{"id":12098,"date":"2025-02-19T11:19:50","date_gmt":"2025-02-19T11:19:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southshieldslocalhistorygroup.co.uk\/?page_id=12098"},"modified":"2025-02-19T12:37:57","modified_gmt":"2025-02-19T12:37:57","slug":"muhammad-ali","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/southshieldslocalhistorygroup.co.uk\/index.php\/people\/famous-visitors\/muhammad-ali\/","title":{"rendered":"Ali Muhammad"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Muhammad Ali visited South Shields on Saturday 16th<\/sup> July 1977 at the request of Johnny Walker a local painter and decorator and boxing enthusiast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Ali at the Market (Mudditt, South Tyneside Libraries)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Ali in Ocean Road (Mudditt, South Tyneside Libraries)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Ali at Gypsies Green (Mudditt, South Tyneside Libraries)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Ali having his wedding blessed (Mudditt, South Tyneside Libraries)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Ali at the Al Azhar Mosque (Mudditt, South Tyneside Libraries)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cChampion\u201d – Ishy Din \u2013 Little Theatre \u2013 Newcastle 13 February to 8 March 2025<\/strong>

Ali\u2019s visit to South Shields in 1977 made such an impact that nearly 50 years later the playwright Ishy Din immediately chose it as the story for a new play!

\u201cWhen Live Theatre approached me to write a play for its main stage my mind immediately went to Muhammad Ali\u2019s 1977 visit to South Shields. It was the only place I could see this story being told and I hope I honour not only the great man himself, but the South Shields community that embraced him.\u201d (Ishy Din 2025)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Stage for “Champion” at the Live Theatre (Terry Ford)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
The cast of “Champions” (Von Fox Promotions)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
The Mayor of South Tyneside Fay Cunningham (right) at the Live Theatre 18\/02\/2025 (Terry Ford)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Sources:
Ishy Din
Terry Ford

Photos:
South Tyneside Libraries (photographer Freddie Mudditt)
Terry Ford
Von Fox Promotions for the Live Theatre
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Muhammad Ali visited South Shields on Saturday 16th July 1977 at the request of Johnny Walker a local painter and decorator and boxing enthusiast. \u201cChampion\u201d – Ishy Din \u2013 Little Theatre \u2013 Newcastle 13 February to 8 March 2025 Ali\u2019s visit to South Shields in 1977 made such an impact that nearly 50 years later […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":8532,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-12098","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/southshieldslocalhistorygroup.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/12098","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/southshieldslocalhistorygroup.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/southshieldslocalhistorygroup.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southshieldslocalhistorygroup.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southshieldslocalhistorygroup.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12098"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/southshieldslocalhistorygroup.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/12098\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12130,"href":"https:\/\/southshieldslocalhistorygroup.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/12098\/revisions\/12130"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southshieldslocalhistorygroup.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8532"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/southshieldslocalhistorygroup.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}