Sportsmen in the War

Bert Assirati was born in Islington, London in 1908, and in the late twenties became a professional wrestler, he went on to become the undefeated British Empire, and European heavyweight champion, retiring in 1960. At the outbreak of WW2 he joined the heavy rescue squad based at Kings Cross, and such was his enormous strenght and the enthusiasm with which he worked, that he was given the pay and food of TWO MEN...The authorites said that he did AT LEAST four men`s work..Heavy timbers, blocks of cement weighing hundreds of pounds were tossed aside with ease as Assirati smoothed the way for the rescue squads who were liberating trapped victims of the Hitler Air Blitz.. Assirati wrestled at the Bedford Theatre Camden Town, Caledonian Road Baths, Prince of Wales Baths Kentish Town, Royal Artillery Hall W1, The Ring Blackfriars, Holborn Stadium, Alcazar Arena Edmonton, and the A.R.P. Depot Hampstead.

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