London 2018
I saw this sticker at the ViewTube.
London 2018
London 2018 refers to the city’s bid to host the Gay Games in 2018.
And Now I Get Golf Spam!
With nothing to watch or listen to for most of tomorrow, as the sodding golf will be hogging the airwaves, what have I just received?
Several spam messages trying to sell me golf clubs!
To add to the many things that annoy me about golf, another thing has just suggested itself. I don’t think I know of a golf course, that I could get to easily by public transport.
The Only Problem With England Australia Tests
After the thrilling test match at Nottingham over the last five days, surely it shows that England Australia Test Matches are one of the most amazing sporting spectacles in the sporting world.
The only problem is that the various Test grounds here are too small, with the possibly exception of the Oval. But then as they were saying yesterday on Test Match Special, they are spreading the games a bit thin, with extra test venues, like Cardiff, Durham and the Rose Bowl coming on stream in the last few years.
Definitely gone are the days in the 1960s, when some of my schoolmates, used to get up early on the Saturday of the Lords Test, rush to the ground and buy tickets to get places on the grass, just beyond the boundary rope.
The Honourable Company Of Edinburgh Misogynists
The Sunday Times has it’s knives out for golf today, using the title of this post to describe the men-only club that runs Muirfield; the venue of this year’s Open Championship.
It would be interesting to know if the misogynists had ever had a gay member! The law of averages said that they must have!
Interestingly, the Mirror says this of Fred Goodwin in this article.
He also likes to shoot pheasants on a friend’s estate, and play leisurely rounds of golf at the historic Muirfield course.
Fred maybe a man whose business practices have been condemned, but I suppose he isn’t a woman!
Good For Maria
Maria Miller won’t be going to the Open Golf next week, due to the fact it’s being held at a men-only venue. The report is in The Times.
Hugh Robertson and Alex Salmond won’t be going either.
Good for them all!
What Would Fred Perry Have Thought?
As I worked on my computer or drove around the country, I would often have the radio on. I can remember listening to BBC Radios 2 and 5, as they covered Wimbledon in the 1980s and early 1990s, when Fred Perry was one of the summarisers. He was very good and talked eloquently about the sport he loved.
Fred Perry died in 1995, so he never saw Andy Murray, although he may have seen Tim Henman.
I do wonder what his thoughts would have been, if he’d seen Murray’s win yesterday.
Andy Murray Shows The BBC Were Wrong To Move To Manchester
Andy Murray’s win is the lead story on BBC Breakfast, but he can’t appear in the studio with the trophy, to give out a very strong feelgood factor that we all need, as the program comes from Manchester.
If ever that ill-thought out move was exposed as a mistake, it is today. The BBC will have to make-do with a video link from the All-England Club at Wimbledon.
I won’t give odds on one of the BBC’s rival getting Murray and the trophy on air.
My Greatest TV Sporting Moments
On BBC Radio 5 last night, they were asking what listeners most important memories of televised sport were, after Andy Murray’s win at Wimbledon yesterday on the seventh of the seventh to end seventy-seven years of disappointment.
Here’s mine.
Laker’s Match in 1956
I remember watching this and especially the screen the BBC showed when the match had ended early because of England’s victory. Read more.
Stirling Moss winning the 1957 British Grand Prix
In fact it was a shared win, as his car broke down and he took over that of Tony Brooks. Read more.
Stiring Moss winning the 1960 Monaco Grand Prix
This must rank as one of the greatest ever Formula One wins by a British driver, as Moss held off three much more powerful Ferraris in his Lotus-Climax. Read more.
Tottenham winning the FA Cup in 1961
This of course gave them the first Football League/FA Cup double since the 19th century.
Mandarin winning the Cheltenham Gold Cup in 1962
Why I was watching this on an afternoon in March, I don’t know, but it was probably because I was off sick from school with the affliction from which I still suffer. It was a masterful ride by that old fox Fred Winter, who kept one of the cleverest steeplechasers to the inside, all round the course at Cheltenham.
Bruce Tulloh Winning Gold in Belgrade in 1962
Few others would include this, as he was not a great runner, but using supreme tactics and going from 800 metres out, he won the European Championships with ease. He showed that if you want something enough, you can get it. Read more.
England winning the World Cup in 1966
I was with my parents in Felixstowe and as we didn’t have a television, I saw it at our next door neighbours.
David Hemery winning Gold in Mexico in 1968
This was an amazing performance and I can still hear David Coleman’s commentary. Read more.
Mary Peters winning Gold in Munich in 1972
This was another amazing win and I’ve written about it before.
Red Rum’s third victory in the Grand National in 1977
Although, I remember the 1973 race, this one is more poignant as I can remember C screaming her head off at the television, as she cheered him home. Strangely, this memory was at the same venue as Moss’s victory in 1957.
Mo Farah’s Double Gold in London in 2012
This can’t be left out, as I’ll never see anything like this again. I did try very hard to get tickets to go, but when the ballot was held, I didn’t have any money, as my house hadn’t been sold.
If I write this list again, Murray’s win yesterday will definitely be included. Although it’s quite likely, that he could exclude this memory by perhaps winning Wimbledon a few more times.
It’s Hot Out There!
I’ve got the air-conditioning on with the curtains drawn and it’s still 24.7°C in my living room.
But the air-conditioner is showing an air temperature of 30°C on my roof.
I’m watching Murray against Djorkovic and I do wonder if Murray is playing the psychological card by not wearing a hat. After all logically, as someone born a lot further north than his opponent, you’d think, he wouldn’t be able to take the heat as well!
I’d Quite Like To Watch Or Listen To The Rugby
Until recently, I used to get Sky Sports 1 and 2, through my BT Vision system, but now the signal has been cut, probably because Sky and BT aren’t talking to each other with the best interests of the customers in mind. I could get a signal through BT Infinity, which I want anyway. Unfortunately, fibre optic broadband is not available where I live close to the City of London. Get your finger out BT!
I could get a Sky dish, but I don’t want any other channels and in a few years, everything I want to see, will be available through fibre optic broadband. I don’t even mind, if it’s on a pay per view basis, as hopefully someone will see sense in streaming this without the adverts I hate.
But the rugby isn’t even on Radio 5! So I’m just watching a text commentary and getting the odd report from Ian Robertson on Radio 5.
At least the Lions seem to be doing OK, with Robertson describing them as rampant.
The Anonymous Widower 