Some time ago we heard from Mike and Rosemary Ford, telling us about when they went on holiday to Spain in 1967, coinciding with Radio London's ‘Holidays With DJs’ promotion,
where they met and went go-karting with Tony Blackburn.
Well it seems that this wasn't the first time they had encountered a Radio London disc jockey. The previous year they had met one at the Miss Greater London Council Beauty Contest.
Rosemary Ford (then Rosemary Goodger) joined the Higher Education (HE1) section of the Greater London Council in 1965, aged 16 years. She worked in County Hall, a rather grand edifice near Westminster Bridge. (No longer the seat of
local government, the building now houses two hotels, an aquarium and other tourist attractions.) In 1966 a memo went round the council offices inviting female members of staff to enter the first ever ‘Miss GLC’ competition.
Rosemary put her name forward.
Mike Ford, then her boyfriend - now her husband, tells us that: “at the event, Rosemary's dress was mauve. She spent some of the day having her hair coiffured, ready for the evening. The entertainment was provided by the
popular group the Applejacks, singing their recent hits. The compère was Radio London DJ John Edward.
Although Rosemary was not the outright winner, the famous newspaper columnist Olga Franklin was a competition judge and filled her national column the next day with many references to Rosemary.”
Mike has sent us this photo of John Edward with Rosemary. We asked John for his memories of the occasion but sadly he replied: “That is me (in the photo) but I have no recollection of the event at all.” Maybe it is not
surprising after more than half a century!
Mike writes: “We went on to start a GLC staff association-sponsored dance club opposite the GLC building, above a pub called the Ordnance Arms. It was called Club Tighten Up and featured a DJ called Wolfe
Hardee, real name Malcolm Hardee. Malcolm went on to start and own The Tunnel Club in Greenwich where Paul Merton and a host of other, now famous, comedians started their stand-up careers.” (See Malcolm Hardee's
Guardian obituary.)
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