A cautionary tale about gambling
I've just finished work on a track called "Gambling Train" which features the wonderful Laura Taylor on vocal and another fine sax solo from Ian Ellis. By chance one day I got talking to the gravedigger in Whitsbury churchyard, which is few miles north of where we live. He showed me the grave of William Hill who spent his later years breeding racehorses, having bought the Whitsbury stud farm. His early life was very different and like something out of "Peaky Blinders". He was born in Birmingham and left school at 13, in 1916. He initially made his fortune running an illegal betting business from his motorbike. Later he went bankrupt, started again as a racecourse bookie, innovated gambling practices in both racing and football. A lifelong socialist, he opposed government proposals to legalise high street betting shops, believing they would be "a cancer on society". When the MacMillan government went ahead all the same he felt he had no choice but to open his own shops. My song includes the classic gambling addict's argument; "doing nothing is a gamble too"
“a cancer on society ”
