2001 Two well known greyhound ‘institutions’ pass away within days of each other. First former champion trainer and BGRB director Paddy Milligan (pictured with runner Micky Finn) dies aged 85. During a distinguished career, Paddy had trained the likes of Yellow Printer, Dusty Trail, Tory Mor, Handy High and Portrun Flier. Within a week, the sport had lost one of its best known journalists, Harry Lloyd, aged 68. The former Rayleigh racing manager worked for the Greyhound Express, Daily Mail and The Sporting Life.
1981 From April 1, all greyhounds registered with the NGRC must have a litter earmark. Until now, British breds did not have to be tattooed.
2015 Waterford runner Archaton Apollo came in as a reserve and won at 4-1 with the bookies and 100-1 on the tote.
1956 Offered for sale in Buckinghamshire “with good access to London.” Six bedroom bungalow and kennel for 50 dogs. Also staff bungalow, barn, numerous outbuildings, piggery, planning permission for two cottages, all set of on 15 acres. £10,000 ono.
2012 Racehorse trainer Mark Johnston is granted a trainer’s licence.
1997 The NGRC admit they are considering scrapping permit racing.
1994 April 3 Ballyregan Bob dies of heart failure a month short of his 11th birthday. He had been making public appearances upto three days before his death. It is decided that he should be preserved and be put on display alongside Mick The Miller in the Natural History Museum.
1996 Pat C Rendezvous, the bitch who broke Ballyregan Bob’s world record of 32 straight wins is retired. The brindle actually took the record to 36 during a career in which she won 85 races.
British Pathe began creating their famous cinema news reels in 1910 and produced around 90,000 individual films before they ceased in 1970.
Today you can find at least two dozen film clips with a greyhound theme and British residents can view them for free on-line.
1956 Hi There is retired to stud after dislocating a toe in a trial at Hackney Wick. It was the fourth toe injury to the 1955 Derby ante post favourite who had gone lame after winning his first round heat. The 67lb fawn will return to owner Jack McAllister in Ireland. Pictured with Paddy McEvoy, the 1954 Irish National Sprint winner will go on to become one of the most successful stud dogs ever to stand in Ireland.
The earliest coursing footage dates back to 1914-18. There also films of eight Waterloo Cups between 1920-1932 with spectators arriving in horse drawn carriages to see great stars like Golden Seal and White Collar.
To say that Pathe were there at the start of greyhound racing would be an understatement! They were there before it started!
A film entitled ‘Europe’s First Greyhound Racing Track’ is dated 22 July 1926.
If accurate, it depicts a publicity making trial session filmed two days before the official birth of UK racing at Belle Vue.
There is also footage taken at Shelbourne Park in 1927 showing five dog races including hurdle events over some very strange looking jumps.
That film is date May 19, five days after the first meeting, but considering it is stage in front of crowd, it is surely footage of the track’s first race meeting.
(Northern Ireland’s first greyhound meeting was actually held at Celtic Park a month earlier)
From 1931, there is a short film showing five year old Mick The Miller in a garden with owners Mrs Arundel-Kempton and a whole table full of trophies. At that stage, Mick was still in training.
Until then, all the films are silent but from 1934 there is a film with sound featuring the daily routine of 24 kennelmaids at Wandsworth.
It is a quaint little film, very ‘British 1930s’. The narrator tips off the viewer that as they set off to the track, many a kennel girl has whispered to her dog: “Play the game old chap and keep to the inside position”
There are a string of short feature films featuring some of the best known canine and human stars from the era.
A film made at Burhill Kennels in 1939 shows dogs being fed and groomed under the supervision of Sidney Orton who proudly shows off two of the outstanding dogs of the time, Ballyhennessy Sandhills and Bally Joker.
From 1947 there is an interview with leading trainer Jack Harvey. His great rival Lesley Reynolds features briefly in a film about Wembley supremo Sir Arthur Elvin.
Female trainers were also quite novel and there are features on 1940s handlers Vicki Coombs and Yvonne Bird and another on manipulator Eddie Mallett whose clients include footballers plus Endless Gossip and Priceless Border.
The racing isn’t confined to Britain either, there is footage from greyhound racing in pre-war Paris, The Hague and Florida.
One of the most interesting films is a feature on Tattersalls sales. The star lot was leading open race star Blackwater Cutlet who changed hands for 1,975 guineas – not bad money back in 1945.
That was the same year that White City introduced the photo finish and there is footage of the early trials taking place. On a more frivolous note, there is a 1949 film of six greyhounds performing in a circus, including one carrying a monkey as a jockey.
Among the later pieces were two films recorded in 1968. The first shows Prince Philip being presented with a charity greyhound by singer Frankie Vaughan. That turned out to be Camira Flash, who would shortly go on to win a controversial English Derby Final.
Another film features the finals of ‘Miss Greyhound Racing 1968’, a beauty contest open to girls working in the greyhound industry. (It was sponsored by dog food company Spratts!). The senior judge was TV star Simon Dee (remember him?)
Just in case there are any of the finalists still involved in the sport (most would now be in their late 50s and with married names) we thought it might be fun to remind them of their participation. They were:
No1: Ann Baker, 20, Willenhall
No2: Bozena Pufler, 18, Crouch End
No3: Josie Cant, 22, Reading
No4: Patricia Davis, 26, Rotherhithe
No5: Ivy Ferguson, 20, Gateshead
No6: Dorothy May Fryar, 19, Hove
No7: Sally Ann Heaney, 23, London
No8: Stella Ann Hickie, 17 Willenhall
No 9: Sandra Kelly, 17, Newcastle
No10: Glenis Parrat, 16, Oxford
No11: Maureen Alice Neill, 19, N. Harrow
No12: Jean Barbara Porter, 19, Fairwater
To view any of the films above. simply log on to the website www.britishpathe.com and seach for ‘greyhound’.
The films are free (UK postal addresses) but are copyright protected. If is possible to purchase higher quallity films or still photographs of all the items show for private use.
Apart from its greyhound content, the site an amazing place to view a wide variety of historical films.
