Apr May 2010 - Double Toe Times

Clogging With a Princess
Continued from page 12
beach. He won it and was presented with an inflatable
football game.
His mother, appearing on the scene, was livid,
throwing the game back at the contest organiser.
On another occasion all hell broke loose when
Jackie sneaked out of the house one night to perform
on stage at the local Arcadia Cinema.
A dance teacher, ‘Tiny’ Allison, had been enthralled
by his talent and told him he could go on stage.
Sarah didn’t find out until neighbours told her how
brilliant her son had been.
This is how Jackie describes her reaction to the
news in his book: “And don’t you ever (wallop), ever
(wallop), ever do that again (wallop, wallop, wallop)
...” Jackie insists his mother wasn’t bad. She just
couldn’t see his point of view. To me he recalls a
conversation with his younger sister, Norma, who still
lives in Stanley.
“I told her once that our mother never, ever gave
me any praise, and she said, ‘Well, maybe she didn’t
say anything to you, but when you weren’t there she’d
brag about you to the point of embarrassment’.”
Jackie left school at 15 and went down the pit,
where he worked for 11 years. But his break as an
entertainer came when, with Tiny’s encouragement,
he answered a call for clog dancers to take part
in the Northumberland and Durham Clog Dancing
Championships.
A clog dancing revival was under way and Jackie
became part of it. Coached by a local ex-champ,
Harry Robinson, he won the junior section of his first
championships, in Hexham in 1949.
This led to a tour of Denmark and his first
appearance at the Royal Albert Hall.
Long before Michael Flatley became a star through
Irish dancing, Jackie Toaduff became a clog dancing
celebrity.
He formed a double act with a Sheffield singer,
Roland Roy, and left the pit in 1958 with his dying
father’s last words ringing in his ears: “I’m so proud of
you, son. Get out of the pits, Jackie, for my sake.”
Just before that, Jackie had danced with Princess
Margaret again and this time a photograph had been
taken of the pair of them.
It made front pages around the world and was wired
to the office of this newspaper, in Newcastle.
Jackie recalls that the editor had sent a young
reporter, Eric Foster, who happened to be his best
friend, to the Toaduff household to tell them he was to
be front page news.
Awoken at 1am by Eric’s knocking, his mother threw
open the window. Eric delivered his message and,
true to form, Mrs Toaduff retorted: “I’ll kill the bugger
when he gets home.”
But Jackie, with Roy, went on to dance around the
world, rubbing shoulders with the rich and famous.
They entertained the troops and enjoyed 20 years of
dancing on the QE2.
Jackie describes Roy as “the best friend I ever had”.
He never married although Ginger Rogers put herself
forward as a potential bride.
The book is full of photos of Jackie with famous
figures such as James Cagney, Jane Russell, Michael
Caine and even Archbishop Makarios, president of
Cyprus.
Today Jackie and Roy live close by in Dronfield,
Derbyshire, where they run the Chantry Hotel.
Coaldust to Stardust (ISBN 978-1-907219-14-6)
is available in shops and online from Amazon or via
www.peakpublish.com
Clogger Jackie Toaduff dances
with Princess Margaret
Jackie with dance legend
Ginger Rogers
The Doubletoe Times Magazine of Clogging www.doubletoe.com 13