Sir Roger, did you know Gary Spiers from your Karate days?
Yes, I had the honour of training with Gary when he was in his prime. Whereas I was trained in Shotokan karate, Gary (as you probably know) was an exponent of Goju ryu - a particulary useful street fighting style (high stance, very few high kicks but, boy, very very effective). Terry brought him back from Japan and found him a job working the doors.
Although brutal, I loved training with him as Shotokan is not very useful 'on the street' as its too extreme (unless you were as skillful as Terry) whilst Goju Ryu was all about street fighting. Not the sort of bloke I'd want to have a drink with (unlike Terry), he was a very effective trainer.
I remember a story about Gary, who was a really stocky bloke, huge in fact , when he worked the door in Liverpool. A couple of even bigger blokes threatened him and the other doorman and were really shouting the odds. One pulled a blade and, in a flash, Gary had broken his arm and ripped his nostrils, causing the bloke to scream like a pig. The bloke's mates looked on in horror and Gary turned to them and said 'Next?'. They legged it and no complaints were made to the police. The story was from a witness, not Gary, who never talked about his exploits. Maybe because they're all too horrendous!
I have met some great blokes during my karate 'career', all of whom could have ripped my head off and put it on backwards if they wanted to, but most remained humble and were gentle men.
However, Gary wasn't, - he really believed in the 'martial' part of the art. He wasn't into katas, meditation or 'fancy' (girlie?) stuff like that. He believed that karate was for fighting men, involved in fighting in their day to day lives. You had to respect that in a way - he was a throwback and living outside his time.
Yes, he had loads of tatoos but he's a New Zealander and was paying his respects to his Maori roots.
Hitman? Not sure... but wouldn't be surprised as he was a trained slaughterman and I know he wouldn't think twice about topping someone....he certainly had quite a few enemies....but I never had a problem with him. Thank the Lord!......