As I remember from the stories, Tuck was lapsed, wasn't he?

Anyway, you didn't have to be a "warrior monk" to know quarterstaff or cudgel back then. It'd be before it was formalised into a martial art (Britain had plenty of indigenous martial arts, all of which except boxing and wrestling have sadly died out), but most reasonably tough kids would doubtless have worked it out themselves. All you'd need is to have been a bouncer before you became a monk.

Graham.