Lawrence of Arabia actor ‘ enjoying his retirement’
IN MY column on February 6, I told how a young man named John Dimech who I used to talk to at Ralph Thomas’ unofficial betting shop back in the 1950s – it was a garden shed in Catherine Street – went on to have a part in the blockbusting movie Lawrence of Arabia.
Well John, who now lives in London, and who was also in the films Killers of Kilimanjaro and The Deadly Affairs, has been in touch after his sister read my piece and told him about it.
Born in Malta in 1942, he attended my old school St Peters for two years and was working in the Angel Hotel in Cardiff when he was offered the part.
After he had arrived in London for the film’s premiere, in which played Arab teenager Daud alongside Peter O’Toole, he decided to stay there and with no other film offers: “I got myself a job at the Claridges Hotel where I worked for 11 years.”
He later joined the Mecca Organisation and ended his working life as a security officer. He married his wife Sylvia in 1980 and says: “I am enjoying my peaceful retirement.”
Meanwhile, David Yorath writes: “I am a Cathays boy born and bred and I still live there even though the area is now more like a university campus. I and my family kept a shop in Woodville Road for more than 50 years – Yorath Stores, which some of your readers may remember.
“I knew Thesiger Street very well too. I remember one lady who sold homemade toffee apples and toffee daps from her front room. Who could forget Harry Parfitt with the fresh flower always in his buttonhole and being driven around the area in his cart drawn by two Shetland ponies? He was the bestknown character in Cathays.
“I remember another character too. He was Reg Townsend and was affectionately known as Reg the Milk. He delivered milk from Winters’ Dairy which was situated behind the Mackintosh pub. I remember on one occasion when the milk was late. I looked up and down the road for Reg and he was coming around the corner from Minny Street between the shafts pulling his cart laden with crates of milk. His horse was too sick to work that day and Reg knew his customers were relying on him.”
While Carole Thomas, who lived in Fitzroy Street, wrote: “Your article brought back so many memories of when I was young and the happy times I spent there.
“Outside number 7 was a lamppost and we used to attach a rope to the crossbar and had a whale of a time swinging around. Everyone waiting their turn of course. I remember Tilly in the shop on the corner of Thesiger Street. She had a speech impediment and lived in the back of the shop.
“She used to sell Lyons