Tom Jones International

Tom will wrap up his European tour at Wembley Arena on October 24.

Other dates in the United Kingdom: Cardiff: October 9; Newcastle, October 13; Newcastle, October 14; Manchester, October 16; Liverpool, October 17; Birmingham, October 18; Bournemouth, October 20; Brighton, October 23.

Click here to join LiveNation UK’s weekly mailing list and to get the password for presales. The sale dates on LiveNation’s website seem to differ from those printed on Tom’s website, so be sure to check carefully and, perhaps, call the venues.

Tom will be at Ahoy in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, on October 6. So happy for the fans we know there (and, of course, those we don’t)!

May 6 2009 by Ray Marshall, Evening Chronicle

IT’S not every day you discover a legend, but comedian Bobby Pattinson did — way back in 1963.

Superstar Tom Jones will appear at the Metro Radio Arena this October, but it was in the early 1960s that Bobby Pattinson first witnessed this unique, but then little known Welsh singer in action.

Bobby was topping the bill for a 10-day run of club shows in South Wales and was told by agent Jack Philips that he would appear with a great singer and his band – called Tommy Scott and the Senators.

Having heard so much about him Bobby made a point of catching him perform at a different club.


“I thought he was sensational,” said Bobby. “He was sort of a gypsy looking lad with a mass of thick black curly hair and a slightly bent nose and of a great athletic physique. As I walked in the concert room he was singing Spanish Harlem and was tremendous, by the end he was banging out rhythm & blues and rock & roll numbers and was as good, if not better, than the best of them.”

Bobby’s London agent was Colin Berlin of Acuff Rose Agency who Bobby rang the next day to tell them about this singer.

“I said you’ve got to see him, he’s sensational. He asked what his name was and when I told him Tommy Scott, he said that Gordon Mills, a former member of the Viscounts, had just phoned him and said he should take him on the books, but he had told Gordon he had too much on.

“Gordon was Tom’s manager and Colin was a booking agent. A few weeks later Tom was appearing at the Lyceum, in Bradford with Anne Shelton, who was top of the bill. I didn’t know it was him, because he was now billed as Tom Jones and the Squires. I took my wife, Adele to the show and she thought he was great. I phoned Colin again and said ‘You must make the effort to see him’. He saw him and rang Gordon Mills to sign him to the agency.”

Bobby says changing the singer’s name from Tommy Scott to Tom Jones was a stroke of genius from Gordon Mills. “The film Tom Jones had just come out and it was the hit of the decade and what better Welsh name for a Welsh singer. I can remember outside the Odeon, in Northumberland Street, massive billboards, probably 15ft by 12ft, ‘Tom Jones’. They were outside every Odeon in the country for the film, with Albert Finney playing the part.

“Tom Jones’ first record didn’t make it, but the second, It’s Not Unusual made him a star. Colin booked a six-week tour just as his next record The Green Green Grass of Home was being released.”

Bobby knew he was in a special show with a line-up of Tom Jones and the Squires, Bobby himself, Dave Allen, Welsh girl singer Mia Lewis, Gerry Dorsey and Johnny B Great and the Quotations.

“The first show was the New Theatre, Cardiff – Tom’s home town,” said Bobby, “followed by Bristol and the Theatre Royal, Nottingham.” At this point Bobby left the show for a four-week run with Billy Fury and straight into Summer Seasons at Yarmouth with Lonnie Donegan.

“The impressionist Gerry Dorsey was signed by Gordon Mills and Colin Berlin on that tour,” said Bobby, “and Gordon Mills’ second stroke of genius was changing Gerry’s name a short time after to Engelbert Humperdinck.”

Dave Allen and Gerry Dorsey were big pals with Bobby from sharing digs in Leeds, with other acts like Lennie Bennett and Freddie Starr.

“Gerry at this time was a singer who did impressions of stars like Robert Mitchum and Gerry Lewis,” said Bobby. “At the time Tom’s third record Green Green Grass of Home, a country and western, made him big in the States.”

Soon after Bobby, Tom and Gerry worked close together. “I was at the Fiesta Night Club in Stockton doing the midnight show,” said Bobby.

“Tom was doing the 8pm show at the Marimba Club, in Middlesbrough and the midnight show at the Flamingo, Darlington, while Gerry was doing the 10 o’clock spot at the Contessa Middlesborough.”

Bobby had a green Mk10 Jaguar car and on some nights he’d pick Tom up after his 8 o’clock show, they would then maybe go to see Gerry at the Contessa and then we would drive Tom to Darlington for his midnight spot. On these nights Bobby was then having to race back to Stockton for HIS midnight spot at the Fiesta.

“I can remember Tom saying when I get my first car it’s going to be one of these, a Mk 10 Jag,” said Bobby. “He later told me that he got one but had an accident in it, soon after, at a roundabout – luckily nobody was hurt.

“On a couple of nights we met back at the Fiesta for a meal and a chat about the business and I can remember Gerry saying to me one night, as we waved Tom off in a Taxi. Do you know Tom’s getting £2,000 a week. I can remember saying to him ‘that could be you someday Gerry’. Funnily enough I reminded Gerry of that when we met up last year and he said with a smile ‘You know what, I’m getting a bit more than that now’.”

In 1969 Bobby went to America mainly on the strength of Tom Jones who was now massive in the States. Colin Berlin took the opportunity when arranging Tom’s dates of getting bookings for four more of his acts, Bobby, The Dallas Boys, Martin St James — a hypnotist and The Morton Fraser harmonica gang.

Tom of course worked the main room in the likes of Caesars Palace while the others worked in lounges in the other hotels. In 1969 Bobby worked the lounge at the Sands Hotel with Johnny Ray and the Stardust Hotel in 1971, with Frank Sinatra Jr.

Bobby has great admiration for Tom Jones: “I’ve got to say, Tom Jones has never changed, always kept the same pals. He kept his band with him for about eight years. He never stopped being Welsh and is reminded of home constantly because of all the relatives who visit him in California”

The Story of the Real Tom Jones

ONE of Tom Jones’s greatest hits is the Green Green Grass of Home, the moving story of a man facing execution.

But little does he know that the real Tom Jones – who was actually born in Newcastle in 1670 – was executed for being a highwayman.

The son of a clothes merchant, he longed for fame and riches.

Unfortunately, for his father, he started his career of robbery by relieving dear old dad of £80.

He bought a good horse, obtained a number of guns and fled to Staffordshire, where he staged his first highway robbery.

Stopping a crowded stagecoach, he demanded that the passengers deliver their money and valuables.

At first, they refused, so he fired pistols into the air – keeping a number loaded for the job in hand – which frightened his quarry into giving in to his demands.

Tom escaped with considerable riches.

Next in line was a lord and his lady. He stopped their coach and demanded their money, despite three servants on horseback in attendance.

The lord was a bit put out and asked Tom Jones if he knew who he was stopping.

“Not I,” replied Tom. “I neither know nor care who you are. Now, indeed, I am apt to imagine you are some great man, because you speak so big. But, be as great as you will, sir, I must have you to know that there is no man upon this road so great as myself, therefore, pray be quick in answering my demands for delays may prove dangerous.”

The lord and his lady thought it prudent to give in to Tom’s demands. Tom escaped with the amazing fortune of £200 in money, three diamond rings and two gold watches.

But things didn’t always go Tom’s way. One day, he stopped a coach and demanded £200 which he had been told the gentleman was carrying. But he received only £10 because a servant, noting Tom waiting ahead of the coach, had asked his master to give him the money so he could ride on ahead.

Tom, waiting for the approaching coach, let the servant past. When he realised his mistake he gave chase, but the servant reached town before Tom could catch him. Tom was finally caught in Cornwall after robbing a farmer’s wife. He was tried, condemned and executed at Launceston on April 25, 1702.