BruceWoodcockBoxer.co.uk

Bruce’s achievements in 1946 were celebrated and recognised in February of the following year when he was presented with the Sporting Record Cup for Sportsman of the Year Award at the Savoy Hotel in London. The trophy was presented by Aneurin Bevan, Minister of Health in the new Labour Government and the man who spearheaded the development of the National Health Service. The award brought together two major elements of the British consciousness at that moment, the new future being promised by the recently elected Labour government and the possibility that Britain might actually achieve the long-awaited world championship heavyweight boxing title. Britain had not had a heavyweight world champion since Bob Fitzsimmons in 1899 !

It is difficult to overstate the importance of the next year, not just for Bruce’s career but also for the national story and consciousness: at this moment, Bruce Woodcock’s future also seemed to promise the nation’s future. In his speech, with the Union Jack prominently displayed behind him, Bevan almost made the connection himself, urging ‘the youth of the nation’ to follow Bruce’s example and adopt ‘active participation’ rather than remaining spectators. 

In the aftermath of the war, the story of this ‘Doncaster lad’ became interwoven with a sense of hope, aspiration, possibility and achievement. How that would turn out was on everyone’s minds. Given Bruce’s nature - quiet, unassuming, genial, modest, taking nothing for granted - he certainly didn’t look or behave as if he had the weight of the nation’s hopes on his shoulders. In his own speech, Bruce felt that the award should have gone to his rival for it that year, the AAA Champion athlete Sydney Wooderson: ‘I assumed I would have been yards behind Sydney Wooderson in the vote as I thought I was. Anyway, I wish him the best of luck and I think he should have had it rather than me.’ Rather than bask in any limelight, Bruce just buckled down and got on with the job at hand - training for his next fight.

Footage of Bruce being awarded trophy

Bevan’s speech and Bruce’s reply script

Pathe News Review of the Year (includes brief fight extract)

"'Bruce and I hope to be married soon, but we want home first,' Miss Nora Speight told us to-day. She explained that plans for a bungalow at Bessaccarr were held indefinitely because of the building restrictions. The boxing champion has been offered house in Manchester, but naturally doesn't want to leave Doncaster. Nora has many ideas about the home she would like, and said she would have loved to bring Swedish furniture and carpets here to help to furnish it. She is not keen on antiques, and says her choice furniture will mostly be light and modern. But, like thousands more, she cannot do much at the moment towards getting a home together. English furniture, by comparison with Swedish, she thinks, is of poor quality, and there is little choice. Although she has never seen Bruce fight, except in exhibition bouts, Nora would love to go to America with him—'lf only to buy some nylon stockings.'"

“Bruce Woodcock. British heavyweight boxing champion. was married quietly at Doncaster Register Office to-day to Miss Nora Speight of Doncaster. Bruce, who is 26, described himself as a railway fitter. His bride, who is 23, wore a tweed suit with Swedish headgear and plastic shoes. Witnesses were Billy, Bruce's brother, and Mrs Margaret Stapleton, friend of the bride. No other friends or relatives were present and only about fifty people outside the building saw them off on their honeymoon. The couple had succeeded beyond expectations in their object of keeping the wedding quiet.” [Liverpool Echo, 19/12]

“A large American shooting brake drove away from Doncaster Registry Office at 9.35 yesterday morning. At the wheel was Bruce Woodcock, heavyweight champion of Britain and the Empire. At his side was his wife of ten minutes standing, Mrs Nora Woodcock, and draped over the back was a huge placard: ‘Bruce - just married.’” [Aberdeen Press, 20/12]