I have met Tom Jones several times in America andamp; the UK andamp; have also seen him perform in Spain.

Tom Jones.

Many years ago, I stayed with friends in Los Angeles, California, for a holiday. Whilst staying in their Anaheim home, I picked up a paper & found a special offer for a two-night stay in Las Vegas at the Luxor Hotel & for a ticket to see Tom Jones singing in Las Vegas. I decided to drive to Las Vegas, spend a few days looking around & watch the Tom Jones show.

Las Vegas.

On the evening of the show, I proudly put on my best pair of jeans, & my Welsh rugby shirt & went down to the casino to find where the show was. I soon found it & quickly realised I was not dressed the part. Everybody else was dressed very nicely, all of the men were dressed in dinner jackets & looking very smart whilst all of the ladies looked a million dollars & were dressed to impress. I was a bit worried that my denim jeans, Welsh rugby shirt & unshaven chin would be refused admission by the gorillas wearing penguin suits. Fortunately, they took my ticket & let me in, leading me to an oval table where the men & ladies were all sitting, looking as if they should be at a royal ball. Around 11 other people were sitting at the table, all American & all looking at me in disgust as I sat down. The waitress came round to me & told me that my ticket price included two complimentary cocktails. So I ordered two & feeling that I would have some fun; I immediately began talking to the ladies on either side of me.

The two ladies told me they were Tom Jones’s biggest fans & knew everything there was to know about him. They commented that they loved my English accent & quickly told their husbands to buy me another cocktail whilst they spoke to me. During our conversation, one of them noticed that the laser show above us had the three feathers logo in it, the same as the one on my rugby shirt. I told them that my shirt was a Welsh rugby shirt & that the three feathers was a Welsh emblem. I told them that many of my family were from Wales, to which one of the ladies asked, “What part of England is Wales in”? I did wonder how she could be the world’s biggest-ever Tom Jones fan but not know that Wales was a country & not part of England.

Guessing that I would probably never see these people again, I decided to have some fun & proceeded to tell them that I was a good friend of Tom Jones & that I had flown over to see him in Vegas. I explained that although he was a good friend, I had never seen him in concert. The two ladies next to me lapped up my tall tales & made their husbands buy their new friend more drinks. The husbands never believed a word I said but did as they were told, listening to my stories of how Tom & I knew each other from the valleys around South Wales.

The concert started with Tom Jones singing two songs before welcoming everybody to the show & talking a little about the laser show of the three feather logo & the dragon that had been flying around the room before the show started. He told everybody they were associated with his beloved Wales, where he was born. He then welcomed a very good friend who had come over from Wales to see him. At that point, a spotlight came on from behind the stage & was aimed straight at me. Tom walked to the front of the stage, raised a pint of beer, & looked at me, saying, ‘Cheers, enjoy the show’. I knew this was a mistake & thought it was meant for someone behind me, but the ladies next to me all loved that Tom Jones’s friend was sitting with them. Their husbands were now starting to believe I knew Tom Jones. The show started again just as the cocktail waitress appeared with two pints in her hand, she leaned over gave me both pints, told me that Tom had got them for me & that he would see me after the show. The husbands were now also believers & I never bought a drink for the remainder of the show.

London.

Two years after seeing Tom Jones in Las Vegas I was back home in England & saw that he would be in concert, in a London park. I can’t remember which park it was being held in now but I believe it was Hyde Park. I bought what I thought was a good seat & went up to London to stay with friends overnight & to see the show. Dressed again in my obligatory Welsh rugby shirt, I went from Walthamstow to the show. At the time, I was not walking well & had to use a stick to get about. When I got there, I was pleased to find that my seat was in a seating area with a bit more legroom right next to the stage. All around me were thousands of very avid screaming female fans, dancing & singing along throughout the entire concert & when the concert finished, they all hung around screaming that they loved Tom Jones, hoping that he would come & see them.

I could not move to get out & as I was in no hurry, I just sat back down to wait for them to disperse. A short while after the show finished, Tom Jones did come down to see all of these women who had been waiting to see him; he signed autographs & posed for photos. As the last of them left the arena, I could now get out of the aisle I was in & began to walk towards the exit. 

Although all of the women had been ushered out by security after getting their photo & meeting Tom, he stayed exactly where he was at the end of the aisle & as I got next to him, I stuck my hand out, shook his hand & told him that I had enjoyed the show. He thanked me for my comment & I told him I had seen him before. I said, ‘I know you get asked this all the time, but do you remember?’. Before I could finish my sentence, he replied, ‘Las Vegas, two years ago, did you get the two beers I sent you?’. I could not believe that he remembered the event & asked him how he remembered. He told me that because I had a Wales rugby shirt on in Las Vegas, I had stuck out like a sore thumb from all the people in suits & dressed up. He had also noticed the large scar on my forehead & thought it would make a good story for me, so he sent me the beer. He then continued by saying that he had seen me again from the stage & wanted to see if I was the same person & to see how I was. We chatted about my story from Las Vegas & he shook my hand again before telling me he was glad I enjoyed the show & left.

Although I have been to see him again a few times in Orlando, Florida, & in Murcia, where I now live, in Spain, I have never met him again, but whatever you think of Tom Jones, he will always be a true legend.