It was 1982, when I first moved from East London to further afield, Essex to be more precise in Gants Hill, a mostly Jewish area, I did’nt really want to move further out but my stepfather Richie Ward was bettering himself, business was booming and his small motor spares shop in the Mile End road was getting bigger, his wallet fatter and he wanted a better life for his co habitar, my mother and her son, me!
I remember telling my great uncle Alf a former pro flyweight boxer back in the 30’s that going to such an area the kids there would be posh and I wouldn’t fit in, “Mick some of those Jewish kids are good little footballers, and they used to be pretty good boxers” but that was a long time ago in a bygone era back in 1930’s East London, a majority I would guess of those Jewish kid’s from the 1930’s would move out to area’s similar to that of Gants Hill and settle down with there family’s and the new generation, some of whom would be my new classmates, if you could call them my mates!
So it was the March of 1982, that I had my first day at my new school, mum packing me off with a light brown brief case, sent her little boy to this new place, the other classmates had heard of this new kid joining there school, an East end kid, thought’s of a right handful in the newcomer were dismissed clearly when they saw me walking up to the classroom situated just outside the main school, the classroom a mere outbuilding my other classmate’s felt threatened no more when they saw me for the first time a curly haired eleven year old holding a brief case, more an object of laughter than of fear, those Jewish kid’s would make my life a little uneasy for the next few year’s…. until that is, one day when one decided to crack more than a joke and more of an egg in my pocket came unstuck when I finally kicked off properly, offering two of the bastards out, they both backed down and funnily enough Jay was there looking amazed at what he was seeing, let’s put it this way they did’nt bother me no more!
Let’s get back to around April of 82, and after a month at my new school I’m in the changing room after a Physical Education lesson, me a skinny little kid amongst plenty of other skinny little kid’s are changing into our school uniforms when all of sudden I notice a black man in the corner of the dressing room and can’t believe how well developed he is, thinking to myself that must be one of the P.E teachers, thing is though he never took our lesson, and then I figured he must have been the teacher taking the next class or year above for there daily grind on the playing field!
Conversation sometime after that lesson got onto about the hardest kid in the year, a fellow pupil mentioned about some black kid who wears glasses, some kid called Ingleton, I could’nt place him and I’d never heard of him before or even seen him, and then one day I did and soon I realised something?
You know that black bloke getting changed in the dressing room I was talking about a good few second’s ago, well who I thought was one of the P.E instructors was’nt!
See that black man was a twelve year old child, with legs bigger than that of a man and a physique that many a grown man would envy, Jay Ingleton was his name and I’ll never forget the time down on the playing field when twenty or more kids attacked him only for him to punch and kick them off like a kung fu master just like the arcade game character Thomas did from the classic arcade game Kung Fu Master, that was also known originally as Spartan X in Japanese arcade’s and was the first arcade video game from my knowledge to be based on a novel that also made the transistion onto celuloid which Jackie Chan starred in, however for Jay bashing up almost a class of kid’s, this I saw with my own two eyes and he would have made some teacher surely!
Some years later I’d be passing by on a bus and see that same black kid now a fully grown man running bare chest in the pouring rain four or five times to neighbouring Ilford and back on the same run, also a friend going to work one morning would tell me ‘oh yeah I know him, I’ve seen him running out in the snow!’ whatever?, whoever this guy was?, he was one thing for sure a dedicated, comitted athlete who has I recently put it to the interviewee as such “Jay, you just don’t live the life, you’ve lived it all your life!”
So with out further a do, let me introduce you to one of a kind, not just another personal fitness trainer but some one a little bit special and I can vouch for this through personal experience, talking to myself on a Sunday evening Jay told me of the time he proved too much of an handful for the top martial art’s club in London The Shootfighters, if not Britain and was subsequently kicked out, even the instructor’s wouldn’t allow there pro’s near this man, nuff said!
So I during the conversation wanted to find out what made this machine of a man tick, and what with machines I wanted to press the right buttons, I dare not press the wrong ones!
Readers please let me introduce Jay Darrell Ingleton…..
Michael Serra: So where did it all begin, your early life for example?
Jay Ingleton: I was born at King Georges {hospital} so I’ve been a Essex boy my whole life, born and bred and I’m proud of that, especially now I’m starting to build my name internationally.
I always believe I been some kind of fighter even before I kind of knew what that is, I used to play fight {when younger} but always had a kinship for it, this is what I love doing, I’ve always been inclined naturally that way to be involved, looking back now I wished I’d done more because now I realise it is my path way but back then I did’nt know, I guess I felt a bit out of place a little bit because I had such a passion for it but no one else did around me and you feel your the odd kid out because you got this huge passion, I obviously didn’t unleash it as much as I would have loved too if I could go back right now, I’ve always been a fighter, always thought about it, always been on my mind no matter what from reading super hero comics from Spiderman to the X men, something was always going on in my head regarding super athletes, my imagination was the same at school has I used to have daydream’s about being some kind of super hero, being the toughest, something or whatever, this was on my mind all the time and at the time I was thinking is this normal? and looking back now and where I am in my life it all makes kind of sense.
I believe I’m a natural athlete, a natural fighter
M S: So tell me about your early fighting memories?
J I: It’s funny because I talk to some people and for some reason have got it in there head that I was a kind of bully {I can offer that Jay never bullied anyone simple as, he got picked on and they might have been picked off and up from the floor!, but Jay never bullied anyone to my knowledge} I may have messed around a bit yes, but I never remember myself being a bully {one bully who did mess with Jay was thrown to the floor, getting up and laughing, the bully walked out and saw blood, he never laughed after this!} I was a competitive kind of guy I think, if pushed and if push come to shove you know I would explode I guess, I had a temper on me but for me to actually go off, you’d really have to push me or wind me up or something.
I liked fighting a lot, but was always fair, I was’nt like a dirty fighter I would’nt take a bat to you or a weapon to you or anything, I might throw the odd chair here and there but I wouldn’t do anything under hand, I had some kind of principle’s, keep some kind of principle honour, but has I got older I though wait a minute, ‘other people don’t have that, so if I keep that kind of principle honour I’m might get hurt, you can only fight the same rules and if your sticking to fighting fair where someone else is’nt your going to get hurt, so I remember thinking has I got older with all the weapons that you’d see around, you think ‘it’s changed now’ you don’t expect to just fight someone and walk off, they could come back with other people or with weapon’s or whatever, so you got to expect the unexpected, but in the early day’s it was just fun and I used to enjoy it, I liked the competing, but I never {got really viscous} there was only one time I got really viscous was with {a kid at school} Steven Donald, he was racist, it was funny because we used to be mate’s but I did’nt realise he was racist, after we all found out he was National Front, has was his father {the equivalant of today’s racist organisation BNP} it was quite surprising because we used to hang around with him and he was okay and all of a sudden he just changed into this racist thug, he was very violent, he did drugs and shit, but you know I remember beating him up, I beat him up quite bad, but only because he pushed me that far I guess you know, so that was the reason why, when I swept him I tripped him up on Lord Avenue, he fell his head hit the floor and he knocked himself out and I jumped on him and pounded his face with some punches and bruised his face up, I remember that clearly and after that some people thanked me for doing that and a lot of people liked me for doing that, because no one liked him you know, thing is we used to be mates and then he just changed, and I thought about out of principal we used to be mates and you just change into this racist thug, the principal of that really pissed me off, it just drove me mad I guess, well not mad but just pushed me to that extreme.
M S: He brought a crowbar to school the next day, didn’t he?
J I: Yeah, he was a headcase, drugs and all that shit, in actual fact I saw him after I left school once, he saw me but he didn’t say nothing, he just walked right past, but I could tell he was high on drugs, he got a lot bigger after school {physically} and got into a lot of fights but it was purely out of being on drugs by then, it was just a crazy period back then but he was just basically a thug you know what I mean?, a thug and I did’nt realise that then, me with all my principles and I’m fighting a thug, it’s a different ball game.
M S: So Donald would pick up anything to attack someone with?
J I: Yeah.
M S: Today’s black youth possibly don’t suffer that much racial abuse as they once did, please tell me what it was like a black kid growing up in the seventies and eighties, in a mostly white area like Clayhall, Essex?
J I: A mostly Jewish area, I used to go to the Redbridge Jewish club, so I was always hanging around with whites and Jew’s, yeah at times I felt it {Racism}, Yeah at times I definately felt it, people would say things and you’d be ‘what, what was that about?’ you know what I mean?, they’d get funny and you’d think ‘what you getting funny for?’ you just try and reason with them, and if they were unreasonable you’d think ‘okay alright’ I used to try and reason with them and hoping it’d work, and then just walk off and just be fine or whatever, I’m trying to be nice and your being nasty, my feelings would get hurt of course, I did try and reason with it, if that did’nt work I’d just walk off, looking back on it, it’s kind of funny, but when the Tottenham lot came down {Tottenham a notoriuosly tough place some miles from Jay’s home, famous for the riots at Broadwater farm, a council estate where Police officer Keith Blakelock was killed in 1985} with Horace {another black kid} and a lot of things changed, I would’nt say for the better, but there was a bit of trouble for them too because they saw me differently also, they’d come down drinking there Tennant’s {beer} and all that rubbish, I don’t know I guess that was just me and I dealt with things because of my fighting and my mind was elsewhere and I was always the toughest or the fastest so I had something to focus on I guess, so it did’nt hit me that way because I ignored a lot of it {racism}, sometimes I was like a sore thumb {the only black guy}
M S: So tell me how long have you been involved in physical culture?
J I: Since the age of thirteen, fourteen so your talking twenty six, twenty seven years.
M S: What was it that first got you interested in martial arts?
J I: Probably this older kid Anthony Joseph, I used to look up to him has he used to talk about karate and stuff, but he never knew what it was but he pretended he did, he pretended he could teach us and that he fought also, he was about four years older than me and pretended he was a karate master and we thought he was, we did’nt know any different, so he was my first real entrance into a fake {person} but it planted a seed into me, a seed of interest, also the Kung Fu series from tv with David Carradine, also hearing Bruce Lee’s name for the first time, his films then Chuck Norris, he was my biggest influence watching Chuck Norris, then I was thirteen, fourteen I was trying stuff out before I tried my first karate class, it was Hayden Joseph {no relation to Anthony} who took me to my first karate class and there was a guy called Dave Slapper from the East London karate school, it was Hayden who introduced me there and to my first proper martial arts training, and it went on from there really, I remember that clearly and then from karate I went into kung fu, into mugendo, jujitsu and then into win chun, then some kick boxing, thai boxing, then later on Brazilian jujitsu, submission wrestling and some other stuff also, but I was trying stuff out before I knew it technically, some things came to me more naturally than others.
M S: You were quite a good all round athlete, but what sport did you particulary excel in?
J I: I was a good sprinter, I was good at cricket, also rugby when I could be bothered to play, I was probably a better rugby player than a sprinter {I remember at the sports days, the school would film and the 100m that Jay ran in, the camera solely was on him and him alone, such was the impression he caused amonget the sports teacher} I once scored four tries in a row and everyone got jealous of me because I would’nt pass the ball to them I just scored all by myself and they hated me for that, and I remember my rugby teacher Mr Wookie telling me “just keep doing what your doing, don’t worry about what they say, just keep doing what your doing” because I kept scoring all the time so I’d say at school level rugby was my best but I was a good sprinter too I’d say now it’s running long distance outside of martial arts has I’ve done marathon’s and stuff, fitness running I absolutely love.
M S: What martial art would you say you excel in?
J I: I consider myself freestyle, they call it mixed martial arts but I been doing this {mixing} for years, so I just call myself freestyle.
M S: So what did you do when you left school?
J I: I went to college and studied acting for two years at Redbridge tech, theatre class and now I’m hoping to put it too use {laughs} I wanted to be an actor back then but I did’nt have the confidence then I came out of there and drifted around and was doing bit’s a pieces like assistant lift engineer, you know all kinds of odd jobs, until I started teaching when I was twenty six has a fitness instructor.
M S: So you have studied and practised and studied many different fighting styles, is there any particular one that you prefer?
J I: Right now I’d say Thai boxing.
M S: Have you ever had any competitive fights, though I know you had plenty streetfights {laughs}?
J I: I fought in karate competitions, semi karate competitions and I always fought the winner of the tournament but I never saw my talent right the way through, I could have been but my mind wondered off, if mixed martial arts, ufc had been around then I think I would have been in to it, but because of the time there was’nt anything like that around but like I said I did try semi contact karate but got bored a little bit and did’nt really bother with it.
M S: So what was your record in karate?
J I: Fightwise I never won any competitions, but I must have fought about three or four competitions and each time I either fought the winner of the tournament, got beaten by the winner, but one time I fought the area champion and was kicking him all over the place and for some reason I just lost my focus and just because of that and not because he was better than me, not a great record not at all so I’m not going to say it was, but the ability was there but I did’nt focus on it really so I’m not going to claim anything there.
M S: I seem to remember at school, you wanted to be a stuntman, did you ever do this and also did you ever have any involvement in films?
J I: I didn’t do it, but I’m doing it now but not as a stuntman as a such, more of a martial arts stuntman, so I can focus more, anything to do with martial arts, I don’t really want to fall into buildings!, anything to do with fight choreography, that’s what I’m doing now {Jay has a showreel on his facebook and youtube, type in his name then take a look and see for yourself the kind of guy I’m talking too and about on the respective aforementioned websites} and pursuing acting, my first acting gig was for I.B.M and that was for an I.B.M video, I got paid for that professionally for playing a boxer, and right now I’m pursuing it more seriously.
That really was my goal before but I never saw it through, my friend Steve Spiro went on to become one of the youngest stunt men in the country while I went off course a bit and I was teaching but now I’m a martial arts stuntman, well we’ll see if someone wants to hire me and pay me to do something and it’s within my ability then I may do it.
M S: I once heard you starred in a film?
J I: I did one film, but I didn’t get paid for it, I acted my part out well but the rest of it {the film} didn’t come together well, so I think the film got locked away somewhere.
M S: What was the name of the film?
J I: Furor, nothing came of it, it had someone in it who was a thirteen times World champion, I was supposed to have got a showreel from that, I didn’t get a copy of it, yeah I did that but my real start was the I.B.M video, that was a professional guy who filmed Jackie Chan in Shangai Knights, the director has worked with Benicio Del Toro, and it’s a company that is known World wide, so I’d say I’m happy that this was my first professional job, so the next payday I hope will be for something like that, plus I got an agent whose on the look out for me.
M S: So in the film what part did you play?
J I: Just an extra, I was a karate extra, one of the bad guys, an henchman, just a small scene really, I thought it was going to be bigger.
M S: So if there’s a film producer etc….reading this and they want to contact you how would they go about this?
J I: I now have an agent, Sheila Foley who works for the Extra Mile agency and she can be contacted by her email which is Sheilafoley@theextramileagency.com
M S: So Chuck Norris named you the awesome kicking machine, is this true and if so how did that make you feel?
J I: It’s incredible, my friend’s a good friend of Chuck’s and he literally talks to him every week, his that good a friend of his, he sent him the video link {of Jay} and told him {Chuck} you got to check this guy out, this was like two or three years ago before when no one was talking about me, now everybody is, but Chuck was the first person to say anything about me, so I’m like ‘oh my God’ Chuck said what? you kind of disbelieve it a bit but his been sent my latest show reel, but now I’m waiting on his latest response, but it made me feel great to be recognize by a guy like that who had a show that was number 1, Texas Walker Ranger that was the number one network show in the {United} States, the number one martial arts show, his contacts, his brother’s producer who produced all his films, I’m hoping if I can impress him that maybe, I mean he helped Van Damme out, he gave Van Damme his first break, I’m not bragging or anything but if your good enough, you can open up a door and I’ll jump through it so I’m hoping when he see’s this showreel that something may come up and pass it onto someone who may want to use me, and to be honest with you and to be totally honest with you that’s where I’m at right now, that I can be that pro active that I can get him to say ‘well look maybe I can pass this guy onto someone’
I mean like two years ago when he said that about me I was like ‘great’ but I never pursued it, but now I’m pursuing it, and now that’s the difference, now I’m pursuing.
Michael Angelo Serra speaking to Jay Darrell Ingleton.
Oh yeah you might also want to check out Jay’s own website at www.jaydarrellingleton.com
Also be sure to look out for the second part of this interview in the next month or so!
