Strong man could lift a horse
THE name Willie Beattie will be familiar to a certain generation of folk in Twechar, Kilsyth, and the surrounding area as a well-known weightlifter and strongman.
Willie, who was brought up on Twechar Farm, was only five feet five inches tall, but held many weightlifting records and once lifted 12 men.
But does any reader have a photo of him lifting a horse? His son Robert in Australia says the photo was once published in the Chronicle, though he has no idea when. He would like to have a copy of the photo if anyone has one.
Robert was in Scotland on a holiday recently and popped into the Chronicle office in Kilsyth to make his request.
Willie was quite a man. Born at Twechar Farm in 1907, a son of John Blair and Jean Bell Beattie, he was a very good student, but excelled at all sports, particularly strength sports like shot putt, hammer throw, and even tossing the caber, a tall man's event but no trouble to this pocket Hercules.
On the farm, Willie was playing strongman with his 'toys', block weights used for weighing produce such as potatoes and grain, solid blocks of steel with an inbuilt bar for a handle. And of course there were his beloved Clydesdale horses, bred and trained on the farm.
Willie credits his entry into the sport of weightlifting to the great English champion weightlifter and coach, W A Pullum. He obtained a copy of Pullum's book, Weightlifting Made Easy, and trained with Robert Rice of Kirkintilloch. In 1927 he won a local weightlifting contest, and the following year won third place in the Scottish 11-stone title.
In 1929, Willie, who weighed in at under 11 stones, swept the board, winning the 11 stone, 12 stone, and heavyweight titles. He then set his sights on the British titles, in London.
He arrived there by coach the Monday before the event. His first try-out was on the Wednesday, and, cannily, he did not lift to expectations and was immediately written off as a serious contender.
It was a different result on the night. True to form, he outperformed his own expectations and blitzed the field, breaking two British records on the way to becoming the first Scotsman to win a British weightlifting champion title.
For the next few years Willie dominated the sport in Scotland, winning the 12-stone and heavyweight titles for three years in a row. However, he wouldn't or couldn't travel to London to defend his British title, which went to Sydney Daniels.
WA Pullum then brought them together at the Holborn Empire Theatre in "the weightlifting match of the century". At the end of it, Willie had broken three more British records and Daniels had equalled one of them.
That same year, 1932, he broke a British record for the Deadlift with an incredible 533lbs, a record that stood for over 27 years.
He stayed on in London to train with Pullum as a strongman. He married Jessie Balfour in 1932 and they raised a family.
He re-emerged in the 1940s as The Mighty Apollo. In the 1950s he formed the Almada Trio with sons Bob and Sandy, performing throughout Britain and Ireland.
Willie died in 1968.
If you can provide Bob with the photo of Willie lifting the horse, contact him at 3 Cougar Path, Rockingham, Perth, Western Australia 6168 or robur@ westnet.com.au
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Sunday 12 February 2012
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