1978 MONDAY NOVEMBER 12

Helen hits the big time, Mickey Mouse is shown the door and much more made the news 40 years ago this week

Mickey Mouse told to leave party

Mickey Mouse was ordered out of a special birthday party which had been laid on for children at a Christmas Fair being held at St Peter’s Hall, Fairwater, Cardiff.

The children from the playgroup, right, had made a card to celebrate Mickey’s 50th birthday during his visit but when Walt Disney officials heard that their star was due to appear before youngsters in a city church hall, they knew something was wrong. The real Mickey Mouse was due to celebrate his birthday at a special slap-up luncheon in London.

Walt Disney Productions manager Michael Rye swooped on the church hall to confront the vicar, the Reverend Mervyn Davies, and, after a behindclosed-doors meeting, the substitute Mickey – Cardiff housewife Glenys Hubbard – was ordered out of her costume.

Said Mr Rye: “Mickey just cannot be in two places at one time and, as he is in London, he simply cannot be in Cardiff as well, it is impossible.

“Mickey Mouse is a star in his own right.

“To have two Mickeys is like saying there are two Richard Burtons.

“Even if a person dresses up in a Mickey Mouse costume and appears in public on a street it is – strictly speaking – infringing our copyright and therefore illegal.”

Mr Rye added later that the card made by the children would be delivered to Mickey Mouse at Disneyland in the United States.

Fixtures called off

Fixtures between South Wales Police and Widnes have been broken off by the Cheshire club. It was believed that Widnes were to charge the police with being excessively rough during the game at Waterton on November 4.

Widnes secretary John McCann was staying tight-lipped about the affair and all he would say was: “No further fixtures are in the course of being arranged with the South Wales Police.”

The secretary of the police club Superintendent Peter Spence-Thomas was surprised by the reaction from Widnes, whose first visit to Waterton this was.

“I was present at the game and I did not witness any act of violence by either side.” he said.

“However, it was obvious that there was some niggle present, which appeared to me to be six of one and half a dozen of the other.”

Raking injuries stop matches

Richmond rugby club would never again play against the Llanelli forward who caused “raking” injuries to British Lion Chris Ralston, pictured right, said club captain Roger Shackleton.

“We have a number of players who are prepared to go to court and identify the man involved,” said Shackleton. “They are prepared to say that what happened could not have been an accident.”

Mr Shackleton said that Richmond had been happy with the way Llanelli RFC had handled the case until last night.

After a Llanelli management committee meeting at Stradey, the club president Elvet Jones said that exhaustive inquiries had been made into Richmond’s claims that Ralston’s injuries had been maliciously caused by a Llanelli player.

“The club sincerely regret the seriousness of the injury but are satisfied there is no evidence available to the committee which supports the contention,” said Mr Jones. “On the contrary, the injury was accidentally caused in a ruck situation.”

Sense of smell returns

The waft of his wife’s cooking, the scent of flowers in his garden and the taste of the Guinness in his local have opened a whole new world for pensioner Bill Reid.

For 67-year-old Bill has suddenly regained his sense of smell and taste after some 35 years.

“I am now living in a strange new world,” said retired railway supervisor Bill, who lives with his wife Cilla in a terrace house in Manor Street, Cardiff.

“My sense of smell came back to me while I was ill in bed last week,” he said.

“I suddenly became aware of a sensation which I linked to the smell of newly-ironed clothes many years ago.

“When I was up and about I became aware of other smells, the wife’s cooking, the hot pasties in the bar at my local, and the flowers in the garden. That was the best smell of all, for I have often regretted not being able to enjoy the smell of a rose.

“My taste buds have also come back and I now find many things are much sweeter than they were before.”

Bill says he cannot remember

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