BoxRec

In the January 9th edition of BN, its reported Billy Secular, former Flyweight fighter, had passed away over the festive period & was buried in Tooting, London.

However, my father was great friends with Billy's older brother who passed away a few years ago. Having been in touch with Billy's nephew, I can now say Billy is not DEAD!

The info provided was in the old-timers section. It even gives a date as to when Billy was supposedly buried!

What are we to make of this?

Rocky Balboa wrote:In the January 9th edition of BN, its reported Billy Secular, former Flyweight fighter, had passed away over the festive period & was buried in Tooting, London.

However, my father was great friends with Billy's older brother who passed away a few years ago. Having been in touch with Billy's nephew, I can now say Billy is not DEAD!

The info provided was in the old-timers section. It even gives a date as to when Billy was supposedly buried!

What are we to make of this?

Change the tiutle of this thread to inclde the name Billy Secular - maybe someone connected to BN will respond.

Not nice if they got that wrong..well you know what I mean!

With a name like SECULAR, this could be the greatest resurrection since Lazarus.

Incorrect announcements of deaths can happen. Sometimes you don't know where the "news" originated from, but if you hear it from a trustworthy source, you tend to believe it. We've all heard false reports of celebrity deaths, and even one of my friends "died" and everyone who knew him in the village where he came from believed it. I was actually the one to break to him the news of his own death!

I can confirm that this is incorrect. Billy is a member of my family and he is still alive and kicking :-)

I've just emailed the guy who edits Old-Timers to find out what has happened. Rest assured we will publish a correction and apology asap.

There have been a few of these. There was a mad guy in Southend who claimed he was Danny McAlinden. When he died, Danny was duly lamented in one national newspaper, and it was a day or two before he could assure everyone he was doing very nicely, thank you. The Fairport Convention violinist Dave Swarbrick had most of the obits page in the Daily Telegraph a few years ago - and is still referred to at his rare concert appearances as 'The Late Dave Swarbrick'.
The finest correction of this type was way back when, I think it was The Times, that carried a piece headlined: The Nizam Of Hyderabad Is Dead... followed inevitably, 24 hours later, by the follow-up: The Nizam Of Hyderabad Slightly Better.

Lunchtime trivia question???

Which boxer after carrying out a mugging thought that he had commited murder as a result of a newspaper incorrectly reporting the assault victim as dead :??

My T Sharp wrote:Lunchtime trivia question???

Which boxer after carrying out a mugging thought that he had commited murder as a result of a newspaper incorrectly reporting the assault victim as dead :??

Jake Lamotta

banjo wrote:

My T Sharp wrote:Lunchtime trivia question???

Which boxer after carrying out a mugging thought that he had commited murder as a result of a newspaper incorrectly reporting the assault victim as dead :??

Jake Lamotta

nice one (the answer...not the mugging)

Loved reading this thread a few chuckles

Terence wrote: Didn't he then use the incident as a blanket excuse for his angst-ridden violence over the years. Finding out years later that he was not a killer, and did not have to smack everyone he met in order to numb the pain.

Yes it was something along those lines. Can't quite remember but I think it was that he only found out he wasn't a murderer when he became a champion and the bloke introduced himself to LaMotta after a fight (not knowing that LaMotta mugged him). After that he reckoned that he calmed down.

They should have tried to contact him. "Just wanted to check, are you still alive mate?"

jimbob747 wrote:I can confirm that this is incorrect. Billy is a member of my family and he is still alive and kicking :-)

Tell Billy,Terry Rees say`s hello and is glad to hear he is well.

dbflex wrote:I've just emailed the guy who edits Old-Timers to find out what has happened. Rest assured we will publish a correction and apology asap.

Cheers Danny. And Billy was a career lightweight and light Welter (Not Flyweight as mentioned in BN) who fought Andreeti twice. A lot of distant relatives and old friends who read BN were shocked to read the report.

Billy is alive and very well, very fit for his age.

A stalwart of the London professional Boxing Scene of the 50's and 60's he saw it all in the boom times.

I reckon a "where are they now" interview with him would suffice as an apology.

It's mentioned in the "Old Timers" page in today's (23/1) BN with an apology for any distress caused etc etc.

I was at a Reunion Dinner a few years back and the guy who organised it announced that three of our former colleagues from 40 years ago had died. He read out the names....and one of them was sitting alive and well at the table. Still, I guess he was relieved to find he wasn't dead!

J

David Price going pro, Billy Secular dead, whatever next will the offices of BN come out with!!!

What was that "mistake" Audley threatened to sue them over, leading to a printed apology and "correction" about how his "career continues to thrive"?

Rocky Balboa wrote:
What are we to make of this?

Well, either BN are part of some underhand vast conspiracy that could possibly have connections to the Kennedy assasination


OR


They made a mistake



good old internet forums!

jimbob747 wrote:I can confirm that this is incorrect. Billy is a member of my family and he is still alive and kicking :-)

He was my stepdad too

dac02 wrote:

jimbob747 wrote:I can confirm that this is incorrect. Billy is a member of my family and he is still alive and kicking :-)

He was my stepdad too

Was? Now you're confusing me.

roy wrote:

dac02 wrote:

jimbob747 wrote:I can confirm that this is incorrect. Billy is a member of my family and he is still alive and kicking :-)

He was my stepdad too

Was? Now you're confusing me.

lol sorry, he left my mum years ago