This interview was published in March 2008

Lately Steve I’ve been getting a number of emails from people wanting to know more about pre-emptive striking.  Their concerns centred on when is the right moment, when someone is starting on you, to hit them?  Another question that also came up was about my DVD.  In the DVD I take a small step with my left foot, stepping slightly to my opponent’s right side.  I would take a little shuffle just before I powered my big right hander into the target!   A few people wondered if this slight pre-emptive left leg movement would give the game away.  But before I answer the questions, I want to talk about self defence on the street.  (In the home if you are in fear of an intruder the law generally does not require you to wait to be attacked before using defensive force yourself.)

Now there are two things that worry decent people when they think about having to defend themselves out in the street.  The first is how they will react when frightened, and the second is about the unnerving situation of having to justify their action in court.  Facing a lengthy jail sentence or a big fine and probation is a major concern that the majority of law abiding citizens carry, like a millstone around their neck, for all their adult life.

SR  We finished last month’s article with the question, how do you train for ‘reality’ in the Dojo?  You have the experience of dojo martial arts, training on your own and the ‘reality’ from your work on the door, with this unique perspective, can you give any advice for those in the dojo who want to bring this aspect into their training?

DJ  I’ve trained with lots people over the years, and at least three-quarters of them weren’t, in the normal sense of the word, martial artists.

I don’t think all the shouting and screaming that some do (in reality training) really helps that much.  That is apart from the initial shock of being slagged off!  I know it’s an attempt to achieve that ‘real’ training but we all know there always seems to be something missing with that aspect to training.  It’s that ‘missing piece’ that we need to grab hold of but ‘it’ is the illusory aspect of training.  Steve I’m going to change the subject for a moment and look at aggression training.  I think it’s relevant, well it will be eventually, I hope (laughs).   Now about a year ago I wrote:

This interview was published in November 2007

SR Dennis you’ve being working with Will Henshaw not only for the WOMA channel but also on a DVD.  I thought it would be a good idea if you tell us what your DVD’s about.

DJ It was when I first started filming with Will Henshaw for the ‘WOMA. TV’ channel that we decided to do a DVD on pre-emptive striking.  We agreed it was important that what I said and what I physically did on the DVD must be based on my own personal experience.  I wasn’t going to conjecture about street fighting nor was I going to demonstrate techniques that other martial artists had used on the street. 

SR I gather you didn’t do any flying side kicks then (laughs)

DJ (Laughing) Do you mean the ones that are used to knock samurai out their saddles?  I was about 17 when I thought I might be wasting my time trying to jump as high as a horse!  But you know Steve every karateka or ex-karateka that I have ever known has at least one photo of themselves leaping through the air doing a Bruce Lee.  The funny thing is we all slag off those faded jumping yoko-geri photographs, but when we get pass the big ‘Four-O’ we’re the first ones to get that photo out and say ‘…I couldn’t half jump back then, look at the height of that kick!’

SR …you’ve got one of those photos; haven’t you Dennis?

If you were causing trouble in a Southend nightclub, John King is the last person you would want to see.  32 years ‘on the door’, 36 years of practical martial arts training and 6^th Dan, built like a brick excrement house and twice as powerful as he looks.  John is one of the nicest guys you will ever meet, as long as you’re not that troublemaker!

I first met John many years ago on a course that I ran with Geoff Thompson, he has been affiliated to my association for many years through the Mod Ka group, but I really only got to know him well fairly recently through his son Gavin (who writes the ‘Lessons of a Taiji Student’ and ‘Anatomy Trains’ articles for this magazine and is a personal Tai Chi student) and we have trained together every week for some time now.

John has a great story, he’s been there and done it right through 3 decades of varied martial arts training, he’s self driven and showed the determination and resolve to get to the top both in the door work business and the Martial Arts.

Live those years vicariously through this interview….

SR  Hi John, welcome to the Martial Arts Standard, can we start with you telling the readers a little about your general background?