For many a sports fan, Saturday afternoons were spent watching Big Daddy grapple with Giant Haystacks. But when wrestling on TV was axed, the popularity of the sport in Britain took a nosedive.

Wrestlers from the 1950s to the 1990s are championed with these incredible throwback snaps from a new book called Grunts and Grapples - The Golden Age of British Wrestling OFF the top rope!

From Giant Haystacks and Big Daddy, to 'not the ears' Mick McManus, the heyday of British wrestling was a world of colourful characters. Performing on ITV's primetime show World of Sport ...

Wrestlers like Big Daddy and Giant Haystacks thrilled kids ... rough-looking Yorkshireman,” he said. But as a wrestler, Glover was Leon Arras, The Man From Paris. He later found fame as an ...

It remains to be seen, however, whether professional wrestling will ever again reach the level of popularity domestically that it achieved with Big Daddy at the top. And that is a legacy not soon ...

For many a sports fan, Saturday afternoons were spent watching Big Daddy grapple with Giant Haystacks. But when wrestling on TV was axed, the popularity of the sport in Britain took a nosedive.