When Italy won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1964, I was a 15-year-old boy growing up in the Garw. My friends and I used to gather in the caf\u00e9 for a steamed pie and an espresso served from a huge chrome and brass Cimbali Grand Luce. The caf\u00e9 was the only place in Pontycymer with a jukebox, one play for a tanner (6d), and three for a bob (12d). We pooled our money to get the maximum play out of our selections which included the likes of Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones and the Animals.<\/p>\n
One evening when all our pies were steamed and the coffee freshly made, our selection was due. Imagine our horror when Non Ho L\u2019eta came on. Had someone blundered in putting in the numbers? We argued amongst ourselves and waited with baited breath for our own selection.<\/p>\n
No! Not yet another repeat of Gigliola Cinquetti\u2019s song! All eyes turned on caf\u00e9 owner Jack Assiratti, who was beaming proudly from behind his espresso machine.
\n\u2018Sort it out, Jack\u2019 we pleaded, but to no avail. \u2018Nothing I can do until the bloke comes to empty the cash out next week\u2019 he replied.<\/p>\n
All requests for refunds were dismissed, so we trooped away leaving Jack smiling as he listened over and over again to his victorious countrywoman.<\/p>\n
Gerald Jarvis<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When Italy won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1964, I was a 15-year-old boy growing up in the Garw. My friends and I used to gather in the caf\u00e9 for a steamed pie and an espresso served from a huge chrome and brass Cimbali Grand Luce.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8890,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[33,12],"tags":[80,81,79,82],"class_list":["post-1674","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-stories","category-pontycymmer","tag-assirati","tag-cafe","tag-jack","tag-jacks"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.garwheritage.co.uk\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1674","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.garwheritage.co.uk\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.garwheritage.co.uk\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.garwheritage.co.uk\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8890"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.garwheritage.co.uk\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1674"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.garwheritage.co.uk\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1674\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1704,"href":"https:\/\/www.garwheritage.co.uk\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1674\/revisions\/1704"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.garwheritage.co.uk\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.garwheritage.co.uk\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1674"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.garwheritage.co.uk\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}