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Who was the infamous Wakefield ‘shark puncher’ Paul Sykes?
A championship-caliber weight lifter, heavyweight boxer, accomplished author and highly educated college graduate (accomplished in prison), Sykes was not a man to be messed with.
He's one of Britain's most notorious criminals and has been described as more fearful than the Krays, but how much do you really know about Yorkshire's infamous hard man?
It's been said before that Paul Sykes, or 'Sykesky', was so tough that even Britain's most notorious prisoner Charles Bronson didn't want to fight him.
Known for single-handedly winning fights with big groups of men and - as a viral video revealed - punching sharks, Sykes developed a fearsome local reputation in his hometown and beyond.
He first took up boxing at the age of 7 at the Robin Hood and Thorpe Amateur Boxing Club, impressing tutors with his advanced skill. This combined with his size and ability made him a formidable opponent, even as a young child.
However, he also began drinking around this age - setting himself on the wrong track and doing his first prison stint at the tender age of 17.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fjC3zQu9ds
A championship-caliber weight lifter, heavyweight boxer, accomplished author and highly educated college graduate (accomplished in prison), Sykes was not a man to be messed with.
Still, many of his achievements were marred by his getting into trouble and he spent the majority of his final years in 18 different UK prisons.
Sykes' adult life regularly featured alcohol abuse, petty robberies and violent crimes, however during a brief period of rehabilitation between 1978 and 1980 he fought ten bouts as a professional boxer - ending the career of American boxer David Wilson after just one fight.
As one of Britain's most notorious criminals he's featured in many books on UK prisoners, including the 2018 prison expose Get Behind Your Door, in which Sykes is referred to as a man that punched like "greased lightning".
Throughout the book, author Patsy Manning tells stories of Sykes' life on the inside and outside including a tale of one night they visited London nightclub Rebecca's together.
He writes: “The four of them rushed towards Paul, all throwing punches and Paul started to throw punches of his own dead fast.
“They had to be because he was up against four geezers who could have a bit of a fight under normal circumstances.
“Any ordinary man would have had no chance on his own, but Paul was no ordinary man.
“His punches were like greased lightning."
Apparently, it wasn't the first time he'd taken on multiple men at once and emerged victorious.
Image taken from book Sykes: Unfinished Agony by Jamie Boyle
According to another book The Guv'nor, this time by author Lenny McLean, Sykes also took on four bouncers in his hometown of Wakefield and caused their British title fight to be canceled.
He wrote: “A week before the off, Sykes went into a club in Wakefield where he lives, got well p***** and had a ruck with four doormen.
“He did them all but one of them got lucky and put a cut above his eye that took eight stitches to pull together.”
For years, Sykes was classed as one of the country's most dangerous prisonerss and was frequently moved for committing violent acts against both prison and police officers.
Released from HMP Hull in 1990, he went on to work as a debt collector for Wakefield businessman Dennis Flint, often travelling to Spain for work.
It was around this time that producer Roger Greenwood followed him around Yorkshire as he filmed the documentaryPaul Sykes: At Large.
In one popular clip that often does the rounds online, Sykes says Wakefield is "the best little city on earth" and talks pretty casually about punching sharks as if there's nothing to it.
"How do I know? I've been everywhere else. I'm here now, right on the family patch," he snarls to the camera.
"I'm the only man in history of mankind that's swum across the straight of Johor, to avoid the police."
"Nobody's ever done it before, not because of the currents, nothing like that; it's sharks. Not shark-infested but none of the locals go paddling or swimming."
"Sharks'll have a look at me and think yeah I know how to do them, you punch them right in the f***ing earhole and they swim off."
Sykes passed away in 2007 from liver cirrhosis and pneumonia aged just 60 years old after a impressive criminal career.
If you'd like to learn more about him, you can watch the full documentary on Youtube here.
UK News
The Yorkshire artist who’s put together the official FIFA World Cup scarf collection
A Yorkshire-born and bred artist and his creative team have earned the huge honour of creating the official FIFA scarf collection for this year's World Cup.
Nothing short of massive for anyone from our part of the world.
The local legend in question is Tom Pitts, who was born in Sheffield and is now based just beyond Leeds, leading the campaign right from the helm.
Hand Drawn Pixels is a graphic design and digital studio based in Otley, and while you'll see plenty of folks wearing football shirts and even the odd scarf on the town's famous pub crawl, these lot are venturing on an entirely different kind of run this summer.
In fact, the work has very much already started, with Tom and co. collaborating directly with FIFA and US manufacturers, Global Scarves, to create the World Cup collection.
With this year's tournament obviously taking place across America, Mexico and Canada, they've joined up with a big LLC, but they describe themselves as "a true English custom scarf company with American parents."
In their words, "We knit scarves for clients all over the world", with a presence both near Leeds and over in Seattle, Washington.
The fixtures themselves kick off next month (England's first game coming against Croatia on 17 June), and so Hand Drawn Pixels have been hard at work meeting the briefs for each of the nations taking part.
Here's a quick breakdown of how the opportunity came about, their vision for the project, and how everything starts for them as a whole process.
You can see more of their work HERE, but as the brand name would suggest, it's pretty simple to begin with: nothing more than a pencil.
It's worth noting that the 2026 World Cup also featured the largest number of teams in the competition's history: 48 qualified national squads, to be exact. So, technically, they've had even more designing to do than they theoretically would have in any of the previous years, too.
Tom confessed that winning this bid is obviously a big deal on its own and that seeing his creations being worn in person by supporters at the stadiums will be a "surreal" experience.
Speaking exclusively with The Hoot, he said: "It’s been an amazing creative challenge for us to truly reflect the individuality and diversity of the nations competing in this prestigious tournament on such an iconic product as the football scarf."
He went on to add that "the whole project has been a huge learning experience, gaining deeper cultural insight into every nation involved."
We can't wait to cast eyes upon a sea of colour and finely crafted fabric in unique but somehow universally familiar patterns, all designed right here in 'God's Own Country'.
You can watch The Devil Wears Prada 2 for FREE across Leeds
Thomas Melia
Did you know you can watch The Devil Wears Prada 2 for free across Leeds just by taking a quick trip to the shops?
If you’re eager to watch Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep), Andy Sachs (Anne Hathaway) and the Runway Magazine crew on the big screen once again, you can do so for free.
After making its cinema premiere earlier this month, 20 years since the first film, The Devil Wears Prada 2 continues the story with more iconic quotes and a whole host of celebrity cameos.
One of these is pop phenomenon Lady Gaga, who also appears on the soundtrack for this stylish sequel alongside artists like Miley Cyrus, Doechii, and Brit acts Raye and Olivia Dean.
Just like real life, the story follows the real-life fashion news outlet and media brand, Runway Mag, undergoing some major changes.
For instance, they’re wrestling with scrapping print editions of their beloved publication and swapping this for online short-form content.
The sequel to this fashion-focused film also sees role reprisals from Stanley Tucci and Emily Blunt, with new additions from Lucy Liu, Kenneth Branagh and Justin Theroux.
Now, enough of us talking at “a glacial pace”, let’s get all of you fashion fans those free cinema tickets before they go out of style.
An all-new promotion courtesy of not one, but three notable names: The Devil Wears Prada 2, Diet Coke and Sainsbury’s
The UK Supermarket chain is currently running a promotion during the film’s big-screen run, where if you purchase a 30-pack of Diet Coke, you can get free tickets to The Devil Wears Prada 2.
Simply purchase one of the big crates of Diet Coke between Wednesday, 29 April and Tuesday, 19 May, before snapping a picture of your receipt and uploading it online.
So it really is that simple, all you have to do is buy a 30 pack of Diet Coke and get a free cinema ticket for doing so – did somebody say girl maths?
For more info and to upload your receipt, visit the promotional website HERE.
Georgina Pellant -
7th June 2021 
