[1]: 11  His father abandoned the family when his son was seven, and so the bullying toughened up the young Crabtree in the manner portrayed by "A Boy Named Sue",[1]: 11 Well, that song described me down to a tee now I look to the past and think about it, and after a while I started to get very angry.

Not long afterwards, Shirley's brother, Max, was appointed as Northern area booker with Joint Promotions and began to transform Crabtree into the persona for which he would be best remembered.

Based originally on the character of the same name played by actor Burl Ives in the first screen adaptation of Tennessee Williams' Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), 'Big Daddy' was first given life by Crabtree in late 1974, initially still as a villain.

[6] The character first gained attention in mid-1975 when he formed a tag team with TV newcomer Giant Haystacks and together they became notorious as 'villains' crushing blue eye opponents.

[7] By the middle of 1977, Big Daddy had completed his transformation into a blue eye, a change cemented by the breakdown of his tag team with Haystacks and a subsequent feud between the two which would last until the early 1990s.

A firm fans' favourite particularly amongst children, Big Daddy came to the ring in either a sequinned cape or a Union Flag jacket and top hat.

He continued to make regular appearances into the early 1990s, but he eventually retired from wrestling altogether in 1993 to spend the remainder of his days in his home town of Halifax.

A stage play by Brian Mitchell and Joseph Nixon, Big Daddy vs Giant Haystacks, premiered at the Brighton Festival Fringe in East Sussex, England between 26–28 May 2011 and subsequently toured Great Britain.

[13] Big Daddy is referenced on Luke Haines' 2011 album 9 1/2 Psychedelic Meditations on British Wrestling of the 1970s & Early '80s, as the owner of a Casio VL-Tone synthesizer.