Singing Postman's 'nicotine gal' muse dies aged 92

A woman who was the inspiration for an unlikely hit song has died at the age of 92.

Molly Bayfield lived in Norfolk all her life and as a young woman was friends with Allan Smethurst, better known as the Singing Postman.

In his distinct accent, he sang about her as Molly Windley, his "little nicotine gal", in his novelty ditty Hev Yew Gotta Loight, Boy, which charted in the UK in 1965.

"She loved Norfolk and the local culture, and to be a part of that, I think she was proud and enjoyed it very much," said her son, Mike Bayfield.

Smethurst was yet to embark on a novelty pop career when, some time in the late 1950s or early 1960s, he visited old schoolfriend Albert Bayfield and his wife, Molly, in Mundesley.

They shared a few roll-up cigarettes over lunch and a walk on the beach, with Molly thinking "nothing more of it".

Some years later, she had been bathing toddler Mike while listening to the radio - which at the time would have been pumping out the likes of The Beatles and The Rolling Stones.

She heard Hev Yew Gotta Loight Boy and "nearly dropped the poor little fella, because I realised he had written it about me," she told a BBC documentary in 2016.

The song refers to Molly Windley - "who smook like a chimley" - and her repeated plea of "hev yew gotta loight boy?"

Reflecting on her role as the "nicotine gal, she said: "I had a couple [of cigarettes] with him [Smethurst], probably; I soon gave up when my son said 'if you don't give up smoking I won't sit on your lap anymore.

"So, end of."

The ditty was the Singing Postman's best known hit and won an Ivor Novello award for best novelty song in 1966. In Norfolk, it had briefly outsold The Beatles' Ticket to Ride.

With a heavy dose of poetic licence, childhood sweetheart Molly became the singer's bride - asking for a "loight" at the altar, of course.

The real Molly was happily married to school teacher Albert for more than 50 years. She worked as a secretary at Cromer Hospital, and later as a chiropodist and for social services.

The couple, who had two grandsons, also lived in Clenchwarton, near King's Lynn, with Molly moving to a care home in King's Lynn in 2023.

Speaking to BBC Radio Norfolk, Mike said his mother had quite enjoyed being immortalised in song and "always had a smile on her face" whenever it was mentioned.

"I think she just thought it was fun; she used to do some amateur dramatics, she would've liked to be an actress, and she did some radio," her son added.

"She didn't talk about it that much but when it came up I think she was quite proud.

"If I mention to anyone about The Singing Postman, and say 'that song Hev Yew Gotta Loight Boy, Molly Windley; that was about my mum', people say 'oh wow, that's so cool'."

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