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A good documentary that, thanks
‘Dear Mr. President, please could I land my noisy, smelly aeroplane in your country’ Private Eye at the time of negotiations with the USA
A tad hypocritical of the demonstrators at JFK blocking the roads with their huge fume-belching gas-guzzlers
Concorde was a magnificent piece of engineering, epitomising Harold Wilson’s embrace of ‘the white heat of technology’, though the fact that Boeing never bothered with designing a supersonic passenger plane speaks volumes, and of course no one has built one in the 60 or so years since Concorde was launched, save for the ill-fated Russian ‘Concordski’, the prototype of which crashed at an air show and was promptly cancelled.
There were only around 20 ever built, far removed from the 350 planned when devised in the ’60s
Just a beautiful plaything for the rich really. Breakfast in London, then breakfast again in New York: what jolly good fun
It did make a dreadful racket on take-off. I was staying with friends in Reading when one took off from nearby Heathrow. ‘What the hell is that’ I asked ‘It’s effing Concorde’ came the weary reply.
Labour really should have went with someone like Healey however let’s be honest most just didn’t want Benn getting control
Agreed, Healey should have been leader though he was tainted by the runaway inflation and necessity for an IMF Loan when Chancellor in the mid ’70s. A tough old bruiser who would have given Thatcher a hard time.
I’m sure you remember but for those who weren’t around at the time Foot’s 1983 election manifesto was described as ‘the longest suicide note in history’, by another Labour MP Gerald Kaufman, if memory serves.
Like Michael Foot, Tony Benn was another I always enjoyed listening to, despite them inhabiting a left-wing la-la land that didn’t – and never will – appeal to more than a minority of the electorate.
As for appearance it amused me that Jeremy Corbyn had something of a makeover on becoming leader: hair and beard neatly trimmed, and crumpled fawn jackets replaced with sober ironed grey ones. Though he seems to have reverted to the retired geography teacher look now he’s returned to the back benches
He was a talented man however I recall seeing an interview with him in a duffle coat … buttoned up wrongly
He also got a bollocking from those shallow types for whom appearance outweighs intellect for wearing a green donkey jacket at the cenotaph on Remembrance Sunday.
He suffered from asthma and itchy eczema which broadcast itself as a somewhat tetchy breathlessness and twitchiness, which was rather cruelly preyed upon by his detractors.
Private Eye always referred to him as Worzel
Poor old Michael Foot, being compared to bad-enough bad-enoch Badenoch.
He was a decent man, intellectual and a formidable orator; but a leader he defintely wasn’t.
Berwick Rangers, now in the Lowland League alongside East Stirlingshire, Albion Rovers
Berwick Rangers should be in the National League North…
East Stirlingshire’s home is Falkirk and they share a ground with Stenhousemuir.
Albion Rovers are based in Coatbridge, a stone’s throw from Airdrie.
None of which I knew, but Wikipedia did.
Crawford the goalkeeper
Topping and swallow I think we’re the centre backs and the little winger Brian Pollard, always wanted to go to Bootham Cresent and when Chelsea visited in 70s I went ended 2-2Those names are a mystery to me as I’ve only lived in York for around 20 years. I struggle to name any of the current team
Bootham Crescent ground is no more, demolished and now a housing development. York City moved out in 2021 and now play at the LNER Community Stadium on the edge of town, shared with York Knights rugby league club. Built in 2020 it’s very smart and a well-used ‘hub’ for residents, having a swimming pool, gymnasium, library, cafe, and an NHS drop-in centre.
Could I just add congratulations to my home team York City for gaining promotion back into the EFL League 2 (Fourth Division), after ten years languishing in the National League (Vauxhall Conference).
I really must try and show some interest in them, having only been to a match once, about 15 years ago
VG HDLG
I’d never heard of Cove Rangers and Spartans prior to my survey of the Scottish Leagues for this quiz, and thanks for adding the missing Ross County Corker
Shame that Morton are now called Greenock Morton, as I could have included them too
A fabulous rail journey which aside from going past Raith’s ground Stark’s Park, also involves going over both the Forth and Tay Bridges.
A fine journey indeed. I’ve visited Queensferry on the Edinburgh side of the Forth Bridge and there’s a pub there virtually underneath it which is an ideal spot to admire the amazing structure, and the two road bridges
By-the-by: Stephen Hendry lives in Queensferry apparently
Third Lanark were one of the Glasgow teams in the shadow of The Old Firm. I don’t know if they drew any support from Lanark itself.
Thought I’d sussed where all the oddly-named Scottish teams played, but no, so thanks
A little quiz: where are the following teams based?
Queen of the South
Queens Park
St Mirren
St Johnstone
East Fife
Hibernian
Heart of Midlothian
Cove Rangers
SpartansStranraer 5 Forfar 4 on the Teleprinter clip. Pity the home team wasn’t East Fife!
Googling away I’ve discovered that the tongue-twister East Fife 4 Forfar 5 did finally come true in 2018, but only as the result of a penalty shoot-out
In the early ’70s John Peel had a short-lived programme on Radio Luxembourg entitled ‘Stenhousemuir 2 Cowdenbeath 2’ for no other reason than him just liking the names, which I do too
Good to learn that Third Lanark were named after the 3rd Lanarkshire Rifle Volunteers.
Is Lanark the only town to have lost both its racecourse and its professional football club?
The Lanark Silver Bell, now run at Hamilton Park, is reputedly the oldest extant race dating back to the early 17th century, though I think the similarly named Carlisle Bell also claims that honour.
I mentioned Sam Leitch earlier and the line ‘they’ll be dancing in the streets of Raith tonight’ is usually attributed to him, though some say it was David Coleman, probably only because of his numerous ‘Colemanballs’ gaffes.
Coleman was actually darn good at his job, as the clip indicates.
The train to Aberdeen goes past Raith’s ground in Kirkcaldy and I always raise a smile when passing it on trips up that way
I, and millions of others, used to enjoy Grandstand’s Teleprinter typing out the results circa 4.40pm on Saturday. When technology caught it up it became the Vidiprinter, which struggled on until around 20 years ago.
From 4:30
It was Tony Blair who set the goal of 50% entering further education which was actually only reached as recently as 2019.
Never really liked the idea as it – covertly perhaps – assumed that education until in your early 20s is what all youngsters should aspire to, whereas many aren’t of an academic bent and would prefer to get their hands dirty on reaching 16-or-so by doing vocational training through apprenticeships, which entirely mistakenly continue to be viewed as subordinate to a university education.
The result being of course that – as others have pointed out – we have a huge number of 20+ year-olds with degrees that count for little in the work marketplace and a chronic shortage of homegrown skilled manual workers.
On a related subject: the huge expansion of student accomodation, often prefixed by the word ‘luxury’. I believe there’s all sorts of financial incentives and tax-breaks for developers and it strikes me that this is a bubble that will burst, not least due to the declining birthrate which will see fewer youngsters to fill the places, homegrown ones at least.
The bulidings themselves are generally ugly, utilitarian multi-storey boxes, and I suspect built to a lowish standard that wouldn’t permit their use as permenent accommodation once the supply reduces.
Football Focus: bit of a blast from the past as I thought it had gone when Grandstand was cancelled. Before Bob Wilson took over it was called Football Preview presented by Sam Leitch, an overweight Scotsman who worked for one of Fleet Street’s rags.
Sheffield had The Green ‘Un rushed out on Saturday afternoons, printed on light green paper, as the name suggests.
