jackie turpin battling jack autobiography
jackie turpin battling jack autobiography
i've just finished reading jackie turpins autobiography, highly recommended, he fought all the top featherweights in the 40s/50s and of course was with dick and randolph when they were winning their championship fights.makes me laugh when people think ian napa is fighting too soon after his 12 rounds with martin power, jackie makes peter buckley look inactive!
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robert.snell1
- Heavyweight
- Posts: 1141
- Joined: 16 Oct 2003, 07:56
the book
I was contacted by the guy who wrote it earlier today asking if i could place it on the web site as it contains material about his time in Liverpool. I of course agreed and will place as much as need on the site asap.
It was good to hear he is doing ok also and hope the book gets more publicity as from all accounts its very good
It was good to hear he is doing ok also and hope the book gets more publicity as from all accounts its very good
Re: the book
Thats good to hear, it is very well written... has the atmosphere of Jackie actually being there in front of you talking to you...robert.snell1 wrote:I was contacted by the guy who wrote it earlier today asking if i could place it on the web site as it contains material about his time in Liverpool. I of course agreed and will place as much as need on the site asap.
It was good to hear he is doing ok also and hope the book gets more publicity as from all accounts its very good
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robert.snell1
- Heavyweight
- Posts: 1141
- Joined: 16 Oct 2003, 07:56
hi
hi terry got in touch with me so all ok. if you can go take a photo it would be great to put it on the web...assuming he agrees
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robert.snell1
- Heavyweight
- Posts: 1141
- Joined: 16 Oct 2003, 07:56
info
i will get in touch with him and ask about that for you mate.silkov wrote:Will they be coming down London way!!! :(
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robert.snell1
- Heavyweight
- Posts: 1141
- Joined: 16 Oct 2003, 07:56
Hi buddy... yes all is going quite well thanks. I have had some further contact with Terry Fox and sent me this message.
Hi Rob,
Jackie Turpin and I are extremely grateful to you for your kind offer of posting info about our book on your web site. Jackie says a big hello to any of his old mates who are still out there.
As a sample of what the book is like, I am probably best quoting the back cover:
Now in his 80th year, “Battling” Jack Turpin is the last surviving member of his generation of Britain’s best-known and loved boxing family.
Jack’s father, Lionel Turpin, came from British Guiana to volunteer for the British Army during the Great War. He was wounded on the battlefields of France and invalided to Warwick, the first black man to settle in the area. Lionel married a local girl but his early death left her struggling to raise their three sons and two daughters in pre-Welfare State England.
As young men, the excitement and gladiatorial glamour of the ring lured Jack and his brothers into professional boxing. From a home-made, backstreet gymnasium, they punched their way into the record books and into the hearts of the British people.
Battling Jack is a wonderfully narrated account of the life and times of a remarkable man who was once Britain’s busiest featherweight. It is also the history of the beginnings of a black presence in British boxing. Turpin offers us a ringside seat at heroic battles and comic encounters. He takes us behind the scenes of a scandal that rocked the sporting world and into his confidence about the mystery that surrounds his younger brother’s death.
‘The name Randy Turpin stands alongside other modern all-time greats like Joe Louis, Rocky Marciano, Max Schemling, Sugar Ray Robinson and Marvin Hagler. In 2000, he was listed with Britain’s Millennium Sporting Legends.
‘Dick’s bit of history, being the first British black man to win a Lonsdale Belt, will stand for ever.
‘As for “Battling” Jack, I was what you’d call a club fighter. I was the main event on most shows round here; I topped the bill at Liverpool Stadium three or four times; I fought twice in America – there’s not many British boxers who could say that, even British champions – and I won both times.’
Rob, I’m a poet, really, not a boxing writer – not that boxing is without poetry, far from it. Jack and I met by coincidence, as the book explains, but I felt that I had a duty to tell his story. This is the first time the Turpin story has been told from the inside.
Thanks again for your support and encouragement. I will attach an image of the front cover of Battling Jack. The book can be ordered from any bookshop such as WH Smiths, Waterstones, etc., or from internet sites such as http://www.amazonbooks.co.uk. It is a large paperback and costs 9.99 pounds from most bookshops or at a discount off the internet.
With very best wishes,
Terry
...................
He also tells me that Jack is delighted with the interest shown and wishes to thank people. They are both keen to hear from people as to what they think of the book and I have said that i will pass on the comments made.
Aside from what people have written here i would ask you spend some time writting some other comments up so that we can send them to him please.What better time of the year to pass on our good wishes to a man of his age and character.
for my part, on behalf of the Merseyside and Wirral ex boxers, a page has been created on our web site for the book.We will also be doing a feature in a future edition of our newsletter.
many thanks guys
Hi Rob,
Jackie Turpin and I are extremely grateful to you for your kind offer of posting info about our book on your web site. Jackie says a big hello to any of his old mates who are still out there.
As a sample of what the book is like, I am probably best quoting the back cover:
Now in his 80th year, “Battling” Jack Turpin is the last surviving member of his generation of Britain’s best-known and loved boxing family.
Jack’s father, Lionel Turpin, came from British Guiana to volunteer for the British Army during the Great War. He was wounded on the battlefields of France and invalided to Warwick, the first black man to settle in the area. Lionel married a local girl but his early death left her struggling to raise their three sons and two daughters in pre-Welfare State England.
As young men, the excitement and gladiatorial glamour of the ring lured Jack and his brothers into professional boxing. From a home-made, backstreet gymnasium, they punched their way into the record books and into the hearts of the British people.
Battling Jack is a wonderfully narrated account of the life and times of a remarkable man who was once Britain’s busiest featherweight. It is also the history of the beginnings of a black presence in British boxing. Turpin offers us a ringside seat at heroic battles and comic encounters. He takes us behind the scenes of a scandal that rocked the sporting world and into his confidence about the mystery that surrounds his younger brother’s death.
‘The name Randy Turpin stands alongside other modern all-time greats like Joe Louis, Rocky Marciano, Max Schemling, Sugar Ray Robinson and Marvin Hagler. In 2000, he was listed with Britain’s Millennium Sporting Legends.
‘Dick’s bit of history, being the first British black man to win a Lonsdale Belt, will stand for ever.
‘As for “Battling” Jack, I was what you’d call a club fighter. I was the main event on most shows round here; I topped the bill at Liverpool Stadium three or four times; I fought twice in America – there’s not many British boxers who could say that, even British champions – and I won both times.’
Rob, I’m a poet, really, not a boxing writer – not that boxing is without poetry, far from it. Jack and I met by coincidence, as the book explains, but I felt that I had a duty to tell his story. This is the first time the Turpin story has been told from the inside.
Thanks again for your support and encouragement. I will attach an image of the front cover of Battling Jack. The book can be ordered from any bookshop such as WH Smiths, Waterstones, etc., or from internet sites such as http://www.amazonbooks.co.uk. It is a large paperback and costs 9.99 pounds from most bookshops or at a discount off the internet.
With very best wishes,
Terry
...................
He also tells me that Jack is delighted with the interest shown and wishes to thank people. They are both keen to hear from people as to what they think of the book and I have said that i will pass on the comments made.
Aside from what people have written here i would ask you spend some time writting some other comments up so that we can send them to him please.What better time of the year to pass on our good wishes to a man of his age and character.
for my part, on behalf of the Merseyside and Wirral ex boxers, a page has been created on our web site for the book.We will also be doing a feature in a future edition of our newsletter.
many thanks guys
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TheRiverCityHippy
- Middleweight
- Posts: 8466
- Joined: 08 Mar 2014, 15:39