Tag: Celebrities

Jimi Hendrix Plays Live at Blackpool Opera House

Posted by

ABC Odeon Cinema – 14 & 15 April 1967 Continuing with the UK package tour featuring The Walker Brothers, Cat Stevens, Engelbert Humperdinck, The Californians, The Quotations, and MC Nick Jones; The Jimi Hendrix Experience performed two shows at the Odeon Cinema in Blackpool. Hendrix later said in an interview, “Although I wasn’t scared starting my first big tour, we did wonder how they would accept us, there being so many different acts and us probably the most extreme of all. In Blackpool, the police slipped Mitch and Noel through side doors and took me around the block five times… Read more »

David Durie Makes His FA Cup Debut Against Manchester City

Posted by

David George Durie (13 August 1931 – 30 August 2016) was an English professional footballer widely admired for his prolific scoring ability and exemplary conduct, spending the majority of his career at Blackpool Football Club. Born and raised in Blackpool, Durie attended Revoe School and signed with his hometown club in 1952. Initially brought in as cover for Allan Brown, he gradually carved out his own place in the team. He made his league debut on 23 February 1953 in a 2–0 defeat to Charlton Athletic and scored his first goal later that season in a 5–1 loss at Middlesbrough…. Read more »

Blackpool Loses Footballing Giant Bill Parr in Tragic Plane Crash

Posted by

William (Bill) Wilfred Parr (23 April 1915 – 8 March 1942) was an accomplished England amateur international footballer and wartime RAF pilot, whose promising sporting career was tragically cut short during the Second World War. Born in Revoe, Blackpool, Parr attended Revoe School and began playing football locally with Grasmere Road Methodists, all while working at Blackpool Town Hall. Despite his amateur status, he broke into Blackpool FC’s first team, making 18 appearances. His natural pace and talent on the right wing caught wider attention, and by the late 1930s he had established himself as an England amateur international, earning… Read more »

Stanley Mortensen Signs with Blackpool Football Club

Posted by

Stanley Harding Mortensen (26 May 1921 – 22 May 1991) was a distinguished English professional footballer, best remembered for his remarkable performance in the 1953 FA Cup final, commonly referred to as the “Matthews Final.” During this match, he made history by becoming the only player to score a hat-trick in a Wembley FA Cup final. Mortensen was also the first player to score for England in a FIFA World Cup qualifying match and later became the first England player to find the net in the World Cup itself. Wartime career Born in South Shields, Mortensen enlisted in the armed… Read more »

Frank Swift Signs with Manchester City

Posted by

Frank Victor Swift (26 December 1913 – 6 February 1958) was an English footballer who played as a goalkeeper for both Manchester City and the England national team. He began his football career at Fleetwood Town, close to his hometown of Blackpool, before joining First Division club Manchester City in 1932, where he spent the entirety of his professional playing career. Tragically, Swift passed away at the age of 44 in the Munich air disaster while reporting on Manchester United’s European Cup match against Red Star Belgrade in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, for the News of the World. On 6 February 1958,… Read more »

‘King Billy’ Greenwood Opens First Tudor Bingo

Posted by

‘King Billy’ Greenwood, entrepreneur and self-made businessman, from Knott End to Fleetwood, and Blackpool’s Tudor Bingo Empire that made him a Millionaire in the swinging 1960s! William David Greenwood (1915-1991), always known as Billy, was born in Blackpool. His parents, Agnes and Harold, lived on Fenton Road, where they brought up their family including Billy’s two sisters Annie and May, along with younger brother Harry. Billy’s father worked for the railway at Blackpool’s Central Station and was on two occasions given the prestigious responsibility of commanding the Royal Train. Billy as a young man was always seeking his fortune and… Read more »

Heritage North West Takes Over the Clifton Family Home

Posted by

Evleyn Waugh declared the Cliftons as “all tearing mad” when he visited Lytham Hall in the 1930s. The last Squire Clifton, Harry, managed to squander the family fortunes and bring to an end several centuries of Clifton family dominance for Lytham and St Annes in Lancashire. Harry’s reckless and eccentric behaviour, not to mention his wild schemes and obsession with the occult, left very little of his families vast estates in Lancashire and Scotland. His father, John Talbot Clifton, had lost in his lifetime the family’s estates in Ireland after it became independent from the British Crown at the end… Read more »

The Mystery of Paula Yates

Posted by

Do a search online for Paula Yates and you won’t find much that ties Paula Yates to Blackpool. Her Wikipedia page claims she was born on 24 April 1959 in Colwyn Bay, Wales, to English parents, and that she was brought up in a show business family. Her mother was Elaine Smith who was from Blackpool. Her stage name was Heller Toren, who later wrote under the pseudonym Helene Thornton. Up until 1997, Paula Yates believed her biological father was Jess Yates, who hosted the ITV religious programme Stars on Sunday. A DNA test in that year revealed that her… Read more »

Thin Lizzy and Whitesnake’s John Sykes Co-Founds Streetfighter

Posted by

John James Sykes, a virtuoso guitarist whose contributions shaped the rock music scene, passed away in December 2024 at the age of 65. A prominent figure in the 1970s and 1980s rock scene, he performed with iconic bands such as Thin Lizzy and Whitesnake, and later carved out a successful solo career. Born on 29th July 1959 in Reading, Berkshire, Sykes spent part of his early childhood in Ibiza, Spain, where his father and uncle ran a popular discothèque. The family eventually returned to Reading, where at 14, Sykes was introduced to the guitar by his uncle, who showed him… Read more »

Photo Exclusive: Joe McElderry’s First Live Performance in Blackpool

Posted by

On 14 November 2010, Blackpool BID put on the Christmas Lights Switch-On event in the town centre with Joe McElderry doing the honours. The video clip and photos featured in this post were taken at the event and are shown here for the first time as an exclusive on Blackpool Timeline. For more up-to-date information about Blackpool BID, please visit the website. BACK TO THE PRESENT Michael Harrison and the Really Useful Group are delighted to announce that South Shields-born X Factor winner, Joe McElderry, will return this year to Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, where he is set… Read more »