1965 MONDAY SEPTEMBER 9
Uphill’s triumph, Winstone’s defeat and much more made the news 54 years ago this week
Double for Uphill
MALCOLM UPHILL, aged 30, a fitter, of Caerphilly, became the first Welshman to score the double in the Manx Grand Prix when he romped home on his Norton to win the senior race.
He won the junior race earlier in the week. He covered the six laps of the 37¾-mile circuit in 2hr 37min 27sec at an average speed of 89.69mph. The double has only been achieved on eight previous occasions, the last time in 1957. Conditions were unfavourable throughout most of the race and the start was postponed for an hour because of the weather. When Uphill took the flag, the crowd at the grandstand ignored the heavy downpour and cheered him as he flashed by. Uphill made his debut in the Junior Manx Grand Prix in 1962 when he finished 14th. Two years later he came eighth, and last year was second to gain his first replica. Norton riders took the first five places.
No date set for Bassey
SHIRLEY BASSEY, has not set a date for her remarriage to Kenneth Hume, the 39-year-old film producer.
Said the Cardiff-born singer early today after making the wedding announcement during her smash-hit opening at London’s Pigalle Theatre Restaurant: “We decided to remarry some weeks ago. I asked Ken to come back to handle my business affairs and we discovered we were still very much in love. We have both learned a lot during the two years we have been away from each other and I think we are both more mature.”
Shirley wearing a large, square-cut diamond engagement ring said: “I put it on for the first time tonight. Isn’t it wonderful?” It was just after 10pm at the packed Pigalle when the 27-yearold Shirley exploded into her first number Wonderful Day with boxer Billy Walker leading the heavyweight cheers, well-supported by personalities like David Jacobs, Fenella Fielding and Dora Bryan. It was three songs from the end that Shirley said simply “Now I’d like to sing a song for the man I’m going to marry. He happens to be my ex-husband.” More long applause for the Tiger Bay songstress before she broke into the appropriate choice, The Second Time Around. There were so many bouquets of flowers at the finale that it looked as if London’s Covent Garden Market was being transferred to the West End. This say-it-with-flowers theme continued through to Shirley’s dressing room, which was banked with one thousand red roses sent by Mr Hume.
Said Mr Hume: “I didn’t propose to Shirley – I didn’t need to. We are both very much in love and I think we always have been. We haven’t set a date for the marriage but I am leaving for America and won’t be back for a month. After that we will set a date.”
Shirley, who will be appearing at the Pigalle for the next eight weeks at a record-breaking salary of £3,000 a week, first married Mr Hume in July 1961. He obtained a divorce in February of this year.
Admiration for Winstone
ALTHOUGH gallant Howard Winstone failed in his bid to win the world featherweight boxing championship, all police leave in Merthyr had been cancelled and extra officers drafted into the town for the Welsh boxer’s homecoming.
The flood of bitter disappointment that swept through the town last night turned to admiration for Winstone’s brilliant 15-round performance against Mexican Vicente Saldivar, the champion. Almost all Merthyr’s 60,000 people are determined to cram themselves into the 100-yard area outside the town hall when Howard and his manager, Eddie Thomas, return for a civic reception. As rain fell, flags and “Good Luck Howard” banners hung limply, but soon householders and shopkeepers were hanging out new banners proclaiming, “You Are Still Our Champ” and “Well Done Howard – Pride of Wales.”
Gee’s not unusual
MICHAEL GEE, lead guitarist of the Squires pop group, left Cardiff for Bermuda today.
The reason is that Tom Jones, who has been on tour in the USA, has had unsuitable backing from American groups. “Things got to such a pitch that Tom said he must have Mike out there with him,” said Jo Mills, wife of Gordon Mills, Tom’s manager. “Tom intended to take all the Squires with him but we could not get work permits for them.”
Michael who comes from Caerwent Road, Ely, will play with Tom in Bermuda before going on to some dates in Los Angeles. Both Tom and Michael will return to Britain on October 4.
Thatchers are thriving
IT MIGHT sound like the most unlikely boom of the century, but, it’s true. People are queuing up for thatchers.
Their order books are full and there are waiting lists as more and more country cottages are saved from ruin. In their get-away-from-it-all rush to the country businessmen, executives and professional people are snapping up old cottages – thatched roofs and all – for conversion into comfortable
country retreats. And it means work for the South Wales thatchers . . . both of them. For although South Wales has more than its fair share of thatched roofs, it has less than its fair share of thatchers. One of them is Cyril Cook, of Barry, and the other, John Jones, below, a 52-year-old weather-beaten
Welshman, who runs his business from his home – on a small holding at Coity, near Bridgend. “I’m booked up a year ahead, said Mr Jones.
“People think it’s a dying industry. It’s not, it’s holding its own – at least.”