Born at South Hiendley of mixed race parents. Worked at Upton Colliery and played wing half for them before joining Doncaster Rovers, playing in the same team as Harry Gregg. One of three Upton Colliery wing halves who went on to play top flight football as centre halves, the others being Ralph O'Donnell (Sheffield Wednesday) and Joe Shaw (Sheffield United and England.) Also started at Upton was Len White, went to Rotherham, then Newcastle and ended at Stockport County. Pretty impressive for a mining village which doesn't even have a pit now. Oh! It also produced Len Parkin, the newsreader and Johnny Godber the playwright. Ever been there - you wouldn't believe so many famous people could be connected with a place which stands on a hill miles from anywhere. It was one of Yorkshire's newest pits (sunk 1926) and one of the first to close (1962), its coal being taken by the new Kellingley colliery. Just a little history lesson from someone who knows it well.
In an interview probably with Michael Parkinson when asked if he was any good at football he replied "I wasn`t that good but I could stop anybody that thought they were !"(Y)
