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For 'Every Picture Tells a Story', Eddie Mullard brought along a picture of his grandfather, whom unfortunately he never met because he died the year before his birth.

John Willie Ward was born in 1873 and died in 1939, his claim to fame was playing Rugby Union for England. He was an international and the photograph is of him wearing his England shirt, and England cap. He was part of the schism, between Union and League, when the Rugby League was formed in 1895. He was playing and captaining the Castleford Rugby Union side and then they changed over to Rugby League and he became captain of the Rugby League side. He also went on to play Rugby League for Great Britain.

John Willie Ward: Rugby Union pioneer

Eddie said: "He was famous for his power, he was over six feet tall and weighed 19 stone when he was playing rugby and he was renowned for his lightening speed over the first twenty five yards". He added:" Apparently he was very, very good. He transferred from Castleford to Wakefield Trinity and he was asked to take over one of the big pubs in Wakefield, because apparently in those days, that was the main way of getting the players to transfer from one club to another. They could offer them a job."

He spent his life as a manager of a lot of public houses in the West Riding of Yorkshire. He finished up at a pub called, The Victoria, 'The Vic', in Hemsworth".

Eddie recalled how his grandfather was famous as the manager of the King Billy in Castleford, where he kept a shot gun under the counter behind the bar. He once took it from under the bar and let it off and was arrested and locked up as a consequence. Eddie said: "The family don't talk about that too often".

In addition to talking about his famous grandfather, Eddie talked about his school teaching career and some famous ex-pupils. He also brought us up to date about his acting skills and how working as an extra he has found himself, literally lying down on the job during the course of his duties. All of which are contained in the interview you can access on this page.