JACKIE 'Mr TV' Pallo, a pioneering sports entertainer who brought glam into grappling with his unruly curly hair scraped back into a pony tail, striped trunks and flashy gold boots from the early 1960s, has died in Ramsgate, aged 80.

Jackie dominated television’s wrestling coverage on Saturday afternoons for years, and delighted legions of fans around the UK and beyond.

His cocky and arrogant strut around wrestling rings the length and breadth of the country - coupled with his timing, agility, and skill - made him the first rock star of his earthy, sweaty sport.

He realised the full potential of glitz and glam among the spit and sawdust and even inserted the 'Mr TV' monicker into his name to catapult the Pallo brand to the fore.

Such was his swashbuckling popularity that a high profile bout with arch-rival Mick McManus in the 1960s drew a bigger television audience than the FA Cup Final that followed it.

He was a firm favourite with local crowds at the Merrie England venue on Ramsgate seafront, Margate Winter Gardens and at the outdoor Oval bandstand ring in Cliftonville.

Watching it all from the sidelines for decades was his son, also named Jackie - until they teamed up as the first father and son tag team who thrilled fans with their antics. Wife and mum Trixie was nearly always on hand to cheer her boys on as well.

Jackie senior was a ringleader in the travelling grappling circus that he and his son took around the UK after it disappeared from the small screen.

Ever seeking a good publicity angle, the Pallos billed it as "the greatest wrestling show you can’t see on television" and toured with personality fighters including Les Kellett, Adrian Street, Ricky Starr, Brian Maxine, McManus and his sidekick Steve Logan, Johnny Kwango, Kendo Nagasaki, Jim Brakes - the list goes on.

Jackie junior, 55, who lives at the Pallo family home in Ramsgate with his mother Trixie, said: "He was a gem, a flamboyant showman who knew what made a great spectacle, a hell of good bloke and my best pal.

"He became ill a little over a year ago with cancer but was fighting it - he never smoked, was fit and had a healthy diet. His death was a real shock and we are devastated."

In death, Jackie senior was again thrown into the spotlight as worldwide media and sports fans beseigned the Pallo family to pay tribute to one of sports most famous sons.

The father and son team were involved in the entertainment and promotions industry for decades, and Pallo senior was no stranger to celebrity.

He was honoured on This Is Your Life in 1973; acted with, fought - and was beaten by - a leather-clad Honor Blackman in hit television series The Avengers; appeared in the sitcom Are You Being Served? and a Ray Cooney farce, and wrote a warts and all book about wrestling called You Grunt, I’ll Groan.

* The funeral service is at Thanet crematorium, Margate, on Wednesday at 2.30pm.