BruceWoodcockBoxer.co.uk
Links
The rather dramatic front cover of
the ghost-written autobiography (1951)
The book is hard to source in good condition
but AbeBooks often has some copies available -
https://www.abebooks.co.uk/book-search/title/two-fists-and-a-fortune/author/bruce-woodcock/
Sources
There are a range of sources for the information on this site :
- The family archive, including the scrapbook and and information from Bruce himself before his death in 1997, form a unique fund of material, much of which you can read through in the year-by-year archive
- The ghosted autobiography,
Two Fists and a Fortune, is reasonably reliable as far as facts go. According to the original contract, this book was written by Maurice Smith and was published under the Hutchinson’s Library of Sports and Pastimes imprint in 1951. The book was based on conversations with Bruce but is written in a voice that is certainly not his, and contains various anecdotes that are invented and inaccurate
- The sites and sources listed and linked below offer a wealth of material, with more to come as they are discovered
Boxing Sites
Film Archives
- BFI Film Archive - some films are contained within the BFI National Archive, but they are no longer accessible online
- British Pathe has a YouTube channel where they have a number of films about Bruce's fights and other events
- British Movietone also has a
YouTube channel with some different films to British Pathe
Newspapers
- Obituary: Bruce Woodcock
Bob Mee, The Independent, 31.12.1997 - Terrified Doncaster Boxer Fled From ‘Ghost’ at new I'm A Celebrity Castle
Darren Burke, Doncaster Free Press, 04.09.2020 - Boxing: Britain’s World Heavyweight Title Hopefuls Over History
Chris Kempson, Barking and Dagenham Post, 20.07.2020
The British Crown - Bruce vs Jack London
Bruce Woodcock KOs Jack London – British Crown - This Day July 17, 1945, White Hart Lane, Tottenham
This was the first of Bruce’s fights to be filmed. This extract is unfortunately fairly short and of poor quality. The
British Film Institute [BFI] have a copy which their catalogue lists as edited but sounds fairly complete, though it does list Bruce as ‘Bruce Woodstock’ at one point!
Marshall Cavendish released an edited version of the film in their ‘Boxers’ video magazine series in 1997 [number 46 ‘The People’s Champions’] and it is this version that the commentary [in Archive 1945b] has consulted [‘Boxers’ video magazines are often for sale on Ebay - though the format of the watchable media is VHS only]
The BBC broadcast the Jack London fight live on their General Forces Programme, from 7.15-8.30 p.m. It was the first time one of Bruce’s bouts had received such coverage. This is how David Kynaston describes it in his history of the period:
some 27,000 Londoners packed into the Spurs ground at White Hart Lane to see Doncaster’s Bruce Woodcock win the British and Empire heavyweight titles with a sixth-round knockout. ‘For Jack Solomons, the promoter, the fight was a triumph,’ the local Tottenham paper noted. ‘The crowd paid from 5/- to 10 guineas to see it. About 5,000 came by cars which lined each side of 30 side streets around the ground.’ On the radio, clashing with a transmission of Peter Grimes [Benjamin Britten’s opera, which was being broadcast on the Home Service between 7.00 and 10.00], Raymond Glendenning’s plummy, excitable commentary was complemented by the magisterial inter-round summaries of W. Barrington Dalby.’ [David Kynaston, Austerity Britain, Bloomsbury 2007, p. 72]
Bruce's Fight Video Clips
- Woodcock’s 3rd Round Win Aka Woodcock's 3 Round Win
Bruce v George James, 29.03.1946, Hull Skating Rink - Woodcock-Mauriello: The Gloves Are Off
Bruce v Tami Mauriello, 17.05.1946, New York Madison Square Garden - Woodcock Ko’s Renet
Woodcock Takes European ‘Heavy’ Title
Bruce v Albert Renet, 29.07.1946, Manchester Belle Vue King's Hall - Bruce Woodcock v Gus Lesnevich
Bruce v Gus Lesnevich, 17.09.1946, London Harringay Arena - Woodcock v Martin
Manchester
Woodcock V. Martin Boxing Match In Belle Vue
Woodcock Overwhelms French Opponent
Bruce v Georges Martin, 15.11.1946, Manchester Belle Vue King's Hall - Bruce Woodcock vs Joe Baksi
Bruce v Joe Baksi, 15.04.1947, London Harringay Arena
Final Eliminator for the World Heavyweight Title. Bruce sustained career threatening injuries in the course of this bout
Other Videos
- Newsbriefs
Issued 18.04.1946, preparing to leave for American trip - Bruce Woodcock
Issued 13.05.1946, training, and at home with parents - Sculptoon
Sculptoon [Alternate Version]
Issued 13.01.1947
Sculpture cartoonist Geoffrey Davien’s work with model of Bruce - People In Camera
Issued 21.04.1947
Col. Eddie Eagen, New York Athletic Commission Chief, assesses Bruce’s chances against Joe Baksi - Second Time as Year’s Sportsman
Bruce in audience, Sportsman of the Year event, 05.04.1951 - Ankarah Beats Clayton
Issued 28.02.1952
Shot of Bruce in audience for the Empire Featherweight Boxing Contest, 25.02.1952, Nottingham Ice Rink - Cockell beats Farr
Issued 12.03.1953
Shot of Bruce in audience - Eliminator for BBBofC British Heavyweight Title, 09.03.1953, Nottingham Ice Rink - Sportsmen And Women Of The Year Luncheon
Issued 27.11.1969
Shot of BW attending with Henry Cooper - The Freddie Mills Story
Film about the life of the legendary Freddie Mills, who Bruce defeated both times they faced each other
