1960s: The love story that broke the barriers of racial prejudice in Derby and lasted 42 years

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More than 40 years ago, a young couple met and fell in love. Nothing unusual except that he was black and she was white in a world where mixed marriages still raised eyebrows. He was Louis Martin, an extrovert Jamaican with one step already on the ladder to success as a weightlifting champion. She was a shy but determined young Derby girl. They were the perfect pair and their love never faded. Sadly, fate parted them in February 2007 when Ann died, aged 66. Pat Parkin looks back at their 42-year love affair.

The couple on their wedding day at Victoria Street Congregational Church in November 1964

The Martin family, from left, Richard’s wife Tracy, Richard, Ann, Louis Jnr (back), his wife Jacqui, and Louis Snr

THE last page in a love story which began more than 40 years ago was turned in February when Derby’s former Olympic weightlifting champion Louis Martin bid a final goodbye to his wife, Ann.

The woman he always described as “my star” sadly died following a brave battle against cancer.

The couple met 42 years ago when Louis, a charismatic young weightlifter left his native Jamaica to come to Derby to find work with British Rail.

Through mutual friends, Louis was introduced to local girl, Ann Robinson, a machinist at James Smith’s Drewry Lane factory. It was love at first sight.

But mixed race relationships back in the early 1960s were still a rarity, frowned upon by many and unacceptable to both cultures. The love-struck couple, however, saw no problems and couldn’t understand why it should concern other people.

“We met, fell in love and had 42 very happy years together,” said Louis (70). “She broke new ground in Derby by marrying me and it wasn’t easy for her in those early days. She was a very quiet and shy person but strong, too, and one thing is for sure, I couldn’t have achieved what I did without her.”

Ann died, aged 66, on February 2, after fighting cancer for several years, though her final illness was brief and a great shock to family and friends. The couple’s two sons – Louis, a detective inspector with Derbyshire Police, and Richard, a doctor of medicinal chemistry who works for Derby Community Safety Partnership on treatment systems for drug abusers – were both at her bedside in Derbyshire Royal Infirmary when she died.

Said Richard, who lives at Spondon: “She was a fabulous, strong, supportive parent who never wanted to be the centre of attention. But whatever she said was wise and helped us achieve great success, and I was deeply indebted to her for so many things she did.

“She and our father were absolute opposites, one extrovert and outgoing, the other quiet and thoughtful. Together they made the perfect pairing.

“They broke new ground when they got married in the 1960s and it was a brave step they took at that time. We had a wonderful childhood with them, with no problems, and have always been very close.”

Also mourning her loss are Ann’s daughters-in-law Jacqui and Tracy, and grandchildren Louis and Adele. Ann was happy to be the quiet behind-the-scenes wife. When their romance began, Louis was already making a name for himself in weightlifting circles and, in the early days, she was often at home alone as he travelled around the world to competitions.

“I never wanted to see him compete. I just couldn’t stand the strain,” she once said, so she stayed at home making sure, when he was there, he kept to his strict diet of big steaks and Guinness.

She would massage his torn and aching muscles after the hours of hard training he put in to reach the very pinnacle of his career but, contrary to the general image of a strong man, Louis was, she said, “a gentle giant.”

“I fell in love with a strong but very mild and gentle man, who never loses his temper and loves reading poetry. He had a wonderfully successful career which he enjoyed and he deserved every moment of it all.”

She proudly kept his photo albums and newspaper clippings as he took part in numerous contests, including three Olympic Games, several World Championships and Commonwealth Games. He gathered silver and bronze Olympic medals, four World Championships, 12 British titles and three Commonwealth gold medals, with the icing on the cake being the award of an MBE from the Queen.

Despite the prejudice of the times, Ann always said that neither she nor Louis noticed anyone staring at them – and were too much in love to care if they did.

“I suppose we realised we were unusual but it didn’t seem odd to us,” she once said. “We had simply fallen in love and got married, just like everyone else.”

But their marriage, coupled with Louis’ incredible success on the world weightlifting scene, made them very different from everyone else.

So much so that they were interviewed in the first colour supplement produced by the Sunday Times and the story was considered so important that they sent their top photographer, Lord Snowdon, then the husband of the Queen’s sister, Princess Margaret, to take the pictures.

The neighbours in Rawdon Street, Derby, where they had their first tiny terraced home, were aghast.

“We could hardly believe it either,” said Ann.

Along with writer Drusilla Beyfus, Snowdon sat down in their front room for a chat and later took Louis to the back street gym near Cockpit Hill, where he trained, to take more pictures.

Ann was delighted. “It didn’t seem to bother Lord Snowdon about us being quite ordinary and living in a small house. He was a very charming man with a sense of humour.”

The only problem for the couple came when her father refused to go to their wedding or talk to her husband for many years. But she always believed it had nothing to do with Louis’ colour.

“My father was a bit strange to anyone he felt was foreign. It was a shame but that was just the way he felt.

“I was sorry about it but we never let it worry us. When our first son, young Louis, was born, he was delighted and loved him dearly. Eventually, it was all settled before my dad died.”

Perhaps their biggest disappointment was the Olympic Games in Mexico in 1968 when, after winning a bronze in Rome and a silver in Tokyo, Louis was odds-on favourite for a gold medal but just missed out after giving the performance of his life.

Ann said at the time: “Everyone, including his fellow competitors, knew he deserved it and it was a bitter disappointment for him.”

So, though there was no third Olympic medal, Louis won the enraptured applause of the crowds and, as one commentator said: “He was more glorious in defeat that he ever was in victory.”

Two years later, in his native Jamaica, Ann was there to see him proudly carrying the English flag when he won his third successive Commonwealth Games gold medal, and then announced his retirement.

But sport continued to play a big part in his life. He opened a small gym near his home in Rowditch Avenue, Derby, so that he could pass on his skills to Derby’s deprived youngsters who could not afford to go along to the trendy sports centres and gyms around the city.

He ran it for many years until he gave it up when his wife became ill.

“She had always looked after us three and I wanted to be there to look after her,” he said.

Ann was always proud of his success and pointed out that as well as being photographed by a royal, Louis had lunched with the Queen at Buckingham Palace, attended her garden parties, been named one of Derby’s leading citizens and had his effigy in Madame Tussauds.

Ever the wit, he interrupted to remind her that he had later been melted down to be replaced by Mohammed Ali.

A devout Christian, Ann used to walk eight miles every day to take her sons to the CoE College School in Uttoxeter Road, where she felt they would have a better education.

For the last 10 years of her working life, she was a housekeeper on Ward 2 at Derby City Hospital.

Said Louis: “She was a wonderful woman, a fantastic wife, mother and grandmother and we shall miss her terribly. We have been privileged to have known her.”

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