Judge Anderson Pinup

 Since I had my scanner out I thought I'd catch up with some stuff I've been meaning to digitise for a while. While i was doing that I happened to look up and saw the poster jsut above my computer desk. "You know what" I mused "I've been threatening to scan this for a while."

It took a bit of doing because the pster was just slightly larger than the scanner knew what to do with and I had a bitch of a job getting the various bits aligned; even then there's some definite glitches if you look closely enough.

 

Never mind. Here's the infamous  Judge Anderson topless pinup from one of the Summer Specials. 

 No, I don't know where her nipples went. 

  That's All Folks

 

Wrestling Reports October 1964

 A few days ago I got a comment on one of my older posts.

TheWrestlingNick posted :

"Hi. I wonder could you possibly check for me if there's any article about wrestling in Northern Ireland in this issue? And if so, would there be any chance you could provide me a scan of it? Requests from a complete stranger I know!"

 As it turned out, yes there was a little piece about Irish wrestling tucked away near the back so I dug my scaner out from under a pile of books and here it is. If it turns out that one of the wrestlers named is a relative of yours, Nick, then I'd love to hear about it. 

 I figured I might as well scan the rest of the mat reports as well so here they are in no particular order. 

 

This next one mentions two familiar names. 

Jim Breaks who was a  regular on World of Sport well into the 1980s

and Peter Maivia who would go onto star in American rings as well as being The Rock's grandfather.

                                          I did check and I managed to find a little profile on Mihalya Kuty on Wrestling Heritage.

https://wrestlingheritage.co.uk/kkostas.htm

I do find it fascinating that these days you can see a match result on the net about ten minutes after the bell sounds. You can even watch the match itself on any numbr of platforms.

Meanwhile in 1964 if you wanted to know what was going on outside your area then you either hoped your local tv station covered that promotion or you got the magazine weeks, months later. 

 A few more notable names here: Gypsy Joe - now mainly known from his infamous hardcore match with New Jack when he was about 70 - plus some lady wrestlers. I find the idea of Hobo Brazil fascinating. I wonder how many people didn't read the poster properly and  thought they were getting Bobo Brazil. 

 

 Just a reminder that there were promotions all around the country who all had their own stars and champions.

Tim Woods would later go on to be the first Mr Wrestling 

I do find it ineretesting that the USA and UK both had wrestlers called Skull Murphy who had absolutely no connection to each other and wrestled in different decades. Maybe some rings names are too good not to reuse. 

 A number of familiar names but of particular note is the prediction that Pedro Morales "will be a real contender"

And you know what, they were right. 

That's All Folks

 

Been reading: A Lamp for Medusa / The Players of Hell

 

This 1968 paperback contains two novels/novellas, each by a different writer.  Because having two by the same author would make too much sense.  Or if you want to get cynical, the publishers hope you'll seek out the (potential) sequel and buy that too.

1. A Lamp For Medusa - by William Tenn 

  A hapless chef is unwittingly transported into the age of Greek myths and finds himself tasked with removing the deadly Medusa.

  I can tell you right away that the Medusa on the cover is a great deal more attractive than the Medusa in the actual book who is more like the monstrosity in the Clash of the titans films. 

 So if you're hoping for any kind of romantic angle twixt human and gorgon: Nope. Sorry.  

 I had at least heard of William Tenn from reading his marvellous "The Liberation of Earth" and this was more of the same. A breezy, humorous writing style hiding a story that's darker than you think and with some interesting ideas on the flow of time and alternate realities. Needless to say, the story doesn't play out the way you expect either. 

  On the whole this is a pretty decent tale that might not have kept me gripped but definitely kept me reading.

2. The Players of Hell By Dave Van Arnam

Awandering rogue is recruited to steal a fabulous, magical item from a heavily-guarded palace. However, he is merely a pawn in a much bigger game.

 The very first page instroduces you to a wizard called Azeltaram the Black Magician and I think that tells you a lot about what this book is about. It's the sort of fantasy you really don't get these days,where everybody has exotic names, wizards lob lightning bolts about with abandon and characters start taven brawls for the hell of it with backroom politicking and scoio-economic commentary absolutely ignored. 

 If you want a comparison I'm thinking of the Thongor or Brak the Barbarian books with a less muscly hero.  Assuming you can cope with the deliberately archaic style of writing and dialogue then you might enjoy this. Personally I enjoyed it enough that I do actually want to track down the sequel. 

 Huh. Looks like the marketing plan worked after all.