Our Century

Deeley double grabs Cup

Norman Deeley in 1960 FA Cuo
Norman Deeley celebrates one of his goals in the 1960 FA Cup Final

It was a case of so near yet so far as Wolves failed by just one point to be the first team of the 20th century to achieve the coveted league and cup double. (The distinction was to go to Tottenham Hotspur just 12 months later).

They knew when they stepped out on to the sacred Wembley turf that they had already surrendered their title crown of the previous two previous years to Burnley.

To win the FA Cup they needed to defeat another Lancashire side, Blackburn Rovers.

An own goal plus a brace from Norman Deeley gave Wolves a 3-0 win.

A familiar face was missing from the line-up for the first time in many years as Billy Wright had retired from the game at the start of the season.

Cliff mobbed at Danilo: Teenage singing sensation Cliff RichardCliff Richard was mobbed by adoring fans as he arrived in Cannock for a concert in the town.

And a famous name from the world of music was in the audience for the show at the now defunct Danilo Cinema.

However Caruso from Italy was not related to the late virtuoso. She was a 15-year-old schoolgirl who told reporters she had to see Cliff live before returning to her home in Naples as there was "no one quite like him" in her own country.

Cliff Richard, who was visiting the town for the first time, did two performances at the cinema and explained that his hectic schedule did not allow him much time to talk to the fans.

Many seemed determined to talk to him and a rush to the stage by hundreds of screaming girls had to be headed off by police and cinema staff.

Magistrate appeals for people to slow down: Slow down, you move too fast . . .The Swinging Sixties were here, a wind of change was blowing through the free world and the pace of life was undoubtedly increasing.

It was then ironic that they opened with a heartfelt plea to the people of the West Midlands to slow down.

South Staffordshire stipendiary magistrate Kenneth Wood's appeal was directed to the region's motoprists and came on the very first day of a decade which would see a man on the moon before it had ended.

In an attempt to stem the ever

mounting tide of casualties on the roads Mr Wood said motorists should make a conscious effort to drive everywhere 5mph slower than in 1959.

"The difference it will make to your enjoyment, to the time of your journey and to your business interests will, I venture to say, be negligible," he told his court in Wolverhampton.

"But if you will only make and keep this new year resolution it may well be that by the end of 1960 there will be a significant reduction in the road casualty figures for the 12 months."

' Go and jump in the river' new chief told: Passions running high at the parish council . . . Within minutes of being elected chairman of Essington parish council Mr H C Mountfield was told he could "go and jump in the river" during a fiery echange with fellow councillor Harry Adams.

The row was over road surfaces in Essington's Westcroft ward.

Councillor Adams had produced a reply from the county surveyor to a letter he had written complaining about the surafces at which the new

chairman accused him of duplicating the work of the parish clerk.

To this Adams had replied: "If I can get more done by writing or going to see people I shall do it and you can go and jump in the river."

Tempers had cooled by the time Councillor Mountfield enjoyed the more pleasant task of introducing his newly-elected wife to the council - the first time in more than 10 years there had been a husband and wife team on board.

A more Christian attitude:

Sir,

Is it not time we adopted a more Christian and intelligent attitude to Germany?

The most violent critics of the Germans often seem to be those who have never been to the country themselves - at least in peace time.

To call the appearance of several slogans and the desecration of a synagogue proof of a resurgence in Nazism shows a complete failure to understand the situation in Germany.

The enormous publicity given to these acts done by a few people, probably irresponsible young people, tends to give us a distorted picture of the whole affair.

Surely an attitude of continued distrust towards Germany cannot do any good.

D B Simmonds,
St Jude's Vicarage, Tettenhall Road, Wolverhampton.

 

Dylan Evans
We were John Wayne, Tom Sawyer & Robin Hood rolled into one.