Sabu, The Elephant Boys

The ECW legend took his name from one of the Indian Sub-Continent's first truly global movie stars.

In learning of the death of Terry Brunk, aka extreme wrestle extraordinaire Sabu, a number of things came mind. Not least of these concerned the fact that the man whose stage name the erstwhile ECW champion adopted was similarly denied the long happy life he deserved.

Not that the man born Sabu Dastagir was a victim of a pain killer overuse. Nor did he put his body on the line - or, as was more often the cast, through it - in the same way as his namesake. No, the original Sabu was spirited away by a heart attack, aged just 39. Like the man he inspired, the kid for Karnataka accomplished enough in his lifetime to achieve a form of immortality.

The son of a mahout (elephant trainer), Sabu first came to the world’s attention courtesy of documentary filmmaker Robert Flaherty. Like Flaherty’s Nanook Of The North before it, Sabu The Elephant Boy wasn’t truly a non-fiction film. However, Sabu stuck in the memory as did the nickname.