Throwback Thursday 25/03/2021

Mar 25

Unreliably Dark Tales from a below average Tabloid Photographer 1989.

On the Trail of Mandy Smith…

Apart from my Auntie Lesley’s Wedding, Bill Wyman’s marriage to Mandy Smith was the first Wedding that I ever photographed. But in the crazy just get on with it tabloid world, well, you just got on with it…

The event itself mainly involved me be standing on a stepladder for 12 hours outside the Dorchester hotel in London waiting, for the couple to arrive at the reception, but my work on the event began in South Kensington the day before.

It started with a call from the Daily Star picture desk, whom I’d recently contacted looking for work, following my departure from the National News Agency (that’s another story). I was told to pick up a journalist and to head over to Mandy Smith’s House straight away to see if we could get a photo and, ideally a newsworthy quote the day before her showbiz wedding.

There was a huge interest in this story as Bill Wyman, the bass player from the Rolling Stones was 52 and his bride, Mandy Smith, was 18. What gave this story an extra edge was the fact that Bill apparently met Mandy when she was only 13 and the pair had been dating for a good few years. Anyway, I picked up the rather grumpy journalist in my girlfriend’s battered old red Ford Escort, (which I’d borrowed for the day) and headed off to South Kensington. In my experience door-stepping can be a long, tedious and unfruitful enterprise., I once sat outside a forgotten member of Bros’s house for 3 days, only to be told by the neighbours, Police and picture desk that he was, as it turned out, on holiday. The only upside to this was an elderly neighbour who felt sorry for me and would bring me a daily slice of cake.

But on this occasion, as we pulled up, Mandy and her mother were getting into a taxi. “Follow that taxi” said the Journalist and off we sped in to central London in pursuit. Wow, I immediately felt like I was in a movie !

Taxi drivers can be pretty nippy and my drive was made all the more difficult as I was frantically trying to attach a hefty Metz flashgun to my camera, with one hand, whilst the other one did the steering wheel. So by the time we arrived at the apparent destination I was pretty frantic and wired !

Of course, this was the late 80s, the congestion charge hadn’t come it yet, though the clampers had, and recent experience told me they were pretty keen of doing their job to the best of their abilities, so, as I pulled up on double yellows behind the taxi my adrenaline levels were considerable raised somewhat..

Suffice it to say I scared the heeby jeebies out of Mandy and her mum as I leapt out in from of them , flashgun on full power ! “You Freak'“ were the words that she screamed out at me as she tried to recover from the shock of having a young , green and over excited snapper confront her. I must admit I kinda agreed with her, I did feel rather uncomfortable. She wisely sought sanctuary in the newsagents and the journo gave me a rather weary look. He promptly took control of the situation and went into the shop to talk to Mandy and mum. He assured them that we were from a lovable tabloid and that we just wanted a quick photo of them doing some last minute shopping before the’ big day’. Thankfully they agreed ( to be fair they weren’t shy of free publicity) and I think I shot 2-3 frames of them walking out. I must admit, Mandy still looks a little pensiveand stressed in the shoot above and I take full responsibility for that.

The next day, on the steps of the Dorchester Hotel, thankfully she did look a little more relaxed, looking resplendent, in her 80s fairy princess dress standing next to Bill, a father figure if there ever was one. She looked so happy, though I didn’t get the wave that I was looking for. I snapped Mick Jagger, Jerry Hall, Spike Milligan, Keith Richards and Mandy's Aunty Sandra, who frankly did look a little nervous standing next to Keith. Can I take this opportunity though to finally apologise to Mandy and her mum for my over enthusiastic Paparazzi behaviour. Unfortunately Mandy and Bill’s marriage even by rock star standards didn’t last long. However though I’m sure you’ll be relieved to learn that my Auntie Lesley and Uncle Derek remain married and blissfully happy (according to Derek)!!

Link below to the Mandy and Bill’s Wedding video. I’m not in it, I’ve checked… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ndhdkz4BAng