England's Strongest Man

Strength athletics in the United Kingdom and Ireland has a long history going back many centuries before the televisation of strongman competitions in the 1970s. The ancient heritage of the sport in the United Kingdom and Ireland lies in a number of traditional events, the most famous of which is arguably the traditional Highland Games, which itself is a source of many events now practiced in modern strongman competitions, such as World's Strongest Man and International Federation of Strength Athletes (IFSA) sponsored events. However, the traditional events still are popularly contested events today. In the more modern phenomenon that is the World's Strongest Man and its associated competitions, the United Kingdom and Ireland remain well represented with Eddie Hall,Terry Hollands,and former competitor Glenn Ross and James fennelly respectively with regular appearances at world finals, and with three men having won the title of World's Strongest Man, as well as Terry Hollands appearing in eight final events.

See also Highland games and Britain's Strongest Man for more details

The origin of strength athletics in the UK and Ireland lies in the realms of pre-history, but the within the British Isles records many centuries old record more formally the existence of organised events. Formalisation and annual Highland gatherings began around 1820 when Sir Walter Scott encouraged the revival of Highland Culture. By 1848, such was the status of such games that Queen Victoria attended the Braemar Highland Games.

The strongmen of the world of weightlifting and circus acts were also active in the UK and Ireland in the Victorian age. A number of famous names emerged at the turn of the nineteenth century. Thomas Inch, Britain's Strongest Youth at 16, and the first official Britain's Strongest Man was active at this time and is still remembered today for his Grip Strength. and his Challenge Dumbbell, known as the Inch Dumbbell, that "has defied thousands of strong men over the last hundred years...Many a strength athlete tried but failed to break it off the ground.". Other notable names in this genre were Bert Assirati, Launceston Elliot, Edward Aston, and W.A. Pullum. Others emerged in the twentieth century as well. Notably, David Prowse was initially famous in 1964 for his lifting the famed 785 pound Dinnie Stones, the first man to do so since Donald Dinnie himself a century earlier. Prowse later became more famous still for playing Darth Vader in Star Wars.

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