“Is That You Bill?”

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 643, 20 April 1929, Page 18

“Is That You Bill?”

King George’s Party aK~X) REMARKABLE story of an incognito visit paid by the King to the Manchester suburb of OKI Hulme is related in the “Weekly Graphic” by Mr. Edwin T. Woodhall, formerly a Scotland Yard detective. Leaving the special Royal tram, m the last year of the war, the King and the detective travelled by tram to the centre of Manchester, drank coffee in a cafe, and continued by tram to Hulme. They were standing by a doorway in a side street. Just then someone passed, and the King, stepping back, accidentally pushed against the door. It opened. A man, elderly and jovial, came to the door in his shirt sleeves. "That you, Bill?” he asked. “No,” replied the King. “Beg pardon,” said the man, “but I was expecting old Bill Ashworth with his fiddle. Who are you, anyway” “HAVE SOME BEER I” “I wonder what the flags were out for,” volunteered the King. “Oho, I can telL thee that,” said the man. “The flags are out to celebrate my lad Jack’s homecoming. He won the D.C.M., and we're having a bit of jollification. Like to come in and have a sup of beer? Come on in, misters!” The King and the detective joined the celebration party, and sang with the rest the chorus of “Tipperary” and other wartime songs. Bill Ashworth arrived with his fiddle. “Well, well,” he said, looking at the King, “how do, sir? I don’t know who you are—” “These gentlemen are joining in the party,” explained our host. “I found them outside when I was looking for thee.” “Anyway, I’m right glad to meet thee, sir," said Jovial Bill. Then, with a look round the room to see that his wit was properly appreciated, he said: “Lad, tha’ needs but wear a general’s uniform, and a string of medals, any anybody’d take thee for the King!” Everybody laughed, and not least the King himself.