Pint-sized Ian Clyde was a rising Featherweight boxer from the Point St. Charles district on top of the world in 1976 after disposing of British champ Charlie Magri at the Montreal Olympics, held right in his hometown.
At one point during the event Clyde found himself at the Olympic Village trying to get a meal at the cafeteria when he spotted some a sight that he could not believe.
There, right in front of him, hauling her own tray was Queen Elizabeth II.
Clyde suddenly heard his own voice awkwardly squeal out, "Queen!"
Her royal highness smiled and looked over at Clyde.
The young boxer, seized by adrenaline and nerves, strode directly to the Queen and defied royal protocol by addressing her without being spoken to first.
Queen Elizabeth, it turned out, was entirely delightful and chit chatted with Clyde in a friendly and pleasant way.
Clyde then rounded up a guy nearby with a camera and asked for a photo souvenir of his great moment for the purposes of preserving it for posterity.
Queen Elizabeth, true to form, was cool with the request and agreed to pose for a photo with the 112-lb pugilist.
Clyde approached the Queen to pose for the photo, simultaneously invigorated and paralyzed with nerves.
He placed his right hand clumsily behind the Queen and realized that he had laid it against the back of the Queen's dress and could feel her bra strap under his fingers.
Elizabeth, who had been cheerful and friendly throughout their encounter, suddenly lost her smile, as can be seen by her sour demeanor in the photographic result.
Clyde left with mixed feelings about the affair, both elated with the encounter but also feeling that he had blundered. He sought to ensure that the photo went unseen by the world, as he imagined that trouble might follow him if it ever leaked out.
Pierre trudeau did some kind of ballet move behind the Queen's back, so we know where that dancing fool the Indian Prime Minister called a "Himbo" got his moves. Theres a video on youtube of him getting dropped by a little sixty year old man in a sparing session, I watch it sometimes to cheer me up...
ReplyDeleteThe dancing fool...lol
DeleteCarmel Magri (born 20 July 1956), who boxed under the name Charlie Magri, is a British former professional boxer. He is from a Tunisian family that settled in Mile End, London, where he grew up. During his professional career he held the WBC and lineal flyweight titles.
Delete1976 Olympic results
Below are the results of Charlie Magri, a flyweight boxer, who competed for Great Britain at the 1976 Montreal Olympics:
Round of 64: bye
Round of 32: was awarded a victory by walkover versus Eric Quaotsey (Ghana)
Round of 16: lost to Ian Clyde (Canada) by third-round knockout..
That picture is not photo shopped...
Ian became a spoksman for the boycotting of the 80 Olympics of which he was to take part. He was the captain of the Canadian boxing team and three months before we pulled out he fought a Cuban and knocked him out, and fidel Castro gave him a cigar...The guy he fought won the Gold medal...So Angello Dundee picked him up at the behest of Sugar Ray Leonard...HYe got his title shot in Korea but lost a split..He just hung amature for too long... I have seen pictures of him with Karl Malden, Lucile Ball, Farra Faucette and he partied with Willie Nelson...