Nosher Powell(1928-2013)

After their home was bombed during the war the family was evacuated to Swanage in Dorset where Nosher attended the Swanage Grammar School, On his return to London he took up boxing and became an occasional sparring partner for Joe Louis and later Sugar Ray Robinson, and Muhammad Ali. He continued to box during his national service with the Royal Army Medical Corps and on discharge turned professional, retiring in 1960 having had 78 fights - 51 as a professional and only 9 losses but was never knocked out. He first started in films in 1944 when he was a stuntman in Laurence Olivier's Henry V (1944). He continued with stunt work in between his boxing and had small roles in such as David Lean's Oliver Twist (1948),and Cosh Boy (1953). In 1963 he began working as Sean Connery's stunt double in Bons Baisers de Russie (1963) which continued for many years. Away from stunt work he and his wife ran a pub near the Wimbledon greyhound stadium.