Martial Arts Forum

Glenn · Joined: 14 May 2006 Posts: 47

Perhaps the most famous judoka in the world is the President of Russia, who holds a black belt and learned the art while in the KGB. The former Tory leader, William Hague, is a brown belt and spars with former olympic athlete Lord Seb Coe at the Budokwai. Can't think of any other politicos currently who do judo, although the Japanese parliament will contain a few no doubt, but the president of America in 1905, Theodore Roosevelt, was one of the first Westerners to learn judo and had his own personal trainer.
Of the celebs, I gather Mel C has had a bash at judo, she learned it for The Games on Channel 4, and Guy Ritchie trains at the Budokwai. Hugh Cornwell out of The Stranglers has been a black belt since the seventies. In America Grace Jones, whose ex husband was martial arts star Dolph Lundgren, was keen on judo and karate and over here Honor Blackman in the sixties was one of the first women to make judo an acceptable pastime for women.

Wol · Joined: 09 Mar 2007 Posts: 8

I actually have a copy of Honour Blackams guide to Self defence, obviously written after or during her stint in the Avengers but a brilliant book no the less. Shows how to tie your obi in a nice bow and everything!

Glenn · Joined: 14 May 2006 Posts: 47

Wol
I believe the book came out in 1964 when she was filming Goldfinger. Honor was one of the first women to get a black belt in Britain and it made her more convincing in her roles in The Avengers and Goldfinger. Also, if you watch the early James Bonds, a lot of the fighting techniques are judo based as this was the only martial art that was well known in Britain. I know in Dr No Bond strangles one of Dr No's henchmen with a judo technique and uses a tai otoshi on another character early on. Later Bond films tended to use more karate as this was becoming more well known in the late sixties and appeared more dramatic and deadly than judo.

konrad · Joined: 12 Aug 2007 Posts: 15

Madonna husband Guy Ritchie

Glenn · Joined: 14 May 2006 Posts: 47

Germany's prime minister, Angela Merkel, is a black belt. She met Vladimir Putin recently and I wondered if they had their gis with them as Putin is fairly keen to practice his judo.

sid · Posted: Thu Sep 27, 2007 9:48 am Post subject: Famous judoka

I found this yesterday.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/main.jhtml?xml=/health/2002/10/16/hfight16.xml

Sarah · Joined: 09 May 2006 Posts: 222 Location: Surrey, England

Nice one Sid!!!!!!

Glenn · Joined: 14 May 2006 Posts: 47

Another one to add to the list and one of the highest ranked judoka in the world, Joe Robinson, who holds an 8th dan and appeared in action roles in films in the fifties and sixties. He is best known for his role in Diamonds Are Forever, where he impersonates James Bond and has a fight in a lift with the real Bond before being killed. Robinson also holds a 5th dan in karate and his daughter was a British judo champion in the eighties.

Glenn · Joined: 14 May 2006 Posts: 47

Seventies singer Lynsey de Paul, best known for representing Britain in the 1977 Eurovision song contest, is a black belt in jiu jitsu and makes self defence vides now.