Before Darth Vader was ever heard of Dave Prowse was famous in Britain as a weightlifter. In fact he was the British Heavyweight champion in 1962,1963 and 1964. He was six feet seven, two hundred and forty pounds and had a 51 inch chest. Not bad for someone who spent four years of his teenage life bed-ridden and in a leg-iron with TB of the knee.
In 1969 Prowse opened his ‘Exercise Centre’ on Marshalsea Road in Borough in South London. It is still there today.
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