Honor Blackman is mainly known for her roles on The Avengers and the Bond films where she regularly put the beat down on goons and thugs. But I'm not going to dwell on her illustrious career as a Chuck Norris with boobs. Instead, I want to just want to look at one of her books. Her bio can be found all over the internets, but I haven't seen much on her amazing martial arts book. So, to fill that void, here goes.
Honor Blackman's Book of Self Defense was published in 1965. It was made with Joe Robinson and his brother Doug, a judo champion and black belt in karate. Joe was a British wrestler (didn't think there was such a thing, did you) and made a name for himself arranging stunts on the Bond films and the occasional acting gig.
It's a weird book, really. It outlines some moves (yawn) and some reasons why women need it, and there's a shitload of pictures of Blackman putting the smack down on various unlucky blokes. Not surprisingly, it didn't take long for the book to fade into the mists of time, forgotten completely. It wasn't re-issued, and all that remains are a few old copies, an old interview where she mentions it, and.... well, this post.
Here's some of the pictures. Click to enlarge. Enjoy.
