Duncan Edwards - Outside Football

Outside Football

Edwards was a teetotaller and outside football was known as a very private individual, whose interests included fishing, playing cards and visiting the cinema. Although he attended dances with his team-mates he was never confident in social surroundings. He was described by Jimmy Murphy as an "unspoilt boy" and retained a strong Black Country accent which his team-mates would impersonate. He was once stopped by the police for riding his bicycle without lights and fined five shillings by the authorities and two weeks' wages by his club.

At the time of his death Edwards was living in lodgings in Gorse Avenue, Stretford. He was engaged to be married to Molly Leech, who was 22 years old and worked in the offices of a textile machine manufacturer in Altrincham. The couple met at a function at a hotel at Manchester Airport, dated for a year before becoming engaged, and were godparents to the daughter of Leech's friend Josephine Stott.

Edwards appeared in advertisements for Dextrosol glucose tablets and had written a book entitled "Tackle Soccer This Way", commercial endeavours which supplemented his wage of £15 per week during the season and £12 per week during the summer. The book was published shortly after his death with the approval of his family and, after being out of print for many years, was re-published in November 2009.