Stanley Baker

Born in a Ferndale in 1927, Stanley Baker moved to London with his parents in the mid-1930s.

As a juvenile player, Baker made his film debut in 1943's Undercover; one year later, he made his London stage bow in Druid's Rest.

Following military service, Baker began his adult film career with All Over the Moon (1949). Thereafter he played secondary roles until attaining stardom as an over-the-hill boxer duped into a life of crime in The Good Die Young (1954). Projecting a "dangerous" image, Baker proved equally convincing as a rough-hewn hero or sadistic heavy.

Finding his contract with the Rank Organisation confining, he became a free-lancer in 1959, spending the rest of his career making his own opportunities rather than depending on the generosity of others. Many of his starring films dealt with African themes, notably Zulu (1964), Dingaka (1965) and Sands of the Kalihari (1965). Forming Oakhurst Productions, Baker was his own producer for such vehicles as Robbery (1968) and The Italian Job (1969). Stanley Baker was knighted not long before his death from lung cancer in 1976.

Stanley Baker's ashes were scattered on a mountain in Ferndale.

Mike Curtis - Author of Close Quarter Battle

This is the reason why he wrote the book.

When I was a teenager living in Ferndale I worked at the mine in Maerdy. I had a good well-paid job, a girlfriend and my rugby on a Saturday, everything a teenage lad from the Rhondda could need.

However, I always wanted a little more, at the time I had never left Britain, I had never been on a plane and I wanted to broaden my horizons.

These were the days before mobile phones and the Internet, so I had to use the library in Ferndale, at the old Ferndale workman's hall. I read a number of books but two really stood out. The first was about the paratroopers called "The Red Devils" and the second was about a secret organization called the SAS. It was called the "Phantom Major".

Today everyone has heard about the SAS but back in the 70's they were rarely mentioned. I was fit, but it was a big step I got in to the paratroopers then the SAS.

It was an incredible 18 years. Along the way I met peasants from the third world and Presidents. When I left (about 6 years ago) I was running from Penrhys to Maerdy along the fireman's track. I was looking at Blaen and Ferndale and I remembered the library and the books that I had read there. I thought about how those books made me feel and how they had inspired me. I stopped and contemplated about writing my own book putting down everything that I had done and seen. Maybe the youngsters or teenagers from the valleys would read it and feel thrilled as I was all those years ago. I did not think then that I would have so many people that would want to read it (I believe about 350,000 to date).

I only did it for the youngsters from the Rhondda and the rest of South Wales. Hoping that at least one young kid would say (like I did all those years ago) I want to do this, I want to achieve my goals in life. I want to do something different.

Mike Curtis 2002