London’s Screen Archives enables Londoners see their past come alive on film. Managed by Film London, we are a unique network of historic film collections that cares for, collects and screens heritage film across the city. Together we preserve London’s rich film heritage from feature films to home movies, public information films, newsreels, and records of the capital’s many different industries.
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Young men grapple in the sun under the watchful eye of Japanese legend Yukio Tani in this film of a wrestling competition at Finsbury Park.
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Overview
With interest in wrestling on the wane, the organisers of the Middlesex County Championship Tournament elected to hold 1926’s competition in Finsbury Park to raise interest. Hence this film of men wrestling on a mat in the park watched by a decent crowd, while London buses rumble past, passengers oblivious to the frantic grappling taking place nearby. Among the crowd is Yukio Tani, a retired Japanese wrestler and teacher known as the “pocket Hercules”.
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