Ray Weaver and Ali visit the "brothers" in 1966
In 1966 Ray Weaver was a young journalist at the Daily Mirror. An encounter in the newspaper's office in Holborn led to Ray and Ali ending up in Brixton. Many thanks to Ray who kindly wrote up the this piece, bringing the encounter to life.
I met Muhammad Ali in June 1966 soon after his match with Henry Cooper on 21st May. Muhammad was Heavy Weight Champion of the World. I was a young journalist on the staff of Daily Mirror based at their office at 33 Holborn, London. Muhammad had been invited by the Mirror editor to visit the newspaper. At that stage the Daily Mirror was the best selling newspaper in Europe, with over 5 million daily sales!
In the early evening of his visit Muhammad was in the Mirror’s vast newsroom chatting to the sports editor and a couple of sports reporters. Being a fan of his I wandered down to the sport desk and was introduced to Muhammad by the sports editor. We started talking and after a short while he told us how, at some stage he would like to visit Brixton to meet ‘some of his brothers’. His exact words, not mine! I told him ‘I can take you to Brixton now if you like. I will just have to get the ok from my editor, but it shouldn’t be a problem’.
It wasn’t a problem and I took Muhammad to Brixton in my mini. The mini in 1966 was a very small car, and he was a big man. But he got in ok. No seatbelts then. I knew London quite well and had been on an assignment in Brixton a few days earlier. I told him on the way there that probably the best place to meet people was a pub. I told him that I knew that he didn’t drink alcohol, and he was happy with my proposal. We parked outside the pub. (No parking restrictions then, you could park anywhere!) When we entered he was of course instantly recognised. He made everyone very welcome with his great smiling face and lively conversation. We stayed for about half an hour before returning in my mini to the Mirror.
He was a delightful man. So easy to talk to. In latter years he returned to Brixton to teach boxing to youngsters.
By Ray Weaver
Ray Weaver, 1970 when he was Deputy Picture Editor of The Daily Mirror.
