Famous Fencers

[KBayDog]

Originally posted by Matt_Bailey

Now I've got to ask you if you ever train to "Flash of the Blade", "The Duellists" or "Sun and Steel"

Cheers
Matt

Matt,

Maiden was my favorite band long before I every picked up a blade. In fact, I thought the pic of Bruce in saber gear inside the "Powerslave" cover was just a promo for "Flash..." and "The Duellist." That he IS a fencer, and owns Duellist International, is just icing on the cake.

As for your question: Yes, I do train to "Flash of the Blade" and "Sun and Steel." How could a Maiden fan not?

As for "The Duellist"... Listening to that song is part of my pre-competition routine. It somehow reaches deep into me. It pumps me up, and even helps me focus. (Perhaps because it is written about the essence of our sport?)

KBayDog
"Up the Irons!"

[DHCJr]

Robert Heinlein was Sabre for Annapolis and you can see his bias in 'Glory Road'.

Ralph Finnes did not fence in Sunshine. You are seeing members of the Hungarian Sabre Team.

Above are corrections and below are some more.

Guy Williams of Disney's Zorro fame was a fencer before acting and his father taught fencing.

Ralph Faulkner also comes to mind as well as several of his students, John Derek, Basil Rathbone, Danny Kaye, Errol Flynn, Ronald Coleman, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. and Tony Curtis who were all good fencers. One of his last students was 10 herself, Bo Derek, but she never got to the level of her husband.

[edew]

Damned, who wouldn't want to check her chest protectors at an NAC?

[Purple Fencer]

Originally posted by edew
Damned, who wouldn't want to check her chest protectors at an NAC?

Down, boy, down...

[edew]

I'm always thinking safety, Sam. Always safety.

[135711]

two years later, we're still checking chest protectors, the old paternal network thing is still there, i saw someone do a 'check', i don't know, i thought it was embarrassing. she should have checked for him, and reported her findings.

mango-fever

[Catlady]

Didn't know Ezra Pound fenced. Cool, I admire his work quite a bit. "Here lies the Idaho Kid, the first time he ever did". Since he and William Carlos Williams (another of my idols in the writing world) were pretty good friends, I wonder if he fenced too.

As far as someone who's done a great deal of stage fencing and would probably be a great sport fencer considering his height and coordination, as well as the fact that he was a boxer--apparently a very good one--when he was a teenager, Liam Neeson. (Darn, we need a smilie for heavy drooling.) Though he said one of the reasons why he quite boxing, besides not wanting to deal with the brain damage, was that he didn't really have the killer instinct, so maybe not.

[jeff]

Originally posted by Gav
I didn't know Neil Diamond was a fencer. Was he any good?

He fenced sabre for NYU during its glory days; IIRC he once did a dual meet where he won his 3 bouts 5-0, 5-0, 5-0. That aint shabby!

[biglardo]

Evidently Neil Diamond was good enough to have a scholarship for fencing at NYU. I read an interview where he said that a lot of his "moves" at concerts were based on fencing!