When Sir Tom Jones hit his first number one with It’s Not Unusual in 1965, his father was still working in the coal mines of the Rhondda Valley.
Dubbed “the miner’s son from Pontypridd,” Jones had moved far from the working men’s clubs where he first honed his performance skills. By his mid-20s, he had signed a three-record deal with Decca Studios, sharing a label with The Rolling Stones and launching a string of hits.
Despite his rising fame, Jones said he never forgot his roots. In the BBC series In My Own Words, he spoke about the heartache of knowing his father was still laboring underground while his own life was being transformed by stardom.
The episode was filmed at the first home Sir Tom Jones bought with his late wife, Linda, in 1966, following his initial success. Located on Manygate Lane in Shepperton, Surrey—about 150 miles from Pontypridd—the house was part of a celebrity-populated estate, yet Jones remained deeply connected to his Welsh roots.
“I had a new Jaguar, I had a new house, and I went back to Wales whenever I could,” he recalled. One Sunday evening, after returning from an outing with his father, Jones remembered his mother preparing sandwiches for him. When Jones protested that his father shouldn’t have to go to work the night shift, his father replied, “I’m a coal miner, that’s what I do.” When Jones pointed out his own success, his father added, “Yeah, but how long is it going to last?” The exchange left a profound impact on Jones, who longed to free his father from the dangers of coal mining.
Jones eventually gave the Manygate Lane house to his parents, but the move didn’t suit his father, who sometimes fell into depression and struggled to get out of bed, missing the life he knew in Pontypridd.
Sir Tom Jones recalls a childhood in Pontypridd filled with love and a strong sense of community.
“I enjoyed my life in south Wales,” he said. “I liked going to the local club with my father, his brothers, and my cousins in Treforest. I couldn’t wait to be one of them. It was a great community—salt of the earth. Coal mining. That’s what they were. It was a wonderful experience, and I wouldn’t change it for the world. There was so much love.”
Despite his father working in the mines, and many local boys following the same path after school, the 85-year-old revealed he always had different ambitions: “I never fancied it because I always wanted to be a pop singer.”
The episode also shares a lighter moment as Sir Tom Jones recalls his decision to stop dyeing his hair in 2009.
After watching a performance on Later… with Jools Holland, he noticed, “My God, my hair, it looks dyed. And it looked permed!” Fans had been commenting, “Tom Jones with his dyed, permed hair,” even though it wasn’t actually permed—just the effect of the dye.
Wanting a more natural look, he embraced his grey hair. To his surprise, nobody complained. “Everybody said, ‘Your hair looks great, Tom,’ and I said, ‘Thank you very much,’” he recalled.