Cyril Joseph Angles (1906–1962)

Cyril Joseph Angles (1906-1962), sporting commentator, was born on 1 October 1906 at Surry Hills, Sydney, second of eleven children of Victor Emmanuel Angles, labourer, and his wife Ethel Josephine, née Smith, both Sydneysiders. His mother averred that Cyril cried until he was eighteen months old. The family shifted to the Kensington district when he was 4 and he was later sent to Marist Brothers' High School, Darlinghurst, where he distinguished himself as a sprinter in 1919. Having ridden his pony at Payten's paddock, Randwick, he was apprenticed as a jockey to Jack Phoenix, but put on weight and left after two years. By then he belonged to the sub-culture of the turf which flourished around the five courses near his home and he next worked as a clerk for his father, 'Lordy' Angles, who had become a bookie. Through the influence of his brother Fred, a big punter, in 1924 Cyril was employed as a tipster and commission agent by the self-styled 'Mastermind of the Turf' Rufe Naylor who got him a job in 1931 with radio station 2KY.

READ MORE: Australian Dictionary of Biography Online

Slain racing identity's "knockabout" past

The Sydney Morning Herald, reporting on the murder of racing identity Les Samba, offered this potted biography:

"Samba, a former male stripper, ... was described yesterday as a knockabout character. Prominent trainer David Hayes said Samba was ''colourful'' and likeable. Samba started out as a small-time trainer at Morphettville in South Australia, winning races with a very small team. He was one of the main players in a group of nightclubs in Adelaide's Hindley Street, dealings that brought him into contact with notorious Sydney criminal Abe Saffron. He later went to Perth and took over the training of George Way's team after Way was disqualified for 11 years for doping horses with ''elephant juice''. Samba never stopped bragging about how he had made a hit-and-run visit to Victoria with a horse from South Australia in the 1980s and won so much money that not enough bags had been produced to carry the money back over border. His financial dealings have long been of interest to authorities. Between 1999 and 2002, he and his wife, Deirdre, were investigated by the National Crime Authority and the (Australian) Tax Office over their failure to declare $1.2 million in income. Samba, who in late 1999 told authorities that he derived most of his money from gambling, declared bankruptcy to avoid paying tax on the income."

Patrick Andrew Connolly (1866-1946)

Patrick Andrew Connolly (1866-1946), racecourse owner, was born on 20 October 1866 at Ophir, New South Wales, fourth child of Irish-born parents Patrick Connolly, farmer, and his wife Agnes, née Graham. Little is known of Paddy's early life, save that his mother apparently ran a bush pub. He rode his family's horses at local racetracks and had a stint as an itinerant stockman in Queensland before joining the gold rush to Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, in 1894. There he entered the carrying trade with such success that in 1900 he purchased a large property on the outskirts of Perth, leased an inner-city hotel and moved to the capital. On 7 February 1898 he had married Alice Julia Hide at St George's Anglican Cathedral, Perth; they were to be divorced in 1924. He invested in a string of hotels, tin-mines and pastoral stations, but his first love was horses.

READ MORE: Australian Dictionary of Biography Online

Howard, Kenneth Percival Frederick (1913 - 1976)

HOWARD, KENNETH PERCIVAL FREDERICK (1913-1976), racecaller, was born on 2 December 1913 at Waverley, Sydney, son of Percival Thomas Howard, a window-dresser from Victoria, and his Sydney-born wife Brenda Florence, née Knight. As a schoolboy, Ken studied racing colours, breeding and records. He became a cadet journalist, probably on Truth, before joining radio station 2SM as a messenger-boy; in 1936 he made his first race broadcast from Moorefield as understudy to Reg McKenzie. A few years later Howard moved to radio 2KY. At the district registrar's office, Paddington, on 4 September 1939 he married Iris Adelaide, a hairdresser and daughter of the horse-trainer Joe Cook. In that year he replaced Melbourne radio station 3XY's racecaller Harry Solomons, gaoled for his role in a scheme to defraud starting-price bookmakers.

READ MORE: Australian Dictionary of Biography Online

Ken Howard calls the 1960 Interdominion Final at Harold Park...

State Library of NSW