit and encouraged William to enlist at the John Ruskin Amateur Wrestling Club in Walworth, where he could learn the basics of the art and build up his strength. From 1948 he began wrestling professionally under the Dale Martin group. According to Max Crabtree, the promoter and brother of Shirley Crabtree (aka Big Daddy), Matthews, who by then had adopted the name Mick McManus, also had a crucial role in the Dale Martin office. “He did the data sheets, the matchmaking. If you annoyed Mick, you might find that you only got two dates in February.” For the same reason, McManus himself was never short of work. His ring career lasted more than three decades, until he retired in 1981. He then concentrated on promotion full-time, working in public relations and making appearances at golf days and corporate functions. Though renowned as a “hard man” without heart, many of his appearances were for charity. Mick McManus, who wrote a wrestling column for The Sun, also produced the Mick McManus Wrestling Book (1970). His wife, Barbara, died earlier this year.
Another sex scadal, Mick Mannus was cought shaggin Shirley Crabtree while Jackie Pallo was gettin banged aboot the ring.
