Sir Tom Jones has shared the astonishing story of his birth which saw his grandmother dunk him in water and spin him around to revive him after doctors feared he was stillborn.
The 79-year-old Welsh singer was born in Treforest, Pontypridd, in Wales at the beginning of the 1940s, but his mother, Freda, was given bad news when he was born.
Medics in the birthing room jumped to the wrong conclusion when the It’s Not Unusual singer remained silent after his birth.
The star is being celebrated on Radio 2 this coming weekend to mark his 80th birthday, and reflected on his birth during a documentary titled Sir Tom’s Musical Years.
According to The Sun, he states: “When I was born they thought I was stillborn because I didn’t make a sound.
“The midwife said to my mother, ‘I am awfully sorry. He isn’t breathing’.
“So thank God my grandmother was there.
“She said, ‘Just a minute’. She brought in a bucket of cold water and grabbed me by the ankles, dipped me in it and spun me around her head by my ankles.”
During the One World: Together At Home concert organised by Lady Gaga back in April, Sir Tom reflected on his difficulty childhood when he was confined to his home for two years after being struck down with tuberculosis.
He explained, while standing in front of a painting of his childhood home, and reflecting on the current fight against coronavirus and the need to isolate: “Like this house, for instance, right here, that’s 44 Laura Street, where I was born and brought up.
“I was isolated there for two years with tuberculosis in that house, and I thought that was bad then.
“But the National Health Service helped me then like they’re helping all of us right now."
He added for those enduring the ongoing coronavirus lockdown: "Stick with it, be together and we’ll survive. God bless you.”
