A Tale of Two Hats

Dev Anand’s Hat

Dev Anand was a famous Indian film actor who acted in at least 116 movies from late 1946 to 2016. His real name was Dharamdev Pishorimal Anand. He was famous for wearing his characteristic beret in public.

In his old age he went to see a young female dentist in Mumbai. He, most probably, was registered in his real name. In the waiting room he saw a beret hanging from a peg on the wall. He asked the dentist where she got it from. She narrated this story:

“In the 1950s and early 1960s some Indian movies had a big first public screening, called premier film show, before the general theatrical release. It used to be a big publicity event with photo sessions and media coverage. The main actors from that movie as well as many other movie elites were invited to it. A big crowd of movie fans would gather around the theatre to see their favorite movie personalities in person. One such event was organized at the Swastik Theatre in 1951 before the release of the movie Baazi. One very popular and famous actor by the name of Dev Anand was in the lead role in that movie. When he arrived at the theatre, a large cheering crowd surrounded him. In sheer excitement he tossed his famous beret into the crowd. My grandmother, who was a big fan of Dev Anand, was also there. The beret happened to land in her lap. She kept that beret as a souvenir all her life. Before her death she gave it to me. I didn’t know what to do with it. I didn’t want to throw it away as it was a gift from my grandmother; so I hung it up in my office.” 

When Dev Anand told her that he was that person, she wanted to give it back to him but he refused it saying that the hat was a gift to her from her grandmother and she should keep it.

Dickie Bird’s Hat

Dickie Bird was a famous Cricket umpire. His full name was Harold Dennis Bird. He officiated in 66 Test matches and 69 ODIs. He also had the honor of umpiring in the first ODI World Cup played between Australia and West Indies on June 21, 1975 at Lord’s. West Indies won by 17 runs. (Australia would have won easily had five of their batsmen not run out.)

There was a heavy West Indian presence in the crowd. After the fall of the 9 th  wicket with Australia 58 runs behind, the West Indian supporters came down from the stands to the edge of the ground, ready to invade it anytime. When the last Australian player, Jeff Thomson, was run out, the crowd stormed the ground. (There was hardly any security those days.) The people grabbed anything they could get their hands on.

First they took the stumps as souvenirs, and then they started snatching the players’ personal items like gloves, bats, pads, hats, shoes, etc. Thomson lost his pads, while Keith Boyce was pinned to the floor and had his boots ripped off before he was rescued by the police. Boyce, fielding at the furthest corner of the ground, long leg at the Nursery End, had anticipated the situation and had replaced his new boots with old ones at tea. Someone even stole Dickie Bird’s white sun hat with a wide brim which was his trade mark throughout his umpiring career. And he lost his sweater too to the crowd.

One year later, when Bird was traveling on a bus in South London he noticed that the conductor was wearing a white hat which looked very much like the one he used to wear. He asked the conductor where he got it from. The conductor said, "Man, haven't you heard of Mr Dickie Bird. This is one of his hats. I took it off his head at the World Cup final... we all ran onto the field and I won the race."