Not that a person changing their name in order to improve their chances of finding fame is unusual, just ask Reg Dwight or Archibald Leech (better known as Elton John and Cary Grant, respectively). The simple fact of the matter was that few people could equate a man the size of Big Daddy with the name 'Shirley Crabtree'.

The man known as Big Daddy was actually born Shirley Crabtree Junior on 14 November, 1930, his father having both borne the name and pursued a career as a wrestler before him. Hailing from the town of Halifax in West Yorkshire, he followed in the footsteps of countless generations before him and began his working life as a coal miner in the local pit. He also played for rugby league club Bradford Northern, but never made an appearance for the first team allegedly as he proved a little too rough even for such a tough sport.

Eventually Crabtree found his way into the world of professional wrestling just as his father and brothers had. Here was an arena in which he could take advantage of his physical prowess and work out some of his aggression to boot. Over the years, Crabtree worked under ring names such as 'The Blond Adonis', 'Mr Universe' and even 'The Battling Guardsman' (drawing on his brief time as a member of the British Army's Coldstream Guards) with mixed reactions. It wasn't until the mid-'70s that the gimmick for which he would be best remembered was born.

Based originally on the character of the same name played by actor Burl Ives in the 1958 screen adaptation of Tennessee Williams' Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Big Daddy was first given life by Crabtree in 1976. Clad in a leotard emblazoned with a large 'D' and fashioned by his wife Eunice from their chintz sofa, Crabtree as Big Daddy stormed out of the industrial north of England and into the annals of pro-wrestling history.

In his prime Big Daddy was an imposing sight, weighing in at a hefty 26 stones (or 364lbs) and boasting a 64 inch chest that had earned him a place in the Guinness Book of Records. Though his matches typically consisted of nothing more than his squashing his opponents (often both figuratively and literally) with moves utilising his considerable bulk, it was always the pomp and fanfare that surrounded the character of Big Daddy that accounted for his popularity.

Much like a latter day John Bull, Big Daddy strode to the ring clad in his leotard, Union Jack jacket and top hat accompanied by stirring music and the cheers of the young children and little old ladies who formed the vast majority of his fanbase. The fact that the audience were 99% sure that the match would end when the legendary Big Daddy belly-splash was dropped on his hapless foe. They still chanted 'Easy, easy' with gusto as his corpulent form left the ground and came down like a ton of bricks. The point was those bricks had the Union Jack and British pride stamped all over them.

In 1987 however, Big Daddy bowed out of professional wrestling spotlight after a tragic turn of events in what should have been a run-of-the-mill match. In the final moments of the match against Mal 'King Kong' Kirk, the stage was set and Big Daddy delivered the belly-splash as he had countless times before. But rather than selling the impact of the finishing move, Kirk turned an unhealthy colour which indicated that something was very wrong. Rushed to a nearby hospital, the unfortunate wrestler was pronounced dead on arrival. Despite the fact that the inquest into Kirk's death found that he had a serious heart condition and cleared Crabtree of any responsibility, he nevertheless blamed himself for the other man's death.

Retiring soon after the accident, Big Daddy spent the remainder of his days in his hometown of Halifax. He passed away after a stroke in 1997 aged 67.

source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A978348