- Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Monday, 28th February 2011
Bartitsu Club wrestling instructor Armand Cherpillod is featured in this circa 1901 postcard. “The Little Swiss” Cherpillod’s adventures in London are outlined in his autobiography La Vie d’une Champion, which is excerpted in the first volume of the Bartitsu Compendium.
Cherpillod’s post-Bartitsu Club career saw him compete (and/or perform) successfully as a professional wrestler throughout Europe. He also introduced the jiujitsu he had learned during his relatively short tenure at the Bartitsu Club to his native Switzerland, and wrote what was probably the first book on Japanese unarmed combat as self defence for women.