Paul Morrill – Shotokan Karate Background

Paul Morrill trained in Shotokan karate at Widnes Shotokan Karate Club during the 1980s. According to Morrill’s own account, one of his regular training partners was Norman Patterson, whom Morrill identifies as having served with 22 SAS. Morrill and Patterson took their Shodan examinations together and were graded by Keinosuke Enoeda, then JKA instructor and Chief Instructor of the Karate Union of Great Britain (KUGB).

During this period Morrill trained and was graded under a number of leading Shotokan instructors, including Masao Kawasoe, Steve Cattle, Bob Rhodes, Terry O’Neill and Frank Cope. His principal club instructor (Sensei) was Steve Hyland.

Morrill later represented Cheshire at county level. He has described the standard of Britain’s leading international competitors of that era — including Ian Roberts, George Best, Elwyn Hall and Frank Brennan — as being beyond the level he himself was able to reach competitively.

In later years Morrill trained with John Cheetham, founder and editor of Shotokan Karate Magazine and a long-standing figure in traditional Shotokan karate.

It is not publicly established whether Morrill continues to practise karate. In later life he experienced significant health problems, including cancer requiring major surgery and treatment over several years.