Black Jack Mulligan

This article is about the British wrestler. For the American wrestler, see Blackjack Mulligan.

Black Jack Mulligan
Ring name(s)	Laurance Coulson Black Jack Mulligan
Born	Newcastle upon Tyne, England

Black Jack Mulligan was a contemporary of such British wrestlers as Big Daddy, Jim Breaks, Tony "Banger" Walsh, Giant Haystacks and many others on the UK scene. A Geordie from Newcastle upon Tyne in north east England, his real name was Laurance Coulson, born around 1940 to a working class Tyneside family. Throughout the 60's & 70's he could be seen at the usual British wrestling venues sporting his trademark cape, long 'Ayatollah' style beard and scowl. Black Jack played the bad guy with relish and usually lost to the preening good guy wrestlers. One famously broke both ankles after vaulting over the ropes and landing badly on a row of chairs when being pursued enthusiastically by the massive Big Daddy.

Black Jack wrestled once or twice a week and could occasionally be seen on World of Sport on a Saturday afternoon. The pay was not great though and he supplemented his income by working as a boiler stoker and did the early morning rounds to institutions such as schools, hospitals and old folks homes.

Despite his bad guy image (as was the case with other 'bad guy' wrestlers such as Jim Breaks) Black Jack and his family sometimes fostered children from local children's homes.