John Waller (fight director)

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John Waller
Fight director

John Waller (12 August 1940 – 20 April 2018) was an English pioneer of the

fight director
for stage, screen and spectacle, and a teacher of martial arts.

Biography

He was born in

Fall of Hong Kong in December 1941. Father and son did not meet until after the father's liberation by the Soviet Red Army
at the end of World War II. Waller's childhood was disrupted by his parents' divorce and many house moves; he attended nine schools. He left full-time education at 16, and had various jobs.

He had always been interested in history, and was inspired as a teenager by three Hollywood historical films: Ivanhoe (1952), Knights of the Round Table (1953) and Quentin Durward (1955), all directed by Richard Thorpe and starring Robert Taylor, which form an unofficial trilogy. He became interested in the Middle Ages; not as book history, but as to how people lived and thought, especially the concept of knightly honour. He began to make replicas of historical weapons and armour, and set out on a lifelong quest to understand how they were used and how effective they were. At the age of 16, he took up archery (preferring field archery over target shooting). In 1960, he met Rosemary Atkinson at Bromley Archery Club, in London. They shared the same interests, and married two years later. Their only son, Jonathan, was born in 1970.

In 1963, he was recruited to run the archery department of the specialist sporting goods store

costumiers,[a] to working out how to perform dangerous long-forgotten combat skills with low risk of serious injury.[2] So, they made and learned everything themselves, using the historical records; especially, the items on display in the Wallace Collection in London.[1][3]

In 1965, actor

sport fencing techniques.[3] In fantasy settings his question was, "If it could have happened, how would it have happened?"[2]

In 1967, he left Lillywhites to set up his own shop, Bows and Blades, on

Amazin' Raisin chocolate bar, and has remained popular with reenactors ever since.[1]

Waller assisted Hardy during the writing of his authoritative 1976 book Longbow: A Social and Military History (which was used as basis for a

Queen Elizabeth I (r. 1558–1603). They needed someone who could wear armour and ride in it, look natural while doing so, and be trusted with a historical relic. They knew exactly the man to ask, and Waller accepted their invitation; so beginning a long association. The film was shot at Bodiam Castle in Kent, and as of 2018
the Armouries were still showing it.

The Tower could only display a small fraction of the Armouries' collection. They had an idea of moving the bulk of the arms and armour collection to a purpose-built facility. That came to fruition in 1996, when, under the direction of

King Henry VIII's flagship, which had sunk in the Solent off the south coast of England in 1545.[6]

He was a skilled archer, fighter both unarmed and with one- and two-handed weapons, and horseman. He was an excellent teacher, and also had the patience to train

Vaughan Williams.[2][7][8]

He died in 2018 after a brief illness.[2] He was survived by his wife and his son; who since 1993 has taught stage combat (including, like his father, at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art), has been a combat advisor for stage and screen, and has worked with the Royal Armouries and the Mary Rose Trust.[9][10]

Publications

  • Ducklin, Keith; Waller, John (30 November 2000). Sword Fighting: A Manual for Actors & Directors. Applause Press.
    ISBN 978-1557834591
    .
  • Waller, Jonathan; Waller, John (2010). "The Personal Carriage of Arrows from Hastings to the Mary Rose".
    S2CID 162208042
    .
  • Hildred, Alexzandra, ed. (2011). Weapons of Warre: The Armaments of the Mary Rose. Waller, John - contributor.
    ISBN 978-0954402938
    .

Footnotes

  1. ^ According to HEMA practitioner and military historian Tobias Capwell, who knew Waller, the Society's first helms were made out of car headlamp reflectors retrieved from scrapyards.[1]
  2. Master of the Armouries, and Waller visited the United States. At a HEMA gathering in Philadelphia, Wilson was greeted with polite applause; and Waller with wild cheers, low bows, and shouts of "We are not worthy" (a near-quote from Monty Python and the Holy Grail).[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c Capwell, Tobias (27 April 2017). Deeds Not Words: The History of Modern Jousting (video). Wallace Collection. Retrieved 20 August 2020.
  2. ^
    doi:10.1080/17416124.2018.1522141
    .
  3. ^ a b c d e "The Guild". European Historical Combat Guild. Retrieved 20 August 2020.
  4. ^ "European historical combat". Royal Armouries. 19 May 2018. Retrieved 20 August 2020.
  5. ^ "Men of Honour Joust at the Royal Armouries". Historic Enterprises. No. 2. May 2005. Retrieved 20 August 2020.
  6. ^ "John Waller". Royal Armouries. Retrieved 20 August 2020.
  7. ^ Warming, Rolf. "John Waller (1940-2018)". Society for Combat Archaeology. Retrieved 20 August 2020.
  8. ^ Loades, Mike (21 April 2008). "John Waller". European Historical Combat Guild. Retrieved 20 August 2020.
  9. ^ "Jonathan Waller". Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Retrieved 20 August 2020.
  10. ^ "Teachers". British Guild of Stage Combat. Retrieved 20 August 2020.

External links

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