{"id":2946,"date":"2026-01-05T08:32:02","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T08:32:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/?p=2946"},"modified":"2026-01-05T08:32:02","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T08:32:02","slug":"end-of-an-era-as-world-famous-bodybuilding-show-promoter-set-to-retire-after-more-than-six-decades-in-the-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/?p=2946","title":{"rendered":"End of an era as world famous bodybuilding show promoter set to retire after more than six decades in the business"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Jim Charles, who has run Jim\u2019s Gym for 67 years, has been the <a href=\"https:\/\/nabbaofficial.com\/\">National Amateur Bodybuilder&#8217;s Association<\/a> (NABBA) show organiser for the Midlands as well as running Mr Britain and Mr Universe contests for getting on for 50 years. He&#8217;s also been chairman for many years and honorary life president of the association which set a young Arnold Schwarzenegger on the road to bodybuilding success in the 1960s.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"w-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/resizer.nationalworld.com\/4d5ae014-d8a0-4120-afce-71c3aa09239c.jpg?tr=w-300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/resizer.nationalworld.com\/4d5ae014-d8a0-4120-afce-71c3aa09239c.jpg?tr=w-300 300w,https:\/\/resizer.nationalworld.com\/4d5ae014-d8a0-4120-afce-71c3aa09239c.jpg?tr=w-600 600w,https:\/\/resizer.nationalworld.com\/4d5ae014-d8a0-4120-afce-71c3aa09239c.jpg?tr=w-900 900w,https:\/\/resizer.nationalworld.com\/4d5ae014-d8a0-4120-afce-71c3aa09239c.jpg?tr=w-1200 1200w\" sizes=\"@media (min-width: 1024px) 65vw,95vw\" alt=\"Jim Charles, legendary Lye bodybuilding gym boss and show organiser for NABBA, is retiring. He's been running his iconic bodybuilding gym for 67 years. Photo: Tim Sturgess\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"w-full max-w-none\"\/><figcaption>Jim Charles, legendary Lye bodybuilding gym boss and show organiser for NABBA, is retiring. He&#8217;s been running his iconic bodybuilding gym for 67 years. Photo: Tim Sturgess<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>But after a lifetime of promoting fitness training and bodybuilding through the shows, NABBA and Jim\u2019s Gym in Lye, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.expressandstar.com\/news\/local-hubs\/dudley\/stourbridge\/\">Stourbridge<\/a>, Jim has decided it\u2019s time to ditch the heavy lifting and take things a bit easier.<\/p>\n<p>His wife Val, who has been secretary of NABBA and co-organiser of the shows for 27 years, has also called it a day.<\/p>\n<p>The couple have staged Midlands and Mr England shows at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.expressandstar.com\/news\/local-hubs\/dudley\/brierley-hill\/\">Brierley Hill<\/a> Civic Hall for decades as well as the national Mr Britain and internationally renowned Mr Universe shows staged at various venues around the country.<\/p>\n<p>In fact Jim remembers vividly the days when Schwarzenegger, then unknown, took the bodybuilding world by storm &#8211; winning the NABBA Mr Universe class 1 title four times in succession \u00a0from 1967 to 1970, before becoming a Hollywood movie star.<\/p>\n<p>He also often fondly recalls how he bought the young Arnold breakfast comprising black coffee and beans on toast in London as the young Austrian arrived in the UK to make his name in competitive bodybuilding.<\/p>\n<p>Arnie, the association\u2019s biggest success story and role model, has been a mainstay on Jim\u2019s musclemen show posters including the latest one advertising his final competition.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.expressandstar.com\/news\/local-hubs\/dudley\/stourbridge\/2025\/09\/05\/jims-final-show-end-of-an-era-for-nabba-mr-universe-contest-promoter\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jim Charles, who has run Jim\u2019s Gym for 67 years, has been the National Amateur Bodybuilder&#8217;s Association (NABBA) show organiser for the Midlands as well as running Mr Britain and Mr Universe contests for getting on for 50 years. He&#8217;s also been chairman for many years and honorary life president of the association which set [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":1759,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[270],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2946","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-international-news"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>End of an era as world famous bodybuilding show promoter set to retire after more than six decades in the business - World Bodybuilding News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/?p=2946\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"End of an era as world famous bodybuilding show promoter set to retire after more than six decades in the business - World Bodybuilding News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Jim Charles, who has run Jim\u2019s Gym for 67 years, has been the National Amateur Bodybuilder&#8217;s Association (NABBA) show organiser for the Midlands as well as running Mr Britain and Mr Universe contests for getting on for 50 years. He&#8217;s also been chairman for many years and honorary life president of the association which set [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/?p=2946\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"World Bodybuilding News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-01-05T08:32:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/resizer.nationalworld.com\/4d5ae014-d8a0-4120-afce-71c3aa09239c.jpg?tr=w-300\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Beverly Rademacher\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Beverly Rademacher\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\\\/?p=2946#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\\\/?p=2946\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Beverly Rademacher\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ba2c57e52dcfad0eb804e05cc214d484\"},\"headline\":\"End of an era as world famous bodybuilding show promoter set to retire after more than six decades in the business\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-05T08:32:02+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\\\/?p=2946\"},\"wordCount\":318,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\\\/?p=2946#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/4d5ae014-d8a0-4120-afce-71c3aa09239c.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"International News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\\\/?p=2946#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\\\/?p=2946\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\\\/?p=2946\",\"name\":\"End of an era as world famous bodybuilding show promoter set to retire after more than six decades in the business - 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