My Weekend with Mr 11 O'Clock

a couple of weeks ago i visited the uk and was fortunate enough to get an afternoon of private lessons with steve and then join in on the sunday session of primal. just wanted to thank steve for his time and input. was a great weekend to finally meet the man and more importantly gleam some of his knowledge. LOTS of fine points were covered, some of which i wasnt implementing from the dvd instruction, some completely new.

jeff said it all really on the Training with Steve Morris thread. steves a very friendly approachable guy and it was a pleasure to train under him. and his depth of knowledge is truly unique, an amazing practitioner and teacher.

it was a long trip from tokyo but well worth it. id encourage anyone with an interest in improving their skills and knowledge to get along and see "mr 11 o'clock" (ask steve about that title when you see him ).

thanks again,
simon

It was a pleasure having you, Simon. Great to put a face to a name. Like I said to you, if you lived here you'd be an asset to the group at Primal.

For those reading this, the 'Mr 11 PM' reference goes back to my time in Japan in 1969. I was on a martial arts show, part of the Yamaguchi Gogen troop. I was doing breaking. I was also interviewed, along with Donn Draeger. At that time, Donn was considered by many, myself included, as the greatest martial artist of all time. Both of us were interviewed as the 'old guy' and the 'new guy.'

Then we both went outside and we just stood there, next to each other. Hardly said a word. He shook my hand and said goodbye when his car arrived.

Some years after he died, a former student of his phoned me up and said he was coming to England and he'd like to see me because Donn Draeger had been following my progress and said, 'He's the man to see in England.' That meant a lot to me.

Then, after the show, when I'd be walking around Tokyo people would come up to me and say, 'Oh, you Mr. 11 PM!' I even got a free meal once. I was looking at the plastic dishes outside the restaurant window, and the guy came out and said, 'You 11PM show?' He ushered me in, sat me down and gave me a meal!

That's the Japan I liked. And there was one day, it was pissing down with rain. No matter what the weather, I always wore the same blue t-shirt and white trousers and zori's, and I was absolutely drenched. It was cold. I was on my way from training. This woman came up to me, stopped me, said, '11 PM?' I nodded and she thrust her umbrella on me, now she walked off getting drenched and I had the umbrella. It was one of the funniest things that ever happened to me.

That's nearly 40 years ago now. Long time.