It’s not unusual to be thumped by anyone.. Teddy boy Tom liked a ‘rumble’
Tom in his youth
SIR Tom Jones had a reputation as a Teddy boy brawler in his youth, it is claimed.
A new book on the The Voice star features interviews with friends he grew up with in Pontypridd, South Wales.
They tell how the It’s Not Unusual singer, 79, was fond of a “backstreet rumble” in the 1950s.
Author Colin Macfarlane said
Sir Tom later had to have two nose jobs to repair damage from scraps in his teenage years.
Describing one alleged fight, he wrote: “He got into a scrap with another fellow who was annoyed because Tom had beaten up one of his mates. The guy in question was quick off the mark and headbutted Tom through a fish-andchip show window.
“Tom was a bit of a wild man, with a knack for
IN life, Whitney Houston was exploited by everyone around her. So why should passing to the great beyond make any difference when there is money still to be made?
The troubled star, who died in 2012, has been reanimated in hologram form for a “tour” to make a few quid and, as any horror movie fan will tell you, bringing the dead back to life never works out well.
The singer last toured in 2009, her voice and body ravaged by the drug use which led to her death three years later. Even then, it made €33million from just 46 shows.
The spectacle with this new show is all there, with a live band and dance troupe.
Whitney’s image was dim, and she was a little out of focus. It reminded me of the first colour TV my parents bought.
She mostly stays rooted to the spot at the back of the stage, but during I Wanna Dance with Somebody she does take a few steps.
After a while, some of the doubts fall away and you become immersed in that voice.
This was Whitney at her prime doing what she did best, coming alive for an audience. “Welcome to Whitney Houston, very much live,” Undead Whitney says. “You sound like you’re all having a good time.”
And we were, at least until someone shouted “get off” at the hologram.
The firm behind the show has postponed an Amy Winehouse hologram tour. It’s probably best to let sleeping stars lie. getting himself into trouble. He had to fight to prove himself.” The book – Sir Tom Jones: 80 – also describes how he was a “smart dresser”. It says he had, “a Teddy boy coat, with trousers that were... as narrow as the thinnest pair of drainpipes in Pontypridd”.