Web Page No 2488

30th June 2018

Before we start, I know I said Drayton Final will be the last book but more info has come in and I am three quarters of the way through Drayton Observer but I need your help. I know of the Kindergarden and Dancing School run by Miss Dorothy Palser of 53 Sea View Road but that is about all I know of it. Can anyone help with info about the dancing schools in the area?

1^st Picture: Billy Cotton in Wakey Wakey pose

2^nd Picture: Billy Cotton Racing Driver

3^rd Picture: Bill Cotton Junior

4^th Picture: Cathy Kay and Alan Breeze

Wakey, Wakey

For several decades Billy Cotton was a household name in Britain, as a band leader, radio and TV presenter. But there was a lot more to him than met the eye. Billy Cotton was showbusiness for at least two decades after the war.

His Sunday lunchtime radio show - which transferred to television in 1956 - was heralded with his trademark catch phrase "Wakey wakey" and became a staple for millions of households between 1949 and 1968.

One of Billy Cotton's band's most famous songs was "I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts" his appeal was always "broad brush" and never "vulgar".

What many people did not realise was that despite being a band leader and arranger he could not play an instrument or read a note of music.

At its peak in the early 1960s the show had an audience of 20 million and regular guests included Dionne Warwick, Cliff Richard, Cilla Black, Sandie Shaw, Adam Faith, Tom Jones and Lulu.

And many, like Tom Jones and Russ Conway, got their big break on the show.

He was 50 when the programme first aired, but he had packed an awful lot into those 50 years and his life sounds like something out of Boy's Own.

Billy Cotton was born on 6^th  May 1899 and was the youngest of 10 children in a close-knit, working class family in Smith Square, Westminster, which was a very different place from what it is today. He joined the army at the age of 15 - his dad threatened to "send him to bed" when he found out he had joined up - and served at Gallipoli in World War One.

Later he became a pilot for the Army Flying Corps, but crashed his plane and was nearly killed on the same day the Royal Air Force was created. After the war he took up boxing as a welterweight for London Polytechnic and played football briefly for Brentford - scoring on his debut against QPR. Later he turned out for non-league Wimbledon. At this time he was working the 4am shift in an east London factory and married Mabel Gregory in 1921.

When Mabel fell pregnant Billy Cotton got a job as a bus conductor, and played the drums in a band at Ealing Palais from 7pm until midnight. He later got a job fronting the London Savannah Band. The band, who started out playing in Brighton and then Southport, made it big in the 1930s when they moved to Ciro's club in London's West End and recruited singer Alan Breeze and here Billy Cotton developed his signature tune "Somebody Stole My Gal".

He loved speed and danger and in September 1936 he tried to break the world land speed record on the sands at Southport. In his memoirs, he joked that the car had two speeds - "fast" and "stop". He did not break the record but his 121.5mph was a very impressive speed. He raced at the British Grand Prix at Donington in 1938 and finished his racing career in 1949 at the Silverstone International Grand Prix, coming fourth.

He was a life-long Charlton fan and his recording of Red Red Robin is still played at The Valley before the team's matches. His love of speed, danger, sport and fun made him a "bloke's bloke", according to Michael Grade, whose father Leslie was his agent.

During World War Two he entertained the troops with his band and despite the demise of the variety scene in the late 1940s, he bounced back with The Billy Cotton Band Show.

Billy's youngest son Bill Cotton - later a TV producer and BBC executive - "worshipped" his father, but was no doubt affected by the way his mother was treated by his womanising. Bill Cotton bore a remarkable resemblance to his father and even took over the Billy Cotton Band Show when his father was ill.

In the early 1950s Mabel moved into a house in Sandbanks, near Bournemouth, while he rented a flat in London.

In 1955 he hit the buffers, suffering a nervous breakdown because he was working too hard. But he soon bounced back and transferred the show successfully to television. In 1962 he suffered a stroke but made a remarkable recovery, which he put down to a psychic healer brought to the hospital by his then lover Kathy Kay. That same year he was crowned Showbusiness Personality of the Year by the Variety Club of Great Britain.

He enjoyed giving young singers a break. In 1968 Sandie Shaw was one of those and she remembers him as a "very sweet" man who soothed her nerves.

He worked right up until his death. On 24 March 1969 he sang "Maybe It's Because I'm a Londoner" at a charity function. The following night he keeled over and died while at the Empire Pool in Wembley watching a heavyweight boxing match between Billy Walker and Jack Bodell.

His funeral was at Westminster Abbey, which is around the corner from the house where he was born.

Fearne Cotton, the TV presenter, his great niece says: "His life is such an amazing story. I am so happy to say that I am part of the Cotton clan

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Yours

Peter

gsseditor@gmail.com

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News and Views:

On this day 30th June 1960-1965.

On 30/06/1960 the number one single was Three Steps to Heaven - Eddie Cochran and the number one album was South Pacific Soundtrack. The top rated TV show was No Hiding Place (AR) and the box office smash was Psycho. A pound of today's money was worth £13.68 and Burnley were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 30/06/1961 the number one single was Surrender - Elvis Presley and the number one album was GI Blues - Elvis Presley. The top rated TV show was Harpers West One (ATV) and the box office smash was One Hundred and One Dalmations. A pound of today's money was worth £13.25 and Tottenham Hotspur were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 30/06/1962 the number one single was Good Luck Charm - Elvis Presley and the number one album was West Side Story Soundtrack. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was Lawrence of Arabia. A pound of today's money was worth £12.89 and Ipswich Town were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 30/06/1963 the number one single was I Like It - Gerry & the Pacemakers and the number one album was Please Please Me - The Beatles. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was The Great Escape. A pound of today's money was worth £12.64 and Everton were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 30/06/1964 the number one single was It's Over - Roy Orbison and the number one album was Rolling Stones - The Rolling Stones. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was Dr Strangelove. A pound of today's money was worth £12.24 and Liverpool were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 30/06/1965 the number one single was I'm Alive - Hollies and the number one album was The Sound of Music Soundtrack. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was The Sound of Music. A pound of today's money was worth £11.69 and Manchester United were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.