LEGENDARY judoka Brian Jacks gave a special masterclass to lucky children and adults at Drake Judo Club.

Brian won Britain’s first ever medal at a World Championships, claiming bronze at Salt Lake City in 1967. He followed this up with another bronze at the 1972 Munich Olympics.

He is also a two time gold medallist in the European Championships and holds the grade of 10th Dan black belt — the highest grade a judoka can achieve.

For all his success on the mat, Brian is perhaps best known for his outstanding performance on the BBC programme Superstars, in which he was one of the most successful competitors. The show pitted different sports stars against each other in a series of sports tests to determine an overall single superstar. He won four different Superstars titles, including beating Olympic gold medal decathlete Daley Thompson.

Brian later emigrated to Thailand in the 1980s where he married and opened a holiday letting company.

He is back in the UK for a short period on a book tour, which led him to being invited to hold two masterclasses for the Tavistock based Drake Judo Club.

Brian first took a class of 40 youngsters aged 14 and below. Though none of them remember Brian competing, his judo achievements were announced and a collective gasp was heard.

He proceeded to take them through a series of judo techniques including the famous ‘tomoe nage’ or ‘stomach throw’ which involves you placing your foot into your opponent’s stomach and flicking them over your own head so that the opponent lands flat on their back,

Some of the youngsters were able to perform the throw on Brian himself!

He then took time to speak to every child individually and pose for photographs and sign autographs.

Brian then gave a masterclass to an adult class which included over 20 black belts from across Devon and Cornwall.

Brian focused on gripping and movement and his own personal philosophy on what makes a successful judo contest.

He said: ‘It’s fantastic to see so many people here today all enjoying and sharing their love of judo. My father introduced me to judo when I was nine years old and I have been in love with it ever since.

‘I wanted to learn as much about judo as I could and so at 15 I travelled to Japan to live and train in the world famous dojos. I was completely on my own, I didn’t have either of my parents with me.

‘Drake Judo Club are doing wonderful things locally. They are trying to get as many youngsters as possible involved in judo. I would recommend anyone who is looking for fitness and wellbeing to try it.’

Speaking of his time on Superstars, Brian said: ‘I had just retired from active judo competition and I was asked if I’d like to take part. I trained very hard for the competition just like I had for the judo, I was doing up to 600 dips daily.’

Drake Judo Club chairman Ross Taylor, 1st Dan black belt, said: ‘Brian is a legend; a one off unique individual who helped give our sport mainstream exposure.

‘Our juniors were especially excited as I have been talking non-stop about Brian for a number of weeks. He is the reason I started judo myself over 30 years ago.

‘We pride ourselves on bringing the very best coaches to Tavistock and making the town and the surrounding areas a national hub for judo and martial arts.’

Eight year old Guila Baiz, who is the current Western Area Champion in the under 25kg category, said: ‘It was brilliant. Brian was very good and very nice. He showed us some really good new throws.’