Aloha!!  Linda and Tom with Chris Ellis , Hawaii c 1973

    

21 Things You Never Knew About Tom Jones

1. He spent two years in bed with Tuberculosis  
    2. His first paid public performance was in 1958 at the Wood Road Non Political Club in Treforest. He played two sets of three songs each and earned £1    
        3. Since 1964 Tom has only had two managers. Gordon Mills who discovered him and his son Mark.
4. Three months before his first hit he was so depressed he thought about throwing himself in front of a tube train and had to be talked out of it by his best friend and bass guitarist Vernon Hopkins..        
    5. Its Not Unusual was originally written for Sandie Shaw. Green Green Grass of Home was first recorded by Jerry Lee Lewis and Delilah by PJ Proby.    
        6. The vocal for Daughter of Darkness was recorded in one take - when he was drunk.
7. Tom has only ever written two songs. Looking Out My Window was originally a B side in 1969 became a dance club remix hit in the early nineties and was rerecorded for Reload.        
    8. In 1970 Tom was the biggest star in the world.    
        9. Elvis Presley was the first star booked to appear on his TV series This Is Tom Jones. He never appeared.
10. From 1974-1976 Tom had no real home. The tax situation made it impossible for him to set foot in England.        
    11. Tom has only appeared in three movies - Mars Attacks, Jerky Boys and Agnes Browne (directed by Anjelica Huston).  He plays himself in all of them.    
        12. He bought Brooke Shields a pearl necklace for her sixteenth birthday present.
13. He has been married to Linda for 44 years. He has also slept with hundreds of women.        
    14. He never drinks alcohol before a show and drinks eight pints of water during a performance.    
        15. These days Tom hates having underwear thrown onto the stage.
16. During the 1990s Tom has recorded two albums that have never been released. One was recorded live at the Forum in North London , the other was an R&B soul album.        
    17. His tuxedo trousers were so tight that they had to have double seams. He never stuffed them.    
        18. Reload was his first Number One album since 1968
19. Tom still plays six weeks a year at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.        
    20. He always uses a swizzle stick to get rid of the bubbles in his champagne.    
        21. He can't speak a word of Welsh.