The 'It's Not Unusual' hitmaker knew he'd scored a massive hit when he was hounded by a group of screaming fans who tore his raincoat to shreds and stole his food.

• Apr 18, 2021

AceShowbiz - Tom Jones knew he'd hit "the big time" before a Cilla Black concert when he encountered a group of screaming fangirls outside the venue.

The music legend - who became famous for having female fans throw their lingerie at him on stage - has recalled supporting the late "Anyone Who Had a Heart" hitmaker in the late-1960s, just as he had recorded one of his biggest hits, "It's Not Unusual".

Tom was tucking into a pork pie and a pint at a pub close to the venue where he was supporting the Cilla when he heard a group of girls screaming outside and had assumed it was for "this other pop star kid." But when he stepped out for a closer inspection, he found himself surrounded by the girls, with his raincoat ripped off and his meat-filled pastry "gone."

He recalled in an interview with The Sun newspaper, "I was on tour with Cilla Black late 1964. I'd just recorded It's Not Unusual and I was playing it and I was getting a reaction to it."

"One night, I was in the pub between shows, and I was having a pint and a pork pie. All these girls are screaming outside the pub."

"I thought they were screaming for this other pop star kid but when I walked out into the middle of them, well, they were waiting for me."

"It's Not Unusual had gone up in the b**ody charts and I didn't know."

"So I walked right in the middle and I had this raincoat on and they tore it to shreds and then the pork pie was gone."

"These policemen picked me up and had to carry me through the stage door."

Six decades on and the "Delilah" hitmaker is set to return to the charts with his new covers album, "Surrounded by Time", out next Friday (23Apr21).