Scouts & Boxing
When I was 11, I joined the Boy Scouts Association and got interested in boxing. So I went for this championship and I finished up as boxing champion in the 7 stone and under group. The final was fought in the old Victoria Hall [bombed during the war], which was in Towersgate. I got my first medal and it was presented to me by Jimmy Wilde, who was a world boxing champion at that time. This was a great honour and that medal is still in my possession to this day, and very proud of it I am, too. So I did a bit of amateur boxing til I was about 16.
Whilst I was in the Sunderland Amateur Boxing Club, word came there was a competition for the All England Boys’ Championship. I fought through one or two preliminary runs and the semi-finals and finals were to be boxed at Bradford. This competition was run by the Bradford Constabulary. Well, in those days going by motor car from Sunderland to anywhere, for that matter, was a bit dodgy because of the breakdown of cars which weren’t very dependable. So, five of us piled into this little car to go to Bradford on this particular Saturday morning, no room for me on the seat so I sat on a petrol can. You carried petrol cans in those days because garages were not very frequent down what was the old A1. Well, the car broke down, we had to get another car to get us there, and we finished up getting into Bradford at 5 o’clock in the afternoon. I had to change in the car, change into my boxing gear, so I dashed out of the car, into the boxing ring, to fight this lad. I fought him and he knocked spots off me – he was a southpaw, left handed boxer, and I could not cope with the situation at all. Anyway, he was from Newcastle as it happens, so the blow was a lot more bitter. Anyway, I got a medal from the Bradford Constabulary Association. I went into the office on the Monday and my boss at the time took me to one side and said, 'Well look, you know, you’re now a local government officer, you’re in a public office and we can’t have you coming to the office with a black eye and broken nose with cauliflower ears, so I suggest you give up boxing for the time being. Your appearance will be more presentable to the public.' So I gave up boxing.
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