A black belt city solicitor turned detective has republished the lost work of a Midlands martial arts master and champion wrestler and brought the rare book back into the light.
Gary Harper, a partner at Hamer Childs solicitors in Worcester, is a familiar face at Worcester Magistrates Court but he is a man of hidden depths as his latest voyage of discovery shows.
The congenial solicitor from Stourport has black belts in four different martial arts, a passion for history and some untapped detective skills which all came together in his latest adventure.
The 59-year-old has now rediscovered the lost work of 'leading light' James Hipkiss, called 'Self Defence Made Simple'.
The book had languished in obscurity since it was first published in the 1930s (and few will ever have seen it). Mr Harper has republished the lost work at his own cost (copies can be bought by contacting Gharper@hamerchilds.co.uk)
The partner, who continues to practice ju-jitsu with the Kajuen Ryu in Shrawley, Judo with Samurai Judo club in Kidderminster and Aikido with Go Shin Kai Aikido club in Kidderminster, had known of the late Mr Hipkiss's other work, 'Your answer to invasion'.
However, 'proud Midlander' Mr Harper did not feel Mr Hipkiss's place in the history of British Jujitsu was given enough prominence in histories about the martial art - the focus was on London and Liverpool, not the Midlands (and specifically Birmingham).
The father-of-two, who intends to write a biography of Mr Hipkiss (who was also a wrestler), began research only to learn he had written another work but details were 'maddeningly' few.
At the same time, he began to trace any surviving relatives of James Hipkiss using probate records and managed to find his grandson, Tim Hipkiss, who was a teacher at Leasowes High School in Halesowen.
Mr Harper realised Tim Hipkiss had been his geography teacher, a surprise personal connection in the many twists and turns of his research.
He made contact with Mr Hipkiss in Bewdley (a short distance from Mr Harper's Stourport home), while one of the the author's grandchildren, Jane Tustin, was 'thrilled' someone was taking such an interest in the life of her late grandfather.
Mr Harper said: "I had been searching for the lost book for a little while by this time, using the standard search engines and specialist book finders but with no result.
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"I then came across a search engine which searches libraries throughout the world and using this search engine I managed to discover the lost book was called Self Defence Made Simple and was published in 1930 in Birmingham and that there was a copy in the University of Leipzig.
"I wasted no time in telling Tim Hipkiss about my discovery and he then emailed the University of Leipzig who were able to send him a copy of the lost book which I then set about republishing with a local Worcester print firm.
"I am very proud to be part of republishing the lost book and this has led to bigger things in that I have now formed an association with a Ju Jitsu historian and academic by the name of David Brough and together we are going to write more books about British jujitsu history. In particular - a book about Harry Hunter who published a book called Super Ju-Jitsu in the 1920s and also about an organisation called the British Ju-Jitsu Society (BJS), which was based in the Midlands and of which James Hipkiss was a leading light."
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