From the archive: Muhammad Ali gets hero's welcome in Wolverhampton

Photos uncovered in our archives and shared on our Facebook group of The Greatest on his visits to Birmingham in 1979 and 1983 prompted Pat Smith to share her tale of the night that Ali came to Wolverhampton, and even stopped by her house to bless the family cat.

Mrs Smith's father Leslie was renowned in the city as Ali's number one fan, and regularly appeared in the Express and Star after meeting him at training camps and after fights, often bagging himself memorabilia, including fight-worn gloves and boots.

But ironically, when The Greatest came to visit his home city, Leslie was on the other side of the world.

Mrs Smith, aged 59, a business manager from Bradmore, remembered: "Dad went to visit my sister in Australia, it had been planned for a long time.

"And he said to me if Ali comes, you've got to go and meet him and show him a photo of the two of them together, otherwise he'd wonder where I am.

"He told me to take a photo of the two of them off the wall and that would get me past security.

"Anyway, Dad was away and we heard Ali was coming to Birmingham.

"We were supposed to be going on a caravan holiday to Wales that weekend, but obviously we went straight to Birmingham.

"When we got to his hotel, we gave the security guard the picture and told him to show it to Ali and tell him I'm Leslie's daughter and he'd know who we were.

"Ali came up to me and put his arms out and hugged me.

"He said: "Where's my Leslie?" So I had to tell him, he's gone to Australia.

"He said to get him on the phone, so we called my sister's house and he picked up."

She added: "I said you'll never guess who I've got on the phone for you and he just straight away said: "Ali."

"Ali was having a laugh and a joke with him, saying "I've got your daughter on my bed."

"People see the showman in the ring and out of the ring, well he's like that in private as well.

"Anyway, Ali said to my Dad that he was going to go to his home city on the Saturday so he could bless it.

"Dad asked if he would go to our house and bless the house and our cat.

"Ali agreed so we made arrangements for the following day. We were to meet him at The Sheraton on Raglan Street."

After Mrs Smith had introduced Ali to the landlord and landlady of the venue, Ali gave a speech to fans who were packed in tightly.

She added: "He made this lovely speech to the crowd, where he told them he loves this city because it's the home of his number one fan.

"He went through all the countries that Dad had followed him and said that he hadn't asked for a dime, and was a gentleman.

"He called me up to the stage but I was outside, moving our orange Austin Allegro ready to lead the convoy back to my dad's house.

"But when I went back in he went through the whole speech again.

"We had about 25 people waiting back at the house, and it was good because some of them didn't really believe how close Ali's relationship with my dad was, even when he brought back his gloves or his boots from previous fights.

"We came up the Stafford Road where my dad lived and everyone was waiting outside, it was about 11.40pm.

"We've got loads of photographs and so did everyone else who was there.

"When we got inside Ali was taking time to chat to everyone and doing magic tricks, it was amazing.

"And we got my Dad on the phone because Ali wanted to speak to him in his home city.

"People couldn't believe how close they were."

She continued: "My dad saw him again lots of times before he died in 1993, aged 79, but it's just ironic how he missed him when he was in his home town."

Now Mrs Smith hopes that Express and Star photos like the ones of Ali's visit can be archived digitally for future generations to enjoy.

She said: "I think it would be wonderful if they could do that, there are so many great memories people have to look back on over the years."