Category Archives: Antagonistics

How To Make A Kingsman-Style Gunbrella (Sort Of)

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Wednesday, 13th September 2017 In honour of (and to help promote) the upcoming release of Kingsman: The Golden Circle, The Hacksmith YouTube channel has been challenged to create a Kingsman-style weaponised umbrella: In the pedantic interests … Continue reading

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“John Steed’s Sword-Stick”: an Umbrella Fighting Tutorial from The Avengers Annual of 1967

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Tuesday, 2nd January 2018 Having already addressed the umbrella combat of debonair super-spy John Steed in general terms, our attention now turns to some of the specifics, as delineated in The Avengers Annual of … Continue reading

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Adam Adamant: an Edwardian Gentleman-Adventurer in Swinging ’60s London

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Tuesday, 2nd January 2018 Popular enough in its day but almost forgotten over the past four decades, the mystery/adventure TV series Adam Adamant Lives! was intended as the BBC’s answer to The Avengers.  Both series featured … Continue reading

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“To Defy the Hooligan: Advice to Ladies” (1905)

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Saturday, 6th January 2018 A satirical self-defence article from the Bristol Magpie of February 2, 1905: NOTWITHSTANDING there are already numberless systems of self defence extensively advertised and practiced, Magpie hopes to be … Continue reading

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“I’m Teaching the Police to Fight” (1911)

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Saturday, 10th February 2018 The following article describing a Bartitsu-like method of self-defence was first published in Pearson’s Weekly of January 26, 1911. The author’s name is given as Baron Albrecht von Knobelsdorff-Brenkenhoff, … Continue reading

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“Self Defence for Ladies and Gentlemen” Seminar in Bavaria, Germany

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Saturday, 3rd March 2018 Bartitsu instructor Alex Kiermayer (above) and pugilist Christoph Reinberger are teaming up for a seminar in Victorian and Edwardian antagonistics. The two-day event will cover fisticuffs, jiujitsu, Bartitsu stick … Continue reading

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Antagnonistics V in NYC

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Sunday, 18th March 2018 Antagonistics V – Tactical Principles of Victorian Self-Defense with Professor Mark P. Donnelly Saturday, April 21, 2018,  1:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. 440 Lafayette Street, Room 3D New York, … Continue reading

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“Stick Fighting in Trinidad” (Diss Express – 14 March, 1919)

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Sunday, 18th March 2018 The following short article is notable for its reference to the Trinidadian stick fighting style of “playing bois”, which is closely cognate to the Grenadian bois stick style that … Continue reading

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Sergeant George Wheeldon’s Police Self-Defence (circa 1905)

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Tuesday, 17th April 2018 The City of London police history blog Plodd in the Square Mile offers this short but informative article on Sergeant George Wheeldon, who essentially pioneered the systematic practice of unarmed self-defence within … Continue reading

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Arturo Bonafont’s 1930 Cane Defence Book Now Translated and Available!

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Tuesday, 24th April 2018 The first decades of the 20th century saw a marked shift in approaches to the use of the walking stick as a weapon of self-defence. Whereas cane manuals had … Continue reading

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