BILLY WILLIAMS: "When Mother Backed The Winner of the Derby" rec. 1st May 1914

Описание: BILLY WILLIAMS (1878 – 1915) was Australia’s first major recording star. From wikipedia: “Richard Isaac Banks, who changed his name to "Billy Williams" after leaving his birthplace of Australia, was a popular entertainer of his era. (see B.Rust: Music Hall On Record, Gramophone 1979 p. 282 et seq.) Over 500 cylinder and disc recordings sold in their thousands long after his early death in 1915.

Born in Collingwood, Melbourne, Williams tried a number of jobs before embarking on an entertainment career which led him to come to England in 1899. He became a popular entertainer in the music halls singing what were known as chorus-songs – he also appeared in pantomime. It was in 1906 that Williams made his first recordings and from that date he recorded prolifically on cylinder and disc. In 1910, he returned for an extended tour of his native Australia where he was greeted with wild enthusiasm. Returning to England later in that year, he continued his business relationship with songwriter Fred Godfrey. The two had what might be described as a "song factory" and worked in partnership (although it is believed that Godfrey did all of the song writing).
The year 1912 seemed to be the zenith of Williams' career – he appeared in the first Royal Command Performance of that year and achieved glowing reviews in the national press. Sadly this fame was not to last as Williams became ill in late 1914 and died in Hove near Brighton in March 1915, the proximate cause being septic prostatitis and consequent complications after an operation for that condition, at the age of only 37."

This is the second-to-last recording in Billy Williams’ prolific gramophone career, recorded on 1st May1914. The horses mentioned were mostly runners – and scratchings – in the English Derby at Epsom in May 1914. “The Tetrarch” was heavily backed by punters but was scratched close to racing time, and “Kennymore” made news at the starting gate by becoming fractious and kicking anyone and anything within reach. The “Joe Barnett” mentioned was, I can only assume, a notable Epsom bookmaker of the time. The 1914 Derby was also famous for the incident of the suffragette Ada Rice firing a pistol at a police officer.

The humorous comment about [John] Redmond, the Irish Nationalist leader, and Sir Edward Carson, the Irish Unionist leader kissing each other could never have happened in real life!

I've restored the audio by equalising it from the spectrum waterfall display, to flatten the frequency response of the replayed audio. The result is quite pleasing, I think, and any digital restoration artifacts are inaudible (to me, anyway).