Wednesday, 12 May 2010

12 May: Happy Birthday Ian Dury



In 1941, Peggy fell pregnant for the second time and at 9 a.m. on Tuesday 12 May 1942 gave birth, at home, to a healthy baby boy. Peggy had bought a three-year diary in anticipation of the momentous event, and her entry for the day of birth reads: 'Weight 7lb 6ozs - marked by forceps - slight facial paralysis - Tuesday's child.' Within forty-eight hours, the proud parents registered the birth at Hendon Registry Office and, incorporating Bill's mother's maiden name, called their son Ian Robins Dury.

'I was conceived at the back of the Ritz and born at the height of the blitz,' Ian quipped some fifty-three years later when we met to discuss, amongst other things, his early years. It was a typically colourful couplet to describe his world debut. He went on: 'My mum was a health visitor, and her sister was a doctor, and her other sister an education officer. My dad was a bus driver. He was bright, but he wasn't educated. He left school at thirteen. He came from a long line of bus drivers, as they say. They were proud of it.'

Photograph - Ian aged 3 - courtesy of Jemima Dury






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