This is a quoted tribute by Arnold Schwarzenegger, made to Bob Woolger Snr., at his 80th birthday party held at the Trocadero, London in 1992, by kind permission of Robert Earl, to which Arnold and his wife Maria,came as special guests of Bob Woolger Jnr. & Dianne Bennett (son & daughter of Bob Snr.) "Bob Woolger was an incredible influence to me in my early years. When I came to England to compete in the Mr. Universe in 1966, he came up to me right after the show and said to me, "Arnold, from now on I want you to train everyday for six hours, I want you to gain another 30 lbs. I want you to come back next year and take the Universe contest. I want you to squat with 500 lbs. I want you to deadlift 700 lbs" and he went on for hours like this and he inspired me so much, he gave me so much encouragement that I did train like that and came back and won the Mr. Universe and he had me come down to Portsmouth, England, to train with him, to count the reps. to put on the weights, to feed me in his home and to have eight scrambled eggs instead of one! Saying that he new that Reg Park was my inspiration to start bodybuilding, "Reg Park ate very many eggs",(laughter) and Bob & his wife Vina, were there and supported me all the way and in the years after that always encouraged me , always helped me and so became like father figure to me and for me to be here at your birthday party Bob, is an honour to me. I want to take this opportunity to thank you very much for what you have done for me and the sport of bodybuilding, because everything has a beginning and grass roots and you were there and provided that, you were there in the early days, when everyone laughed at bodybuilding, you were there when everyone said 'bodybuilders, look at those fags', you were there fighting through it, telling people - this is a healthy sport, it's a good sport, everyone should be part of it. People should stay away from alchohol abuse, from drug abuse, you were teaching those things fifty years ago! There were a lot of people claiming it all at once. I am not going to mention any names, they call themselves the Trainer of Champions, the great figures of bodybuilding, the leaders of the sport of bodybuilding. We have them in every country, in Austria, England, Germany, America, everywhere. But you never 'blew your own horn'. But we know you started the whole thing. You have inspired millions and millions and we want to thank you for that. Before I give you some of your gifts, I just want to tell to all of you also how much this meant to me to come here today, walk around table to table to see my old friends, men and woman that I trained with twenty-five years ago! When I used to stay at Wag & Dianne Bennett's house, where I stayed for weeks & weeks, to see the Bennett's here with their children and grandchildren, it makes me feel wonderful. As you know the Bennett's home was always a second home for me. I came here many times to train here and to travel around the country and to see all those bodybuilding champions, to walk around and shake hands with them and take some pictures. Sorry, I don't have any more time, but nevertheless, it is a wonderful feeling for me to be back here again and I hope to come back again many more times, in fact Bob promised me that on his one hundredth birthday, I can come again! Anyway, I have here an award. In America, we have something called The President's Council of Physical Fitness Award via President Bush (award presented with much applause). And lastly, behind every successful man is a successful woman and here is that woman, Vina, Bob's girl. Thank you all and take care".

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