Martial Arts

In these Modern days, with the Internet, Videos, DVD’s, Instant Communication, and fast travel, it is very easy to get where you want, and obtain the information you want.

New champion’s names are instantly passed around via the modern media methods…

You can buy magazines, videos of all the modern greats in action, and see just what they are like.

Somewhere to train?

Every City, Town, Village or Hamlet has Martial Arts Clubs on every corner.

No Sport’s or Leisure Centre these days would dream of opening without some form of Martial Art available for the local populace.

Tried Judo?

You can change to Karate – no problem.

Feel like something a bit different?

Well there’s always Tae Kwon Do.

Need something more?

Escrima, Kali, Vale Tudo, Kung Fu, etc, etc…

The choices are endless.

In fact we are saturated with a plethora of systems, and styles, from strict traditional to eclectic and modern…

We’ve never had it so good!

But, where did it all begin?.

Great Britain has, in fact, one of the oldest established Martial Arts communities in the Western World — Thanks to the Pioneers.

It is often a surprise to many followers of the Oriental martial arts to discover, that in fact, the UK has had Ju-Jitsu nearly HALF A CENTURY longer than Japan has had Karate.

Karate was introduced to Japan in the early 1920s…

Ju-Jitsu came to Britain in the 1880′s.

Yukio O’Tani, “Raku”, Uyenishi, and others brought Ju-Jitsu to these shores in the Victorian Era.

The traffic wasn’t just one way either – men like the late Ernest John Harrison, known forever as E.J.Harrison, were early travellers to Japan and the Far East and studied ethnic martial arts systems.

E.J. was in fact the very first Englishman to be awarded a Black Belt in any martial art. He was there from about 1880, at the time of the “Meigi Period”, the time of modernisation.

He wrote an excellent book titled, “The Fighting Spirit of Japan”. A superb read, in which he describes first hand accounts of actual Samurai Fights to the death. Fabulous stuff.

Men like the calibre of the late great George Hackenshmidt, added some Ju-Jutsu moves to their wrestling skills, to become even more formidable. In fact George is highly complimentary of Ju-Jitsu in all his writings.

In fact I have an original “Health & Strength” Annual for 1901, in which there are many adverts and articles about Ju-Jutsu, as well as great praise from the wrestlers as to its efficiency.

There are also many articles about “La Canne” (The Savate stick Combat), Self-Defence against “Hooligans”, and Robbers. Some quite good.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of “Sherlock Holmes”, had studied some Ju-Jitsu under one man who went to Japan to learn it – Barton Wright.

When he came back he added some Western Boxing & Wrestling, and re-named his art “Bartitsu”. In one book, Conan Doyle has Holmes defeat his enemy Moriati using Bartitsu.

The Late Captain McGlaglen, brother of the film star, Victor,  had many articles showing self-defence against the “Hun” or the “Kaiser’s men” – 1st World War Germans.

The ‘Bad’ guys wore German Army uniforms, with those spiked ‘coal scuttle’ type helmets.

McGlaglen though was one of the first ‘con-men’ in the Martial Arts. He claimed to be a “World Champion”, when in fact he was hardly above a good novice level.

BUT, the Army liked his stuff, he got to teach it as ‘Close Quarter Combat’ and it worked!

Not bad for a Novice eh?

Others like “Blind Jack Britton” were early Pioneers of the older styles: often very highly effective Ju-Jutsu’s.

Jack was blinded in a domestic accident – he had inadvertently ‘washed’ his face in Caustic Soda, and burned out his eyes. He still practised Ju-Jutsu though.

People like Bill Underwood, from Rochdale in Lancashire, who was a Master of several of the older systems. Especially the more secret forms of Ju-Jutsu.

Bill taught many “Special Forces” personnel, and when during the 2nd World War feelings were very anti-Japanese, he renamed his system “Defendu”, (ORIGINALLY Combato).

Bill awed everyone he taught.

What about Captain Fairbairn, inventor of the famous Commando knife The “Sykes-Fairburn”?

He was in Shanghai in the 1920′s & 30′s. Shanghai then was the roughest Port in the World.

If you went out alone in Shanghai at night (even during the sodding day sometimes), you were in danger of three things.. Viscious muggings (The native Chinese weren’t big fans of European people really ), being forced into the Opium Gambling Dens, or being hijacked to work on board ships. A bit like the old Press Gangs of the British Navy.

In fact so many people were press ganged this way that a word crept into the English langauge – Shanghaied – meaning kidnapped.

It was in these very dangerous and rough places and times that Fairburn ‘honed’ his combined combat talents.

A real Pioneer of ‘Cross Training’, he combined, western boxing & wrestling with Chinese Boxing to form his own ‘Eclectic Combat System’.

In his own words, he was involved in THOUSANDS of real encounters as a member of the Special Police Force of Shanghai.

He then came back to England to teach his stuff over here.

Karate?

Judo?

Ju-Jitsu?

Names like Frank Newton, Bill Woods, Pat Butler, Percy Longhurst, Vernon Bell, (who may in fact have been the very first UK Karate Black Belt). These people were learning and teaching the Martial Arts before most of us were even born.

The other main point about these earlier practitioners was the fact that hardly any of them either practised or taught the martial arts as anything other than for combative uses.

Judo was probably the first system to have any competition, but Karate, etc, was always taught for it’s combat purposes, and was often very brutal in it’s training.

Many of the older systems only became less effective ‘real’ arts due to the introduction of competitions (run as safely as possible) and younger and younger children.

These arts had to change, and become less ‘hard’ in order to attract more and more newcomers.

But some of the early competitions, etc, were very brutal indeed.

Coming into the latter half of the 20th Century, we saw a massive influx and renaissance in the martial arts.

The 1960s in particular was probably the first real era of the ‘home grown’ masters.

Prior to then, most of the top instructors, were in fact Orientals themselves…

Names like Kanazawa, Asano and Onoeda… were the household names then.

But Britain had started to grow it’s own champions.

Terry O’Neil, Andy Sherry, Steve ‘Stumpy’ Cattle, David ‘Ticky’ Donovan and many others.

In JUDO names like Dave Starbrook, Brian Jacks (Note from Rezbi: Who remembers Brian competing in Superstars? ) and Neil Adams, were real International Champs.

THEN the world saw BRUCE LEE.

Unless you were at least 15 years old in 1973, you simply cannot hope to understand – or even grasp slightly – the massive impact this one man had on not just the martial arts, but the whole fabric of society.

Not only on the martial arts fraternity, but also the general public.

The name of Bruce Lee, and with it KUNG FU, was perhaps the most earth shattering event I personally had witnessed up to that point in my life.

Magazines, books, newspaper articles, television, those awful dubbed Chinese Kung Fu films, everyone who hit, punched or kicked anyone in an assault was always guilty of a “Kung Fu” style attack.

It was everywhere. Even in the Pop Charts.

What other pastime could produce a number One Hit Record!?

Not Ice skating. Or Cricket, or, or, or — but yes…

“Everybody WAS Kung Fu Fighting” – Karl Douglas

The sheer impact it had on the martial arts world was unbelievable.

We even had an 8th Dan Karate master advertising “Kung Fu” CRISPS on television.

And, on the Saturday afternoon ‘wrestling’ on World of Sport, we even had a wrestler called Kung Fu.

Whose favourite kick (according to commentator Kent Walton), was a “Kung Fu Style Mule Kick”.

It was EVERYWHERE!

Clubs were springing up overnight. Masters appearing from nowhere.

Former brown belts at karate were going to the nearest China Towns (I was living near Manchester at this time and witnessed this on many occasions).

They went and bought Chinese style clothing and opened up clubs proclaiming their mastery in “Kung Fu”.

Thankfully, in time, real ‘masters’ emerged. And some form of sanity returned.

But for a few years Kung Fu ruled the world!

The real strange thing was that in most cases the Chinese themselves hardly ever used the term “Kung Fu”. They were more likely to call their stuff “Chuan Fa”, or similar terms.

Anyway Kung Fu ruled, and it was everywhere, and eventually (thankfully) the cowboys were ousted, and the genuine ones came in.

People like:

• Steve Babbs of the Lau Gar (I first saw Steve at Belle Vue about 1974??  I think)
• Alan Lamb (Wing Chun)
• Danny Connors (The late Danny Connors was originally a Karate-Ka who went to Japan to train, then turned a bit more into Kung Fu. Who else remembers the little club at the back of his Swan Street, Manchester Shop?).
• The Fabulous Steve Powell.(One of the first men to teach authentic Chinese Boxing to the Chinese, actually in China Town Manchester).
• Pete Consterdine. Not only a superb Karate-Ka, AND a Wing Chun student of Alan Lamb, Pete was the very first Full Contact Karate Champion of Europe).
• The AWESOME Steve Morris. Harder, Faster, Deeper was Steve’s motto. One of the few to go to Japan and train for his grades there. He went with the late, great, Gary Spiers, and trained under the legendary Gogen Yamaguchi of the Goju style).

Still with Karate, and Ju-Jitsu, who can forget the one-off himself, the late and very great Phil Milner 10th Dan.

I trained with Phil for quite a long time, and his sessions were the hardest I have ever know (I mention Phil a lot in my Book – Martial Arts, Muscles & Mayhem – New Breed Publishing).

Phil was eccentric – actually Phil was crazy – but very very hard.

He actually fought the legend Chuck Norris to a draw in the 70′s… ran barefoot from John O’Groats to Land’s End (in his Gi and a headband)for charity… knocked down houses with his hands feet and head and many other mad things.

But he trained harder than anyone else I have ever known.

There’s always Trevor Roberts, the “Bolton Iron Man”, and a great friend. He was a Junior Judo and Ju-Jitsu champ, fought internationally in Wrestling and Sambo, has worked the doors for well over 35 years, and knows his combat as well as any man living.

(I started in 1961, in both wrestling and boxing, graduating to Judo (BJC style), then Ju-Jutsu in 1964. I was more than fortunate to meet some of these pioneering GREATS.)

Those first three fabulous Thais, known to us in the 70′s as Woody, Toddy & Ken.

The impact these guys had on training was unbelievable.

Anyone else remember Toddy’s place over the Motorbike shop in Milnrow near Rochdale?

They made Thai what it is in the UK today, setting a fabulous standard for those who followed.

We eventually beat the Japanese in a World Championships in Karate, and in Judo.

We had our own home-grown champions (male and female) in EVERY Martial Art you could name.

Many are still around, now as veterans instructing the younger ones.

I could list another 100 names and still not mention all the great champions we have raised in these Islands.

Their contributions are priceless, and shouldn’t be forgotten. Because of these people, Britain stands proudly as having the highest standards in the Western world.

So next time you are at a seminar or tournament, and there’s some “old guy” there who your instructors are all proud to be seen with, it may just well be one of those fabulous Pioneers – the “Cream” of British Combat Arts.

Don’t let these people drift into forgotten obscurity — THE PIONEERS

Dave Turton 8th Dan, Head of the Self-Defence Federation

This particular article is important and timely, it is also likely to cause some controversy (once again). So firstly I am going to do something I don’t normally do, and that is ‘defend’ myself somewhat.

Normally I don’t ever feel the need to quantify and defend my writings and views, as they are no more than my own opinions based on my own experiences.

However, I just KNOW that I will be causing some degree of feedback with this article, so I am going to answer any criticisms I may receive first … the perfect pre-emptive strike.

I teach, speak and write from my own years experience in the combat arts, and I am a blunt Yorkshireman who says it like it is. For that I don’t apologise… I never set up deliberately to upset anyone… but I manage it anyway. “C’est La Vie”.

However I am going top give you some details about my background etc, for those of you who don’t know much about me, (and why should you?)

I started the combat arts in 1961 with both western boxing and wrestling whilst still at school, I boxed a couple of times for the school in 1963.

I started the martial arts with a combined Judo/Ju-Jutsu art in 1964, the year I left school. I have been involved in the combat arts since.

I hold 3 separate 8th Dan Grades, one 7th Dan and a couple of lower (3rd and 4th) Dan Grades in other styles.

I have studied ONLY those styles and methods that were/are best designed for realistic self-defence and street combat.

I have absolutely nothing against sport combat styles or ‘traditional’ training such as Katas etc.. They are just not for me personally. But I am full of admiration for anyone who trains hard and achieves a high level.

Any ‘reputation’I may or may not have achieved over these 45 years has been in the realistic styles, and I have been fortunate indeed to have had many ‘top’ names in the martial arts world come to me for tuition.

People of the quality as “Geoff Thompson” … “Jamie O’Keefe, and even “Bob Sykes”, have had tuition from me. What an honour and very humbling.

All I am trying to get across here is hopefully not a self-glorification (God forbid), but merely to show I do have some VALIDITY in my views and have a fair amount of experience in these fields.

Secondly, because the subject of Youth Knife Crime is so ingrained in our culture, with hardly a week going by without hearing about it, it needs what I believe to be a very honest and direct approach to dealing with knives on the street.

Although I have used the term ‘knives’ up to this point, let me say that the advice and any methods mentioned are also aimed at other ‘edged weapons’ which is actually a more accurate term. After all the actions, intent and results of being stabbed by a knife or a sharpened screwdriver are almost identical.

Thirdly this article is NOT a training article per se, instead I intend offering comments, advice and pointers that I genuinely feel are the best ways of dealing with the very serious problem of having to defend against a knife on the street.

RIGHT, let me start off by my first comment that may upset some readers…

90% of the techniques taught as workable knife defences are sheer garbage!

It wouldn’t be so bad if they were just garbage, but they are DANGEROUS garbage. Trying these ridiculous defences for real could get you killed, and that AIN’T funny.

I see so much that is good and also much that is bad in the martial arts… especially when discussing and/or teaching REALISTIC self-defence and self-protection.

BUT when it comes to knives I get really upset…

I constantly get DVD’s or articles from all kinds of sources asking me to look at their ‘knife defences’, and frankly there is so much tripe out there I feel awful answering them back.

So, what is the answer, if there even IS one? … Well the reason I mentioned at the start of this article that it isn’t a ‘how to do’ one, is that what is important in defending against knives isn’t the techniques used, but the PRINCIPLES that are applied.

Therefore let me start with my first bit of combined advice and observation…

“There are NO methods of defending against a knife that can guarantee your TOTAL safety”

I don’t care WHO the instructor is or what he or she tells you, the above statement is 100% FACT.

Play with water you will eventually get WET … Face knives (and other edged weapons) for real and you WILL/PROBABLY get harmed.

The sad impression we get is that if we practise a few simple little techniques, stick them into gradings done with no real intent and slightly choreographed then we are ready for the street. Knowing a blade is coming at you held by a friend who doesn’t actually WANT to kill you, and in many cases will co-operate with your ‘defences’ is not conducive to surviving the street blade.

You simply cannot mess about when dealing with a blade, and that is if you even get the CHANCE to deal with it.

There are a few instructors in the country who really do understand blades, and have produced some excellent work.  Alan Charlton for one does an excellent course.

The problem is two fold however in that because the principles and techniques of defending against blades are AND SHOULD BE quite simple, and of few numbers, many instructors ‘pad’ out their techniques with what my old instructor called “Unfunctional Bilge”… why I don’t know.

Better to have a few tried and tested methods and principles (the second being the most important) rather than a myriad of flashy techniques that may LOOK good, but are useless.

To get to the meat in this article, there is a list below of statements of FACT, these are true, later in the article there will be a few statements of fact that are in fact (sorry for the puns) not factual in fact! … get it?

• Knives do one or more of only THREE possible actions, the CUT, they STAB, and they TREATEN.
• A great majority of people cut or stabbed didn’t know they HAD been attacked with a knife. A blade is one of the FEW weapons that in fact can be used both OVERTLY and COVERTLY. But you can’t THREATEN someone with a knife COVERTLY. However you can be stabbed or cut without seeing it coming. This is a topic not covered enough.
• Knives are nearly always (in fact probably a high enough percentage to state 100%) used in the DOMINANT hand of the attacker. Very few people will secrete a knife somewhere where their DOMINANT hand can’t reach, and a right handed man will invariably hold and use the weapon in that hand.
• He or she has in fact TOLD you some facts that can aid in your defence ONLY if you see the knife BEFORE they stick it in you.
• A knife doesn’t have to cost £100 and be a ‘super-dooper Rambo Devil Blade’ or other such stupid tags … If it’s LONG enough it can stab you and if it’s SHARP enough it can cut you. You can stab someone to death with a bloody pencil, or cut them and they bleed to death with a broken credit card.
• “Twisty-Wristy” manipulative type defences are utter tripe, and should be banned and will simply NOT work in real situations. I can accept that for certain styles etc, in a grading situation that ‘demonstrating’ some form of weapon defences may (and only may) have some validity, but at least students should be told that these techniques are training moves, not ones that will work in reality.
• Controlling the knife is simply NOT as valid as controlling the person holding it… the focus is wrong and puts the emphasis on the wrong moves.
• Do it wrong in training you have a second chance. Do it wrong on the street and you could DIE

Dave Turton 8th Dan, Head of the Self-Defence Federation