THREE of Swindon’s best-known celebrities were in Adver stories this week in 1978.

One was a rock star, another an actress and the third a magnificent stone specimen of Panthera Leo.

The rock star was a certain Raymond Edward O’Sullivan who was here for a charity concert.

Moving from Ireland to Swindon with his family as a teenager, he’d played in various bands, started calling himself Gilbert O’Sullivan and promptly become one of the most famous musicians on the planet.

Hits such as Clare, Get Down and Alone Again (Naturally) made him such a star on both sides of the Atlantic during the early 1970s that they still pop up in feature films and documentaries when a director needs to quickly evoke the era.

The singer-songwriter has never forgotten his roots, and still returns every so often to see friends and loved ones.

He made one of those visits back in February of 1978 and we photographed him with mum May, stepfather Pat Hartnett, sister Marie and brother Terry at their house in Liddington.

Gilbert usually kept such trips low-key, but this time he was promoting a benefit at the Wyvern Theatre for a variety of good causes.

By that time he hadn’t had a top 20 hit in nearly four years, but he remained cheerful.

He told us: “When you’ve had several hit singles you’re bound to be disappointed when the hits stop coming. I’m not downhearted. There’s more to life than being in the Top Five in Melody Maker.

“For the first time I’m playing with a band – and not just session musicians. So now the music doesn’t sound exactly perfect – it’s spontaneous. Members of the band help a lot. They make suggestions and they’re creative. That’s a big difference for me.”

The star praised his band and crew for coming along for reduced fees, as he’d otherwise have been on his own, although he added: “I’d have come anyway.

“To begin with, it’s for charity – and then, it is Swindon.”

Gilbert was to have a further hit when What’s in a Kiss? reached number 19 in 1980, and as recently as 2012 a compilation album made the top 15 in the albums chart.

Another major Swindon celebrity in the news that week was film star Diana Dors, who got herself into hot water during a Radio 4 interview to promote her new book, a collection of showbusiness anecdotes called For Adults Only.

Although Swindon held fond memories of her, Diana was on record as believing certain people here resented her success. She referred to those people during the interview as “home town hypocrites,” and added: “It’s something that’s always rankled.”

The reaction from Adver readers was critical but measured. One of them, a cinema usherette called Gladys Lane, summed up the general reaction: “Di was a good actress but when she opened her mouth off-screen it was disastrous.”

News vendor Tom Scott said: “When she gets back here she says it’s great, and when she’s away she insults the place.”

For Adults Only is long out of print, but secondhand copies are available from Amazon.

The third local celebrity featured in the Adver early that February 36 years ago was the iconic Golden Lion – or rather, the all-new incarnation of it created by local sculptor Carlton Attwood: “Swindon’s Golden Lion, which once crouched on the roof of the bargees’ pub, is going back on the old canal with all the razamataz of a Yankee parade.

“It’s a replacement, of course. The old lion, first taken down from the parapet on which it stood [...] was finally removed altogether to make way for development, and succumbed to excessive care and affection mistakenly bestowed on it by the council.

“The plaster beast crumbled away under a cloying tarpaulin shroud.

“And it’s going back with some pomp and ceremony. At eight o’clock next Friday the lion, preceded by a jazz band, will be pulled on a trolley from the Town Hall to Canal Walk.

“You know the drill, people hanging on to tapes and so on. Next morning at 11 o’clock development trust chairman Alf Bown will unveil the lion after suitable words from the Mayor, Bill Turpin, and John Stevens, chairman of the Arts and Recreation Committee.”