PART ONE
FIRST PERSON SINGULAR
RACING pigeons came into my life through my late father. He was in the building trade, and had built our family home in the 1930s, along with most of the other houses in the village of Penmaenrhos, where I still live. He was a well-known plasterer, carrying out delicate and exquisite plastering work in local cinemas and banks.
I remember him coming home one day with a pair of racing pigeons from Gwrych Castle. That was a local landmark, which in later years became famous through Randolph Turpin, the middleweightalso featured as a venue in Randolph Turpin used to bring in the crowds with his sparring sessions on a Sunday, and the local lads used to turn up in their droves to have a round or two with the maestro himself.
