Profile: Lee Morrison

Lee MorrisonLee Morrison was born in London and has been training for the past twenty four years. Lee has trained in a variety of martial arts and in the past seven years has concentrated on training in civilian close combat. He has spent fourteen years working on the doors in some rough places in London, Southampton and Portsmouth. He has also done some bodyguard work with a majority of his knowledge coming from real life experiences.

Lee's Grandfather did a bit of boxing and wrestling and this has rubbed off on him.

Lee met Charlie Nelson on Charlie's 88th birthday in Arkansas and enjoyed several hours of Charlie's company during his visit, which included Charlie even while in his wheelchair and being very frail and ill trying to demonstrate techniques to Lee. Lee said he would dearly have loved to have trained from Charlie and considers himself luck to have met him as Charlie sadly passed away not long after.

Lee Morrison Lee Morrison

Lee has a school he named Urban Combatives in Southampton that he describes as self-protection training for the civilian sector. He also provides self-protection and restraint training for the security industry and bodyguards.

Lee says he has not had any military combative training but has had plenty of real life experience growing up on the streets of some really rough places and from working the doors. Lee is very interested in military combatives as he says it has been pressure tested and what better testing can you get than in real combat.

Lee Morrison demonstrating control and restraint technique

Lee Morrison demonstrating control and restraint technique

Lee Morrison demonstrating control and restraint technique

He says he has a real interest in the pioneers of military close combat from the Shanghai period through the First and Second World War until the present. He is especially interested in the SOE, OSS type close combat and the Fairbairn, Sykes, Applegate and Nelson systems and influences. He is especially interested in the skills of the pioneers that are applicable today.

Lee has also been involved in competition karate and judo and although he has not boxed competitively has always been involved in boxing training.

He has dan grades in seven martial arts including Karate 2nd dan and Judo 1st dan. He is a Wing Chun instructor, and he has also trained in JKD and the Philipino arts including Silat. He has got a grade in the Nelson system through Bob Spiegel and has also graded with Dennis Martin.

Lee's son is now twenty and has trained since the age of ten and has a real flair that Lee hopes he will continue to develop and become an instructor.

Lee has trained in Japan as a youngster and more recently in the US and would like to train more in the US and in New Zealand if his travels ever take him that far.

He said the pioneers that he would have wanted to train with have long passed away but there are still some good current reality based instructors based in the UK.

Lee knows many of the high profile UK based instructors that he considers good friends. These include Geoff Thompson, Peter Consterdine, Kevin O'Hagan, Alan Charlton, Dennis Martin.

Geoff Thompson was a major influence on Lee in the 90s when he introduced the reality-based styles.

Lee learnt combatives from the late Peter Robins and considers Dave Turton a major influence in his career. He has also trained with members of John Kary's American Combatives and through all these people has developed his methods to where it is today.

Lee's future plans are to take what he is doing into Europe and he has spent the past five years building his profile to do this. He has written around twelve books and produced DVDs and also raised his profile through his Internet site.

Lee Morrison demonstrating self protection

Above & below – Lee Morrison demonstrating reality based self protection techniques. Images taken from DVDs Lee has produced.

Lee Morrison demonstrating self protection

Lee has two guys in Italy and one in Germany who are pending instructors in his style and who have considerable backgrounds in other styles.

Edged weapon training is a special interest to Lee and he has done a lot of offensive knife based techniques but has done very little firearms training of which he intends to do in the near future.

Lee was informed of Charles Nelson and his system by the late Pete Robins and that is how he got his initial introduction to the Nelson family via Bob Spiegel who had a business arrangement with the Nelson family after Charlie retired.

Lee had to go through Bob for training and to arrange to meet Charlie. Lee took three trips to New York to train with Bob and the one to Arkansas to meet Charlie. Lee's Urban Combative web site can be found at https://urbancombatives.com/

Lee has done most of the writing of the Full Nelson book that is yet to be released for Bob Spiegel and Bob has yet to finalise the finished article and have it published.

Lee finished this interview by thanking me for the opportunity to train in the Todd System and said it was a real bonus and a great experience from an experienced instructor. Lee is hungry for knowledge and committed to his work it was very good to have him attend the UK based training.

Article written by Tank Todd

Special Operations CQB Master Chief Instructor. Over 30 years experience. The only instructor qualified descendent of Baldock, Nelson, and Applegate. Former instructors include Harry Baldock (unarmed combat instructor NZ Army WWII), Colonel Rex Applegate OSS WWII and Charles Nelson, US Marine Corps. Tank has passed his Special Forces combative instructor qualification course in Southeast Asia and is certified to instruct the Applegate, Baldock and Nelson systems. His school has been operating for over eighty years and he is currently an Army Special Operations Group CQB Master Chief Instructor. His lineage and qualifications from the evolutionary pioneers are equalled by no other military close combat instructor. His operation includes his New Zealand headquarters, and 30 depots worldwide as well as contracts to train the military elite, security forces, and close protection specialists. Annually he trains thousands of exponents and serious operators that travel down-under to learn from the direct descendant of the experts and pioneers of military close combat. Following in the footsteps of his former seniors, he has developed weapons, and training equipment exclusive to close combat and tactical applications. He has published military manuals and several civilian manuals and produced DVDs on urban self protection, tactical control and restraint, and close combat. He has racked up an impressive 100,000+ hours in close combat.