She famously "smook like a chimley", yet Norfolk legend Molly Windley lived to a ripe old age.
Now, at 92, the Singing Postman’s muse has died.
A true Norfolk girl, her real name was Molly Bayfield and she lived her whole live along the north Norfolk coast.
Little did she know she would become immortalised in the county’s cultural history forever.
Molly was the inspiration for one of the most notable tunes to come out of Nelson’s county.
Allan Smethurst, better known as the Singing Postman, became famous for the novelty hit which made him a star - Hev Yew Gotta Loight, Boy?
It asked the question because: "Molly Windley, she smook like a chimley. But she’s my little nicoteen gal."
The song made it to number seven in the UK charts and saw him appear on Top of the Pops, on the same night as the Rolling Stones.
And he even out-sold the Beatles...though the sales in question were only in East Anglia.
But who really was Molly?
Molly and her husband Albert Bayfield lived in Norfolk for their entire lives, growing up in the Sheringham and Cromer area.
Albert and Allan were boyhood chums at the Paston school in North Walsham, who stayed friendly after Molly and Allan got married.
Speaking on BBC Radio Norfolk this morning, their son, Mike Bayfield, said: “I’ve known about the song for as long as I can remember.
“The story as far as I know was that Mum and Dad were living in Mundesley on the north Norfolk coast in a little cottage there.
“Allan Smethurst was actually an old school friend of my dad’s, and I think he used to visit them quite often and he got to know them.
“My dad was also a musician and played the guitar. I think they also had that connection in common.”
He confirmed that the song was inspired by his mother.
“Allan wrote this song,” he said. “Mum was a smoker in the day, and that was how the song came about.
“It was obviously a spark of inspiration – excuse the pun.”
She became something of a local legend following the release of the song.
In an interview with BBC Look East a few years ago, she revealed that Allan called her Molly 'Windley' because it was the only thing he could think of to rhyme with chimney.
However, the real Molly was far more clean living than her semi-fictionalised counterpart.
She said: “I used to have two or three a day but no more than that, and I've stopped 35 years – so I’m not the nicotine gal really.”
Her son added that while his mother did not talk about the song “that much” she always had a smile on her face when she did.
“I think she thought it was fun – my mum she used to do a bit of amateur dramatics, and she would have loved to be an actress and she loved radio,” he added.
“If the song came up, I think she was quite proud of it, and it was fun and she loved Norfolk and sort of the local culture.
“She was quite proud to have been – unwittingly - a part of that. She enjoyed it very much.”
And while in the song, the couple ended up walking down the aisle, the story was very much “poetic license” as Molly was always happily married to Albert.
In 1967, Allan was given an Ivor Novello "Oscar" award for the best novelty song of the year and said at the time it was "the most exciting moment” of his career.
Allan Francis Smethurst
The Singing Postman was Allan Francis Smethurst (b.1927 d.2000), an English folk singer and postman.
He gained fame for his songs sung in his native Norfolk dialect and transitioned to a full-time music career in 1965 after working at the Post Office for 12 years.
He left the music industry in 1970 citing stage fright and arthritic hands. He later admitted to an alcohol problem and revealed all his earnings were gone and he was penniless.
He spent his last 20 years living quietly in a Salvation Army hostel in Grimsby, where he died from a heart attack in December 2000.
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