MALCOLM XERXES™
07-19-2005, 12:56 AM
Hello, you lot!
My name’s MALCOLM XERXES; I’m an English stuntman/actor who was invited to this forum by BOB HUBBARD & TIM HARTMAN.
My primary Empty Hand training began when I was in Wolf Cubs (where I was also first taught to shoot).
The system was referred to as “Unarmed Combat” by my Sensei, & was predicated upon decades of his practical military experience in wartime & peacetime, in the field of battle & in civilian streetfights.
My Adoptive Father was a highly proficient bouncer (& would be still if my Mum let him!), & my formal training was further supplemented by him & his own experiences in his professional capacity & in various streetfights, some of which I witnessed myself (to my Mum’s dismay!)
@ age 12, I was told that I must choose a sporting activity in which I would receive weekly instruction, whether it be Football (Soccer to you Yanks!), Rugby, Basketball (which interests me not @ all!), Volleyball, N.F.L., or Judo.
I chose the latter because it was something I had seen nonogenarian Japanese men practising with great proficiency, whereas the team sports seemed to destroy a man by the time he reached 35 years of age.
Virtually everyone else I knew took up Judo, but when they discovered that they would not become MASTER BRUCE LEE, soon took up Tae Kwon Do, instead, usually after a period of no more than 3 months.
The relationship with my new Sensei was spoiled when my Mother’s 2nd husband said that I was not to be advanced any more belts unless I agreed to participate actively in tournaments (as his adoptive daughter was doing), so I chose to resign, rather than continuing with what had become a tainted experience.
To my own mind, the true spirit of what it meant to be Judoka had been perverted & corrupted by that ultimatum.
Like everyone else, I became addicted to Martial Arts films in childhood, largely as a result of the KUNG FU™ T.V. series that starred MR. DAVID CARRADINE, but what impressed me about KWAI CHANG KANE was not how quickly he dispatched his opponents, but the restraint he exercised whenever he did so: I respect MASTER BRUCE LEE, but I never aspired to become like him (although I respect the principles of Jeet Kune Do).
Of the various fighters who enjoy screen success today, the man whom I most respect & would like to emulate is M. OLIVIER GRUNER, whom I first saw in ANGEL TOWN™: again, I was taken by the very clean, economical fighting style, but also utterly fascinated by his forms, for I had never before witnessed Savate in action.
As well, the fact that M. GRUNER does not have a BILLY BLANKS/JEAN-CLAUDE VAN DAMME sort of physique impressed me greatly.
Of the men with whom I have had the privilege of working to date, the man whose fighting style I most revere is that of MR. JEFF WINCOTT (ironically, another Tae Kwon Do bloke!)
The man from whom I learned the most, despite my having underestimated him grossly, was MR. “ROWDY” RODDY PIPER.
My name’s MALCOLM XERXES; I’m an English stuntman/actor who was invited to this forum by BOB HUBBARD & TIM HARTMAN.
My primary Empty Hand training began when I was in Wolf Cubs (where I was also first taught to shoot).
The system was referred to as “Unarmed Combat” by my Sensei, & was predicated upon decades of his practical military experience in wartime & peacetime, in the field of battle & in civilian streetfights.
My Adoptive Father was a highly proficient bouncer (& would be still if my Mum let him!), & my formal training was further supplemented by him & his own experiences in his professional capacity & in various streetfights, some of which I witnessed myself (to my Mum’s dismay!)
@ age 12, I was told that I must choose a sporting activity in which I would receive weekly instruction, whether it be Football (Soccer to you Yanks!), Rugby, Basketball (which interests me not @ all!), Volleyball, N.F.L., or Judo.
I chose the latter because it was something I had seen nonogenarian Japanese men practising with great proficiency, whereas the team sports seemed to destroy a man by the time he reached 35 years of age.
Virtually everyone else I knew took up Judo, but when they discovered that they would not become MASTER BRUCE LEE, soon took up Tae Kwon Do, instead, usually after a period of no more than 3 months.
The relationship with my new Sensei was spoiled when my Mother’s 2nd husband said that I was not to be advanced any more belts unless I agreed to participate actively in tournaments (as his adoptive daughter was doing), so I chose to resign, rather than continuing with what had become a tainted experience.
To my own mind, the true spirit of what it meant to be Judoka had been perverted & corrupted by that ultimatum.
Like everyone else, I became addicted to Martial Arts films in childhood, largely as a result of the KUNG FU™ T.V. series that starred MR. DAVID CARRADINE, but what impressed me about KWAI CHANG KANE was not how quickly he dispatched his opponents, but the restraint he exercised whenever he did so: I respect MASTER BRUCE LEE, but I never aspired to become like him (although I respect the principles of Jeet Kune Do).
Of the various fighters who enjoy screen success today, the man whom I most respect & would like to emulate is M. OLIVIER GRUNER, whom I first saw in ANGEL TOWN™: again, I was taken by the very clean, economical fighting style, but also utterly fascinated by his forms, for I had never before witnessed Savate in action.
As well, the fact that M. GRUNER does not have a BILLY BLANKS/JEAN-CLAUDE VAN DAMME sort of physique impressed me greatly.
Of the men with whom I have had the privilege of working to date, the man whose fighting style I most revere is that of MR. JEFF WINCOTT (ironically, another Tae Kwon Do bloke!)
The man from whom I learned the most, despite my having underestimated him grossly, was MR. “ROWDY” RODDY PIPER.