BoxRec

I don't know if anyone has heard of Vic Herman before, but I have a bit of information on him..

Victor unfortunately passed away on March 7th, 2002. I met him two weeks before he died and we struck up a short but strong friendship. His wife (from Thailand) was good friends with my wife which was was how we came to meet. I was struck by his intelligence and fascinated by the interesting stories about his life.

After boxing Vic turned to playing his bagpipes and painting, he was very accomplished at both. He traveled the world marrying three times, to an English women, an American and a Thai. He was in Laos during or just after the Vietnam war and also lived in Los Angeles, New York, Spain and London. He painted much and some examples of his work can be seen on the website below.

I promised him before he died that I would set up a website to show his paintings and to say something of his life. I must admit that I haven't managed to do too good a job of yet but I would still share this with you if anyone is interested, The web site can be found at http://www.victorherman.com/

http://www.boxrec.com/boxer_display.php?boxer_id=034114
If anyone who maintains his boxing record is reading this then you might like to add a link to Vic's website and update his record with the date that he passed away.

Many thanks

Ian Smith

I think the job you have taken on is very good and you should be pleased with what you have done so far. The paintings are of great interest to me and i am sure other people.
Updating his record is not a problem and i am sure that other users of this site will send you whatever information they have, or in the future, to you so that you can build on the details you have.

If you contact kevin at britishboxing.net i am sure he would be willing to help out

i wish you well with the work and applaud you motives

I am very impressed with the fast response.

Thanks for your comments. I will try and add some more in. He took the time to write a lengthy autobiography which he wanted to get published. I plan to add some exerts from that to the site too.

Cheers

Ian smith was kind enough to send this article to me and wishes it to be shared. The web site is well worth visiting.


This is the obituary written by David Robson and published in the Daily Express on Wednesday March 20th, 2002.

Many Talents of a Gorbals boy who'd never stay down

Victor Herman had an extraordinary life. He fought world boxing champions, had a gold disc for playing on a Slade album and spent most of he last three decades with a Thai women he married three days after they met. In the ring he was a puncher brutal enough to knock a great British champion clean through the ropes twice. And he was not easily forgotten. "Vic the Jewish Bagpiper" would enter (and often leave) the ring wearing a kilt and playing the pipes. But the the form of self expression he cared for most was painting.

He was born in Manchester but grew up in tough circumstances in Glasgow, a Gorbals boy. Rejected by his mother, he was consigned to an orphanage along with his brothers and sisters. He had his first life changing confrontation with greatness, a Rembrandt, in the city's Kelingrove gallery, at nine years old.

In his teens he had his second, while apprenticed to a local barber. There he met world champion Jackie Paterson. Vic, slight himself, was drawn to the ring and made his professional debut at 17, winning by a knockout. Three times he fought legendary Scottish fighter Peter Keenan, propelling him out of the ring but losing on points each time. In 1951 he fought Terry Allen for the British flyweight title, again losing on points.

When Vic moved to London with his wife Marion in the Fifties they lived in the top two rooms of a house that promoter Mickey Duff owned in Stamford Hill. "A shortage of flats" says Duff "and a shortage of money. He was a tough little fellow, very nice guy. He was managing himself as a boxer."

Were they bad times? "I don't remember him having any good ones" says Duff. But Vic was a man never afraid to do the necessary. The good-money fights were in Asia an, unusually for a British boxer, he travelled and piped himself into the ring in Tokyo, where he was knocked out by the world champion. In 1954 he fought in Thailand. He loved the place and returned to South-east Asia several times to live and paint.

For many boxers, the last knockout is the end. For Vic, with soft, brittle, artist's hands, it was the beginning. He retired from boxing at 25 and threw himself into painting. He went to America where he sold insurance, painted... and starved. "My first wife and I moved to Greenwich Village. Between 1962 and 1996 I painted and painted and painted, barely making a living, so it was hardly surprising that my wife divorced me," he later told journalist Brian Donald.

His His art was representational, vivid, colourful and strong and when he took himself to Venice Beach, California, he finally found someone with money who shared his enthusiasm. Californian millionaire Daniel Solomon became his patron, buying, exhibiting and selling his paintings. When Vic left America for Asia he continued sending pictures to Solomon.

In the early Seventies, while teaching art at Laos university, Gong, a poor Thai women, began work as his housekeeper. She spoke no English and he had no Thai but, on her third day, he communicated via friends that he wanted to marry her. "How can he?" Gong asked. "I don't know him." "Just marry him" said her friend. She did but things did not run altogether smoothly. Away from America the Solomon did not deliver what it promised; Vic took off for Indonesia and Bali and, though they had a baby daughter, Gong did not hear from him for months.

In 1976 they came to Britain and Vic set about making a living on London streets, doing pencil portraits outside the National Portrait Gallery at £5 a time and busking with bagpipes in Oxford Street. One famous sally away from the pavement was to the recording studio to feature on Slade's Crackers album on the pipes. Not any old bagpipes - he made his own, enhancing the skills he may have inherited from his father with a course at London College of Furniture.

Eventually Gong and Vic opened the Thailand Restaurant in New Cross, South-east London. It was soon voted the best in London by Time Out. With friends' help bought 88 pictures back from the Solomon estate. They are lovingly stored at his home and will be displayed on a new website, http://www.victorherman.com. He is survived by his wives, two sons and two daughters. And by his paintings.

Victor Herman was born in Manchester on February 12, 1929. He died at Guys Hospital, London, on March 7, 2002.

Nice site mate.

I have been 'talking' to his brother Denis in the past.

Vic is my boxer of the past this week.

http://www.britishboxing.net

Kev
http://www.britishboxing.net

great stuff mate . good photo of him on your site

Thanks Robert.

I'll do a little piece on him later today

Kev

Guys,

Thanks for your efforts. I have let his family know as I sure that they will be very pleased as well.

Cheers

Ian

Victor Herman was my Uncle, Denis Herman is my father, brother of Vic, I had no idea this site was even here, I would like to take this time to thank you so much for making this web site in memory of my Uncle Vic, God Bless You.

Lorrie Herman