I don't usually review non-fiction on this site, however I make an exception where the subject matter really appeals to me or where the subject matter is itself a work of fiction. The Wrestling is definitely the first and probably also the second.

Say "wrestling" to most people today and they'll probably think of the slick, highly produced self-mocking nonsense we see on cable. But to those of us of a certain age, The Wrestling meant something very different. It meant high theatre on a Saturday afternoon. It meant cheering at raw violence between real hard men, not pretty-boys. It meant screaming yourself hoarse at the television set then casually telling everyone that you know it's fixed really.

I've never been a sports fan, which is probably why I liked The Wrestling on TV. With its bad acting, outrageous costumes and strong sense of good vs evil it had much in common with that other Saturday essential, Doctor Who. The Wrestling was as much part of my youth as sticky-backed plastic and TisWas.

Simon Garfield's wonderfully evocative book brings it all back. The style is strange, like reading a radio documentary. Garfield quotes verbatim great chunks of material from people he has interviewed as well as newspaper reports, etc. Occasionally he adds a linking narrative paragraph in his own voice. It's probably fair to say that The Wrestling is not so much written by Garfield as assembled by him. It works surprisingly well.

The book is full of anecdotes, behind the scenes gossip and memories. They're all here - Mick McManus, Giant Haystacks, Kendo Nagasaki... once-familiar names I hadn't thought of for years. There are also some things I don't remember - like Jimmy Saville wrestling. Apparently he lost his first 35 fights.

Not all the memories are that happy. There's also the racism of the seventies, the slow death of the game in the eighties, the revelations and recriminations.

There's one thing we never really get told: was it fixed? The interviewees all seem to have different opinions as to that. I doubt anyone believes it was all above board, the real question is just how extensively was it choreographed? Perhaps the best answer in the book was "It wasn't all Come Dancing".

What we can say for sure is that fixed or not the wrestlers took some serious punishment for very little reward. Those guys worked damned hard for our pleasure and to line the pockets of the promoters. They were showmen, yes, but also real fighters. That's what made The Wrestling different from the insipid merchandising-led versions of today.

In the end The Wrestling was finally killed for no good reason. It was taken off television by one Greg Dyke (now BBC DG) just because he didn't think it had the right image.

The Wrestling was, like Doctor Who, a product of its era. It could probably never be brought back to life. But, as with Doctor Who, I'd really like to see someone try.

Until then, it's great to wallow in this nostalgic book.