I must admit I always thought John Harris was without doubt the finest MC British wrestling ever had, but having watched some old World of Sport footage from the eighties recently, I was able to re aquaint myself with a very close second to John Harris, Fred Downes. Fred was not used that often on TV but when he was, he often became quite animated as well being a clear and articulate speaker. Check out John Quinn's match with Caswell Martin, as Fred became quite involved and was n't frightened to air his own thoughts ! I can recall seeing Fred once at King's Lynn, little surprise there as he apparantly lived in Attleborough in Norfolk (where I believe he had an antique shop?), but he only, as far as I'm aware, worked for Dale Martins and not All Star Promotions. So have any of the old 'seniles' got any thoughts on Fred. Did he ever wrestle or referee and is he still alive?

dear old fred downes died in 2006 i think, he was a regular at my local hall on a saturday night, the agricultural hall in maidstone and was brilliant on the mike especially if syd cooper was on the bill.

another memory i have of him was when the quinn v bridges _title_ rematch was floating around it was mid august and we hadnt heard a date after max crabtree had got john harris to announce that it was to be at wembley at the end of august. It was early in the evening and Fred was standing next to Peter Sakacs getting a cup of tea i approached and asked any news of the remtch to which fred replied " john quinn no longer works for the dale martin organisation" this was the first i heard he had left and went to work for brian dixon.

Fred did indeed have a antique shop and from what ive was told my mick mcmanus didnt need wrestling but loved it .

didnt we all - in those days

god bless you fred