Arthur Renn

Freestyle wrestler Arthur Renn was better known as a piano manufacturer than wrestler. The proprietor of Temple Pianos in Stoke Newington, Renn was an expert at making musical instruments out of wood. He was so experienced that his talents were called upon to help the British War efforts during the two World Wars. In the 1914-18 campaign he made wooden aircraft propellors, and in the 1939-45 conflict he helped with the design of the wooden-framed fighter plane, the De Havilland Mosquito.

As a wrestler, Renn was a member of both the North London Club & Institute and Ashdown Wrestling Clubs. The highlight of his career was in reaching the semi-final of the middleweight division at the 1908 Swiss Gymnastic Society. He subsequently got selected for the London Olympics in the lightweight division that year but was a non-starter.