Arthur Cooper Gallery

Doesn't mention Bedworth on any of his Bouts on that Wiki list Not Local but good spotting.

Copied from before - the poster in the background shows a fight between Les Allen and Jack Coffee Johnson. According to this site, at the Arden Ballroom, Bedworth on 1/3/1954 Les Allen fought Jack Johnson Cofi from Ghana. Assuming this was Jack and not one of the other fighters mentioned on the poster.

The poster has Les Allen and Jack Johnson Cofi in larger print and at the top. It figures that the local hero would be 'top of the bill'.

I would not think this was a shot being taken before a fight in the Arden as surely his name would still be on the poster. In newspaper articles it was announced that A match had been arranged in Italy for him to fight Tiberio Mitrio in a title fight in April, and another February article says his next fight was to be March 30th at Earls Court. So possibly this was just a promotional picture, perhaps for his Tuf-wear shorts !

I would agree that this is a promotional picture, either for a newspaper or a boxing magazine. Back in the early 1950's this was the only way that most of the general public could get to see what these boxing champions looked like. We have to remember that very few people had televisions back then. It was a bit like putting out a promotional video today. The picture was probably taken in the gym where Randolph Turpin was training so that would have been Leamington, Warwick or Coventry. I read somewhere that the Turpin brothers did use a boxing gym at the back of a pub in King Street, Bedworth so it might just have been there. The poster advertising future local fights would have been a common feature around all of the local boxing gyms.

Hi all - caption time: Jack Johnson Cofi of Ghana in a promotional photograph for an upcoming bout. The poster behind refers to a match between Les Allen and Jack Coffee Johnson at the Arden Ballroom, Bedworth on 1/3/1954. Johnson was known for using a gym on King Street in Bedworth also used by Randolph Turpin's brothers. Seem reasonable?

We have some metadata. Belgium middleweight boxing champion Leon Fouquet (left) is welcomed to the Butt's Stadium by Coventry Mayor Alderman George Briggs (centre) for his bout against local hero Randolph Turpin (Right). Turpin went on to win the fight. 23rd June 1947. Randolph Turpin, born in Leamington in 1928 was a British boxer in the 1940s and 1950s as an amateur and for the Royal Navy. In 1951 he became world middleweight champion when he defeated Sugar Ray Robinson, receiving a civic reception to thousands of people on his return to Leamington. His reign lasted 64 days after defeat to Sugar Ray in a rematch. He was found dead in 1966 from two gunshot wounds to head and heart, but the inquest found he had committed suicide, which is disputed today. The prevailing theory is a gangland murder after Turpin exposed corruption in boxing. He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2001.

While looking for St Nicholas St vicarages I found this notice about Civil Defence training in the Herbert Archives here. Where is says "Letter from the Office of the Commissioners for Civil Defence to the Town Clerk, regarding the rescue training ground in London Road and a possible site at Hylands Nursing Home, St Nicholas Street, 26 January 1955; Statement of (estimated) expenses from the Home Office to the Town Clerk, relating to the Civil Defence Commissioners' salaries, etcetera, 31 January 1955; Letter from the Town Clerk to the Coventry Civil Defence Commissioners, indicating that the proposed site at Hylands Nursing Home, St Nicholas Street is part of the City's Development Plan and earmarked for future residential purposes, 1 February 1955;" I had wondered if this view was from that area?