They were the original Posh and Becks, a football icon marrying his pop-star sweetheart, and the nation was charmed by their love story.
Billy Wright, the first man in history to win 100 caps for his country, and Joy Beverley – one of the Beverley Sisters who used to warble and wiggle in identical outfits – had made every effort to keep their wedding a secret.
With judicious planning, they set a July date at Poole Register Office because the sisterhood was playing down the road in Bournemouth and Wright had just returned from the World Cup in Sweden, where England had been knocked out by the Soviet Union in a play-off.
But as the appointed hour approached, with bride and groom marooned in gridlocked traffic, Wright wound down the window to ask a policeman what was holding them up. The beat copper smiled: “They have all come to see you get married, sir,” and the happy couple realised the cat was not just out of the bag: The grapevine had run amok.
Billy Wright and Joy Beverley set the template for David Beckham, Posh Spice and others to follow when matrimony collides with football and showbiz.
When England host Italy at Molineux on Saturday night, they will disembark next to Wolves legend Wright's statue and enter the ground through the doors of his eponymous stand.
The last time the Three Lions played a full international in the land of Old Gold – a 5-2 win against Denmark in 1956 – Wright was the captain and Duncan Edwards scored two of the goals. Just 18 months later, he would be a pallbearer at Edwards' funeral after Manchester United's air disaster in Munich.
“Dad told me he was devastated English football lost such a talent with the world at his feet,” said Wright's daughter Vicky.
“He was always a big supporter of young players who made their way into the international team, and he would have loved to see England lining up at his beloved Molineux this weekend.
“It will be an historic occasion for Wolverhampton and he was so patriotic that he would have been bursting with pride. Every time I go to the stadium, his statue takes my breath away, and together with a pub named after him in the city centre, hopefully his name will always be remembered by the people with whom he had an unbreakable connection.
“And he would have been thrilled to see Conor Coady become the first Wolves player to win an England cap at Molineux if that happens against Italy or Hungary on Tuesday night.”
In her father's memory, Vicky – born in the year he retired, but still working front of house in a Windsor restaurant – has put together a stage documentary, The Billy Wright Story, which makes its theatre debut at Cannock in October. The original version was staged three years ago at Molineux, where Wright's ashes were scattered after his death at 70 from pancreatic cancer, and it was originally intended as a modest family celebration, a 25th birthday present for his granddaughter.
Vicky, who delved into her own savings to pay for archive footage and studio edits, soon realised she wanted a slick production, not just a slide show. She said: “I was only planning a small tribute and a few life stories for my daughter about her grandad so she could have a lasting keepsake of the man he was and what he achieved.
“But the more I put it together, the better I felt it needed to be, as there was so much material I wanted to include. I spent hours on end in the studio going through the archives and editing the grainy footage. All the tributes we gathered made me realise just how respected he was and I thought, 'Hey, Dad, you kept that quiet.' England playing at Molineux brings it all back.”
A reluctant superstar and humble man of the people, Wright was happy to share his trappings of fame.
If the milkman knocked on the door with a young son who wanted his autograph, he would give away one of his England caps. And when his wife threw him a disapproving look, he would tell her: “Don't worry, I've got loads of them.” He wasn't wrong. There are still only nine England centurions who have reached 100 caps.
But Billy Wright, the pride of Wolverhampton, was the original Lion King.
The Billy Wright Story, Prince of Wales Theatre, Cannock, October 20.
