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STAY AS SWEET AS YOU ARE... says Valerie Mabbs after meeting Ricky Wilde
THE SUN is shining down and the tiny village of Tewin in Hertfordshire has an air of complete relaxation around it. The skylark winging over the modern building of the Tewin Cowper school is keeping up a constant stream of musical singing, but it's another kind of singing that is currently keeping interest high among the inhabitants on ground level.
Marty Wilde, one of the big British names on the Fifties scene, moved to the area just three years ago, with his then eight-year -old son, Ricky, and nine-year-old daughter, Kim.
Currently it's Ricky who's attracting attention in the area, since signing up with Jonathan King's U. K. Records emporium. You remember Jonathan King, the guy who had a hit with Everyone's Gone To The Moon, and was the forerunner to Muhammed Ali for sheer speech power.
This time around it's not his own praises that Jonathan's bellowing but young Ricky Wilde, who he claims will be as big, no, bigger -than the American invaders like Cassidy and the Osmonds.
I'm An Astronaut was Ricky's first venture on record, and it has now been followed up by a recording of April Love one time monster hit for Pat Boone.
The fan mail is already pouring in to UK's London offices, and Ricky has appeared in such influential Stateside teenage mags as Tiger Beat, who frequently boast coverage on Donny, David and the Jackson Five. The glossy ten by eight photos are already circulating, depicting Ricky as a definitely desirable property.
It's rather good on meeting him to discover that he's in the school playground beating the life out of a football with his best mate, Nigel. Ricky's anorak is hanging off his shoulders as he comes over to say hello, and he's protesting wildly at being told to change out of his well worn and patched jeans into something more suitable for a photograph.
Grilled
So this 11 -year -old really is just that. A typical boy who's enjoying the attention he's getting -no doubt -but actually meeting the Press without having yet been rigidly grilled in the art of response to interview questions.
"I like being scruffy," grins Ricky. He really does look like a perfect contender for the Artful Dodger role in Oliver. "I like those jeans I had on. But, no, I don't mind wearing smart clothes sometimes if I have to." But the kind of antics Ricky gets up to usually demand that he wears very casual clothes.
"We muck about tripping people up and slapping them round the face," says Nigel, who actually is a very quiet lad. "I remember when a girl came running up to Ricky and we tripped her up and she went flying straight on from this slope! "
Ricky and Nigel demonstrate their face slapping routine, which makes me wince, but leaves them rolling about laughing. "We play football all the time," says Rick, and Nigel adds: "He's the best footballer in the school. "
"Oh," laughs Rick, "we haven't got a proper school team, but I like to play in goal mostly, though they never let me because I'm too brilliant on the pitch!"
In the village of Tewin, school is almost a home from home. The entire roll-call of Tewin Cowper School is only 150, which means headmaster Bill Furlong still takes some of the lessons. But that is not where his involvement stops.
"I'm very fond of Marty," he told me, leaving his school to watch Ricky being photographed. "I suppose because he is of an age when he could be my son. In fact I have a son who is slightly younger. I've known Ricky since the family came here, and I'll be very sad to lose him when he moves on to another school this year. It's possible he'll go on to the boys' grammar school, but we're trying to decide whether it's good for him to go to a state run school if he's going to continue with a career in music.
"Ricky's a very artistic boy, and he's quite good at English. I enjoyed his I'm An Astronaut record, but I think April Love could be a mistake, because it is suited more to an older person's voice -but then that's just my opinion. "
An opinion given with deep consideration. Mr. Furlong is a headmaster very open in his attitude to his pupils.
CONTINUED...
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