William Hills: ‘A South African reporter must be able to turn their hand to anything’
William Hills founded the Benoni City Times in 1921, a journey which is now fast heading towards 100 years! The newspaper turns 100 on September 10.
Interviewing for a job in South Africa, William Hills was told that on a South African paper, reporters had to be prepared to turn their hand to anything – prize fights or prayer meetings.
His bold response was that he must then be “just the man” for the job. He wrote in 1940 in an autobiographical article in the Benoni City Times, which he founded 100 years ago.
ALSO READ: #JourneyTo100Years: Part 1 of our series on William Hills, founder of the City Times
He beat 100 applicants to the position on the Port Elizabeth Advertiser and got there to find that, as its proprietor also owned the Racing Calendar and Agricultural Journal, he would be responsible for its non-racing portion too.
As the proprietor was also the lessee of the Opera House, the paper was much concerned with theatrical events, Hills wrote.
“The productions of the Port Elizabeth Operatic Club at the Opera House were the events of the season and full dress the rule in both the dress circle and the stalls at every performance.”
At the time, the Opera House had more performances by leading English companies in three months than all the Johannesburg theatres had, even years later, in 12 months.
“At that time, interviews were just coming in and as the musical and dramatic critic of the Advertiser, I interviewed industriously every leading man and leading lady.”
Shakespeare, grand opera, the drama, comedy and farce, “we had the lot”, Hills wrote.
“I may be wrong but I think the productions of the Operatic Club were in the nineties the high watermark of musical and dramatic effort in the country and have certainly never been surpassed.”
There were challenges too, of course. Like the time freshly printed “Engaged” cards were placed on the seats.
Before the ink was dry, a woman in a figure-hugging cream silk dress sat on one and when she rose “she announced to an astonished public that the question had been popped and she had accepted”.
On another occasion, an actor was sent to the floor when the hind legs of a chair collapsed just as he sank into it at the end of a scene full of pathos.
Next time: Hills interviews Cecil John Rhodes
ALSO READ: #JourneyTo100Years: Article two on our series on William Hills: A discussion in Hyde Park
