Have we won yet?
by Graham Smith

Page 2 of 2

Still not out of puff
I’m pleased to tell you that Ronnie Ronalde has not run out of puff.

Who? you ask. Ronnie Ronalde. Come on, scratch your brains and cast your mind back to the days of Roy Rogers and Trigger, remember Josef Locke, Alma Cogan, Frankie Vaughan, Saveen and Daisy May, and somewhere in the depths of your mind you should remember little Ronnie whistling his whatsits off In a Monastery Garden.

A while ago I had the shock of my life at a tribute show, to Frankie Vaughan strangely enough, when this legend of my childhood strode on stage, puckered up and held an audience spellbound with the magical whistling won him superstar status in the 50s and 60s.

I wrote a piece, tongue in cheek as I do, saying that I honestly thought he had run out of puff. This week I received an e-mail from the man himself in New Zealand thanking me for the laugh and promising to send me his autobiography “Around the World on a Whistle”, very painful if you have piles, and a CD of his whistling, yodelling and songs. I’m overwhelmed.

After retreating into the background in the seventies, he now lives in New Zealand but still works occasionally. He has a wonderful web site, (find it by putting Ronnie Ronalde into your Google search), with excerpts of his whistling and the story of his fascinating life.

He once put the wind up Trigger, Roy Rogers horse, and Marilyn Monroe said he made her shiver. The Queen leaned over the balcony at his first Royal Command performance to see where the beautiful noises were coming from. OK, I can hear you, shut up you nostalgic twit.

Don’t you love real entertainers? I can remember meeting Jimmy Clitheroe, a shrivelled little man who had blocks on his pedals to drive; Harold Wilson, who smelled like a November 5th aftermath with that ruddy pipe; Les Dawson, he chain smoked and joined me in a slipperful of sherry from a gala queen’s silver shoe…ah, the stuff of memories, what about yours?

Graham Smith can be contacted by e-mail at [email protected] or by phone on 07092 103738, for ideas about having a laugh at life, internationally, nationally, regionally or locally.

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