TWO entities with backroom roles in British popular culture were in Swindon this week in 1965.

One was a man and the other was a car.

The man was Tony Rivers, a 24-year-old singer who played the Locarno with his band, The Castaways.

They had several stabs at chart success around the middle of the decade but never quite got the big break many critics said they deserved. Tony’s next band, a lightly psychedelic outfit called Harmony Grass, fared no better.

Tony later became a session singer, most notably on a long-running series of records called Top of the Pops. Nothing to do with the television series, they were albums of current and recent chart hits whose production costs were kept down by the use of soundalike musicians and singers.

Generations of cash-strapped music lovers snapped up the discount discs.

Covers of tracks by performers as diverse as The Beatles, the Sex Pistols, Kraftwerk and Abba were included over the years.

Thanks to the internet and an avid following among collectors, Tony Rivers has finally found a measure of stardom.

And the special car seen by Swindonians that week 51 years ago?

Built in America and known as the Dos Palmos dragster, it was making its second tour of Britain in as many years. The V8-engined car, with a top speed of more than 160mph, was the first of its kind most British people had seen, and raised awareness of the sport.

Its schedule that summer included the Vickers Supermarine Sports and Social Club Gala Day at South Marston.

The club secretary reported that the dragster had been the big attraction in a show which also included appearances by a trio of Jet Provost trainers and a Shackleton naval patrol aircraft.

The car was sold in the UK, somehow found its way back across the Atlantic and was recently restored after being discovered in storage.

Swindon’s most famous export was Diana Dors, and as her home town newspaper we never passed up an opportunity to print her photograph.

A slightly blurry image on a front page showed her standing on the steps of a California-bound Pan Am jet in London, and we reported that she was heading for her house in San Francisco.

With her was American actress Jill St John, who had been filming in London. We didn’t say what she’d been filming, but it was probably a spy thriller called The Liquidator, whose cast also included veteran British actor Trevor Howard.

In 1965 it was very unusual to see colour photos in a newspaper, but during that week in July we managed the feat twice – both times at the behest of advertisers. The pages seem to have been printed in the style of wallpaper, with repeated images.

On the Wednesday the space was taken by Benson and Hedges, which announced the arrival of a cheap new brand called Mayfair, which cost the equivalent of about 21p for 20 in decimal currency.

The following day it was the turn of Tide soap powder. Both images are the sort of thing which now pops up in coffee table books of vintage advertising.

Swindon was the scene of a car chase, courtesy of two thieves and some police officers.

We said on the Friday: “A manhunt took place in Wiltshire today after two men broke into the British Legion Club, Walcot, Swindon.

“The men took two fruit machines and made off in a stolen car towards Chiseldon.

“The car was found abandoned at the Plough Inn, Chiseldon, and police cordoned off the area. Tracker dogs were brought in and the search for the men and the stolen machines began.

“More than a dozen policemen took part. Detectives and constables in gumboots searched across fields and hedgerows.

“At the British Legion club, a spokesman said the thieves smashed a quarter-inch thick plate glass window to get in.”

A melancholy story came to us from the centre of town.

An unnamed Adver reporter wrote: “Seventy-odd miles from the sea and with not a wave in sight, I climbed aboard the good ship Neddy yesterday.

“In fact, Neddy is now moored in a Swindon back garden, and sharing the berth with the old boat are broken bottles and beer crates.

“Neddy, in fact, is an old rowing boat which was probably used on the old Swindon canal.

“Demolition in the College Street, Sanford Street and Gordon Road area has brought the old boat to light.

“It obviously hasn’t seen a drop of water for years.”

James Hamilton from Penhill, a member of the demolition team, said: “I know the old boat has been there for at least a year.

“I think it was probably used by the men on the locks of the canal.”