Scott Langley: ‘I was on all fours and blood was just dripping on the dojo floor’

"I woke up with dread. I was constantly vomiting. Most mornings I’d either feel like I was going to vomit or vomit. From the train station to the dojo there were little alleys where I’d nip down and throw up. And it was all just to get in the door.”

Then Scott Langley’s training would begin. Day in, day out, for two years, the Yorkshire native walked to the notorious Japanese Karate Instructors’ Course to receive two hours of physical and mental punishment that, in any other context, should lead to hospital stays, headlines and court cases.

The remainder of each day was spent stopping the bleeding and psychologically steeling himself for the trip to the dojo the next day.