BL65

I can add Alice Hart as the team manager for the tests against Scotland at White City in 1951 and 1952.

Not forgotten, but Teo rode in the National League and the other references were to riders who had appeared in the lower divisions.

Sandor rode in 13 meetings for Stoke in 1963, before joining Norwich in 1964. Stoke closed at the end of 1963, Norwich closed at the end of 1964, so maybe Belle Vue fans were a bit nervous when he moved to Hyde Road in 1965.

Söderman was probably the first 'commuting' Scandinavian in the lower divisions. Apart from the abundance of riders from Commonwealth countries and some from Ireland, a couple of instances of non UK born riders in the lower leagues come to mind. Max Rech (born in Poland but resident in the UK as he didn’t return home after the war) rode in Division 2 for Fleetwood in 1950 and in Division 3 for St Austell from 1950 to 1952; Sandor Levai, who left his native Hungary during the 1956 uprising to live in the UK, rode for Stoke in 1963 in the Provincial League. The absence of commuting foreign riders in the lower leagues was most likely due to cost, not to mention the time involved in travel in the 1950s. When the British League Division 2 was established in 1968 its original primary goal was to provide opportunities for new and upcoming riders, with several tracks operated by promoters who also had interests in Division One tracks. Over time perhaps the notion of opportunity and development of home grown talent gradually faded into the background as tracks felt the need to be competitive, successful and financially viable. To paraphrase something Eric Linden wrote as the 1968 season ended, 'Division 2 tracks won't just keep finding, training and passing on their best talent to Division 1 tracks, they will attempt to hold on to their riders. Teams build up crowds by loyalty, to teams as well as to individuals. By moving on the top men you have the possibility of discontent.' Although tracks may achieve a degree of competitiveness by taking the approach of spending on commuting riders, if the outcome is not success in terms of a trophy-winning team then financial viability is unlikely to be achieved. The problem of engaging commuting foreigners and the costs that entails at any level is that if one track does it then others tend to do likewise so as not to be left behind. In the 1950s the introduction of a foreign rider brought an element of awe and wonder and probably boosted attendances, at least in the short term. Increased attendances were reported at Brandon after Coventry brought in Söderman, but he was highly successful on track for them, which was hardly surprising as he finished 5th= with Briggs and McKinlay in the world final that year.

Ivor Brown was one of the top riders throughout the Provincial League era from 1960 to 1964, with league averages of 9.78, 10.14, 10.21, 10.30 and 10.39. When the National and Provincial leagues amalgamated in 1965 he started the season in the same vein. Up until his awful injury in the Internationale at Wimbledon on 7th June he had ridden in 6 league matches against the ex-Nationals (2 at home and 4 away) and 10 against the ex-Provincials (6 home, 4 away). The former NL teams were generally ‘top-heavy’, with strong heat leaders and a weaker lower end of the team, whereas the former PL teams contained very few ex-NL heat leader standard riders and were more evenly balanced. By 7th June, Ivor's league average against the former Nationals was 9.44 and against the former Provincials it was 10.04, with an overall figure of 9.83. In the meetings against the ex-NL teams he had raced against Nigel Boocock, Mountford and Lightfoot at Coventry, Briggs, Broadbank and Ashby home and away against Swindon, How, Pander and Gooch at Oxford, McKinlay and Norman Hunter at West Ham, Maidment and McGregor at home to Belle Vue. The ex-PL teams he rode against included Brian Brett (Newcastle), Bob Andrews (Wolverhampton) and Ronnie Genz (Poole). This indicates that by the end of the PL era Ivor had become capable of delivering heat leader scores at the top level. Although the commuting Swedes were not allowed to ride in the BL in 1965 it is unlikely that their presence would have diminished Brown’s scoring significantly across the season, given that teams met each other just once home and away, with number one riders only programmed to meet once. Missing from 1964 were Soren Sjosten, Ove Fundin, Bjorn Knutson, Bengt Jansson and Gote Nordin. Meanwhile, Trevor Redmond averaged just under 11 for Bristol in 1960, then maintained this level in a few meetings for Wolverhampton in 1961. His average dipped a little over the next 3 years as he mixed promoting and riding, achieving 9.43 at Neath, then 8.50 at St Austell and 7.44 at Glasgow. Trevor was aged 37 when the British League started, the same age as Ivor Brown. If Trevor had focused only on riding there is no doubt he could have been competitive at the top level for a while longer.

Trevor Redmond was top PL man in 1960, but his average with Wembley in Division 1 in 1956 was only just over 6.00 and in 1959 with Swindon it was below 4.00. Reg Reeves, the next best rider, had not ridden league speedway since 1955, when he was an 8-point man with Division2 Ipswich. Third best rider, Harry Bastable, averaged over 10.00, but had struggled with scores averaging around 4.00 in the previous two years at Leicester. The other top PL riders in 1960 were Brian Craven, Alan Smith, Ross Gilbertson, Johnny Hole, Tony Lewis, Tony Robinson and Ivor Brown. Gilbertson also rode a few matches that year for Southampton and averaged under 6.00. The most recent scoring levels of the others in the top league were generally of reserve or second-string standard. Brown had made sporadic appearances for Leicester between 1953 and 1958 with little success. The regular rides at Yarmouth in 1959 and 1960 facilitated his rapid progress to becoming a dominant force at Cradley Heath from 1961 onwards. In 1961 he had a league average of 10.14, compared to Bastable’s 8.88. In comparison with other riders of that era it is perhaps unlikely that Redmond or Brown, even with a regular team slot, would have risen to heat leader standard in the National League in 1960/61. The gap in standards certainly narrowed considerably over the next few years, which enabled the amalgamation of National and Provincial to form the British League in 1965 to be a success.

George walked out of the meeting against Coventry on 7th August 1965 after one ride, complaining about the state of the track. Ian Hoskins was not best pleased. Hunter threatened he would walk out again if improvements were not made. Hoskins wrote a strongly-worded letter to him and George turned up to ride the following week, but the track had been extensively worked on and bladed during the week by former Monarch Dick Campbell. Ironically, the meeting against Swindon was rained off. Having escaped further action by the Control Board for his walk-out Hunter was then suspended for 21 days for failing to appear at Coventry and Exeter on 11th and 13th September. Edinburgh were able to use a guest to replace George for the home meeting with Belle Vue and so booked Ivan Mauger, although he only scored 9. If the suspension had started with effect from 14th September then Hunter would have been banned until 4th October, but he appealed and was allowed to defend his Scottish Open title on 2nd October, finishing runner-up to Arne Pander, with Mauger third.

George Hunter had a modest start compared to Tommy Miller, averaging 4.34 in his first Provincial League season in 1960, rising to 7.41 and 7.66 in the next two years. His best year at that level was 1963, when he achieved a league average of 11.09. Two very good following seasons saw him attain 10.31 in 1964, then 9.41 in the first year of the British League. His final two seasons at Edinburgh saw him averaging just over 8, before two disappointing years when Monarchs moved to Coatbridge, with figures of 5.73 and 6.94. Throughout the 1970s Hunter consistently averaged 8.00+ in Division 1 with Newcastle, Glasgow and Wolverhampton, before a couple of very good seasons at Oxford and Edinburgh in the National League. George lasted a lot longer as a heat leader class rider than Tommy Miller, his rise was less spectacular but his decline was less marked, apart from the disappointing period at Coatbridge. Hunter also spent three-quarters of his career riding in the top division, Miller rode at Division 2 level only.

Glad to be of assistance. After nearly 60 years of researching I think I am getting the hang of it. It's amazing how many times subjects crop up and I remember having looked at them before. I dread the day my memory gives up on me!

Although not scoring so well for his league teams in 1956, Tommy Miller performed well in the short season at Glasgow White City. Representing a Scotland side against England Select in May he recorded three wins, was beaten twice by Peter Craven and was third behind Wright and Forrest in his other ride, totalling 14 points. Later that month he scored 12 points from 5 rides in a challenge against Birmingham, being beaten by Alan Hunt and Ron Mountford (twice). In June, Miller represented a Britain side against Overseas at White City, but had a disappointing total of paid 10 from 6 rides, but this included one mechanical failure. At the end of the month he scored 10 from 5 rides in a challenge against Bradford, with two wins, two seconds and a fall. Finally, in a July challenge he scored paid 11 from 5 rides for White City against Norwich, including 3 wins and another fall. In that series of meetings he averaged 8.44, so he seemed to generally still have the winning touch at White City.

There is some information on Tommy Miller at https://www.glasgowtigers.org/rider/tommy-miller/ https://blantyreproject.com/2016/05/speedway-atomic-tommy-miller/ I understand that Tommy Miller attended the pre-season practice at Oxford in 1957 but afterwards decided to retire.

Tommy Miller appeared in the same Bulls team as Ken McKinlay at the Bothwell (Glasgow) training track at the end of 1949, where he was discovered by White City. He proceeded to top score for the Tigers in Division 2 in 1950 with 251 league points and a 9.78 average. Miller upped his average to 10.70 in 1951, then achieved 10.91 and 10.81 in the next two seasons. In the 1953 league season he only dropped 3 points at home. Miller outscored McKinlay in each of the 4 seasons they rode together for White City. When White City closed, Miller joined second division Motherwell for a fee of £1,500 in 1954. His league average dipped to 7.70 and it was said that he was not popular with the fans, so he moved on to Coventry, also in Division 2, part-way through the season, for a much-reduced fee, managing to average 9.90 for the Bees in the league. A significant dip in his scores followed in 1955 and 1956, with his average dropping to 7.47 and 6.69 respectively. Coventry fans blamed Miller for the poor performance of the team and he was released, before joining 2nd Division Oxford for the latter part of the season, where his average was just 4.29. With White City closing at the beginning of 1954, Edinburgh pulling out of the league early on and Motherwell struggling on to the end of the season before closing, Tommy Miller had no choice of tracks north of the border and maybe this was a contributory factor in his rapid departure from the sport.

Bob Roger had a league average of 9.52 in Division 2 in 1956 and he upped this to 10.27 in 1957 in Division 1, which was indeed remarkable. He had previously ridden in Division 1 for New Cross in 1952 and 1953, together with Birmingham in 1953. Another fine achievement was that of Ken McKinlay, who moved up from Division to 2 to Division 1 with Leicester. In 1956 his Division 2 league average was 10.27 and in 1957 he almost matched it in Division 1 with 9.77, before achieving 10.82 and 10.75 in the next two seasons.

Thanks. I don't recall the team manager being named in the Exeter programme and I don't have a copy of the Poole programme; the information I had was taken from 'The Complete History of the British League'.

I have listed the England/GB team managers I am aware of for the official internationals staged at top division level (or including riders from the top division where staged on lower league tracks) in the UK from 1947 to 1969. Can anyone help by filling in some of the blanks (or advise of any errors/amendments required) please? In the late 1940s one programme referred to the team being selected jointly by Alec Jackson of Wembley and Fred Mockford of New Cross. Jackson was named in the programme as manager for the 1952 test at Belle Vue, but a subsequent team photograph included Mockford as manager. It is likely that the team managers for 1959 (Swindon) and 1961 (Belle Vue and Southampton) would have been from the staging tracks, in keeping with the other internationals between 1959 and 1961. 05/07/47 England Australia Bradford Not stated in programme 29/07/47 England Australia West Ham Fred Mockford 14/08/47 England Australia Wembley Alec Jackson 24/05/48 England Australia Wimbledon Fred Mockford 19/06/48 England Australia Belle Vue 30/06/48 England Australia New Cross 18/08/48 Scotland England Glasgow White City 19/08/48 England Australia Harringay Fred Mockford 07/09/48 England Australia West Ham Fred Mockford 26/05/49 England Australia Wembley Alec Jackson (or Fred Mockford) 18/06/49 England Australia Birmingham Alec Jackson 13/07/49 England Australia New Cross Not stated - probably Fred Mockford 05/08/49 England Australia Harringay Fred Mockford 24/08/49 Scotland England Glasgow White City 03/09/49 England Australia Bradford 06/06/50 England Australia West Ham Fred Mockford 24/06/50 England Australia Belle Vue 12/07/50 England Australia New Cross Fred Mockford 31/07/50 England Australia Wimbledon Fred Mockford 31/08/50 England Australia Wembley Fred Mockford 11/09/50 Scotland England Glasgow White City 01/06/51 England Australia Harringay Not stated in programme 13/06/51 Scotland England Glasgow White City 30/06/51 England Australia Bradford 03/07/51 Scotland England Ashfield 19/07/51 England Australia Wembley Ronnie Greene 04/08/51 England Australia Birmingham Les Marshall 10/08/51 England Scotland Cradley Heath Not stated in programme 27/08/51 England Scotland Halifax 28/08/51 England Australia West Ham 15/09/51 Scotland England Edinburgh Don Cuppleditch 22/09/51 England Overseas Belle Vue 28/05/52 Scotland England Glasgow White City 09/06/52 England Australia Wimbledon Fred Mockford 16/06/52 England Scotland Coventry Charles Ochiltree 26/06/52 England Australia Wembley Alec Jackson 19/07/52 England Australia Belle Vue A Jackson (programme), F Mockford (photo) 02/08/52 Scotland England Ashfield 11/08/52 England Scotland Liverpool Gordon Parkins 20/08/52 England Australia New Cross Fred Mockford 05/09/52 Scotland England Motherwell 12/09/52 England Australia Harringay 27/05/53 Scotland England Glasgow White City Les Gregory 20/06/53 England Australia Norwich Fred Evans 03/07/53 England Scotland Leicester Charles Ochiltree 14/07/53 England Scotland Wolverhampton Len Matchan 13/08/53 England Australia Wembley Charles Ochiltree 14/08/53 Scotland England Motherwell 29/08/53 England Australia Birmingham Fred Evans 14/09/53 England New Zealand Wimbledon Fred Evans 22/09/53 Scotland England Edinburgh Eddie Lack 25/09/53 England New Zealand Bristol Len Matcham 29/09/53 England New Zealand West Ham Charles Ochiltree 10/08/54 England Australasia West Ham Ronnie Greene 04/09/54 England Australasia Belle Vue Alec Jackson 25/09/54 England Australasia Bradford 13/06/55 England Australasia Wimbledon Ronnie Greene 23/06/55 England Australasia Wembley Not stated in programme 05/07/55 England Australasia West Ham Charles Ochiltree 20/07/55 England Australasia Bradford Bruce Booth 27/07/55 England Australasia Birmingham Les Marshall 05/08/55 England Australasia Norwich Gordon Parkins 28/06/56 England Sweden Wembley Possibly Ronnie Greene 02/07/56 England Sweden Wimbledon Ronnie Greene 04/07/56 England Sweden Norwich Ronnie Greene 11/07/56 England Australasia Bradford 10/08/56 England Australasia Birmingham Alec Jackson 28/08/56 England Australasia Poole 03/06/58 England Poland Southampton 05/06/58 England Poland Ipswich Ronnie Greene 06/06/58 England Poland Leicester Ronnie Greene 11/06/58 England Australasia Swindon 18/06/58 England Australasia Oxford Gordon Parkins 23/07/58 England Australasia Coventry 20/08/58 England Australasia Belle Vue 09/09/58 England Australasia Southampton Gordon Parkins 08/09/59 England Australasia Southampton Bert Cr--oucher 12/09/59 England Australasia Norwich Gordon Parkins 26/09/59 England Australasia Swindon 01/06/60 England Australasia Coventry Charles Ochiltree 15/06/60 England Australasia Norwich Gordon Parkins 30/06/60 England Australasia Ipswich Vic Gooden 19/08/60 England Australasia Leicester Squib Burton 07/09/60 England Australasia New Cross Johnnie Hoskins 26/09/60 England Australasia Southampton Bert Cr--oucher 12/07/61 Great Britain Sweden Norwich Gordon Parkins 13/07/61 Great Britain Sweden Oxford Ted Flanaghan 14/07/61 Great Britain Sweden Belle Vue 17/07/61 Great Britain Sweden Wimbledon Cyril Brine 18/07/61 Great Britain Sweden Southampton 04/07/64 Great Britain USSR Wembley Tommy Price 08/07/64 Great Britain USSR Coventry Tommy Price 11/07/64 Great Britain USSR Belle Vue Tommy Price 15/05/65 Scotland England Edinburgh Mike Parker 31/05/65 England Scotland Newcastle Tom Graham 02/06/65 Scotland England Glasgow White City Tom Graham 05/07/65 Great Britain USSR Wimbledon Trevor Redmond 07/07/65 Great Britain USSR Coventry Charles Foot 08/07/65 Great Britain USSR Sheffield Charles Ochiltree 14/07/65 Great Britain USSR Belle Vue Mike Parker 16/07/65 Great Britain USSR Newport Ronnie Greene 07/05/66 Scotland England Edinburgh Eddie Glennon 17/06/66 Scotland England Glasgow White City Tom Graham 22/06/66 England Scotland Halifax Frank Varey 23/06/66 England Scotland Middlesbrough Eric Boothroyd 04/07/66 England USSR Newcastle Bill Bridgett 06/07/66 England USSR Halifax Frank Varey 08/07/66 England USSR Wolverhampton Mike Parker 11/07/66 England USSR Exeter Charles Foot 12/07/66 England USSR West Ham Charles Ochiltree 29/07/66 Great Britain Poland Hackney Vic Gooden 01/08/66 Great Britain Poland Coventry Vic Gooden 04/08/66 Great Britain Poland Sheffield Vic Gooden 10/10/66 England Scotland Newcastle 06/05/67 Scotland England Edinburgh Tom Graham 15/06/67 Great Britain Sweden Wimbledon Charles Ochiltree 17/06/67 Great Britain Sweden Coventry Ronnie Greene 19/06/67 England Sweden Exeter Charles Foot 21/06/67 Great Britain Sweden Newport Wally Mawdsley 23/06/67 Great Britain Sweden Glasgow White City Ian Hoskins 26/06/67 Great Britain Sweden Belle Vue Mike Parker 18/07/66 Great Britain Poland West Ham Wally Mawdsley 19/07/67 Great Britain Poland Poole Ronnie Greene 21/07/67 Great Britain Poland Wolverhampton Charles Ochiltree 22/07/67 Great Britain Poland Halifax Ron Wilson 24/07/67 Great Britain Poland Newcastle Ian Hoskins 13/06/68 Great Britain Sweden Wimbledon Wally Mawdsley 15/06/68 Great Britain Sweden Halifax Frank Varey 21/06/68 Great Britain Sweden Wolverhampton Charles Ochiltree 22/06/68 Great Britain Sweden Coatbridge Ian Hoskins 29/06/68 Great Britain USSR West Ham Ronnie Greene 01/07/68 Great Britain USSR Exeter Charles Foot 03/07/68 England USSR Coventry Wally Mawdsley 05/07/68 England USSR Newport Wally Mawdsley 06/07/68 England USSR Belle Vue Ronnie Greene 12/07/68 Great Britain Poland Hackney Wally Mawdsley 13/07/68 Great Britain Poland Coventry Wally Mawdsley 15/07/68 England Poland Newcastle Mike Parker 17/07/68 England Poland Poole Ronnie Greene 18/07/68 England Poland Sheffield Charles Ochiltree 20/07/68 Great Britain Sweden Swindon Charles Foot 31/08/68 Scotland England Coatbridge Tom Graham 28/05/69 England Australia Poole Charles Foot 05/06/69 England Australia Sheffield Mike Parker 12/06/69 Great Britain Sweden Wimbledon Reg Fearman 13/06/69 Great Britain Sweden Newport Reg Fearman 17/06/69 Great Britain Sweden Leicester Ronnie Greene 21/06/69 Great Britain Sweden Halifax Frank Varey 23/06/69 Great Britain Sweden Cradley Heath Charles Ochiltree 04/07/69 England Australia Wolverhampton Charles Ochiltree 06/08/69 England New Zealand Swindon Reg Fearman 15/08/69 Scotland England Glasgow Hampden Park Tom Graham 18/08/69 England New Zealand Newcastle Mike Parker 29/08/69 England New Zealand Hackney Ronnie Greene

Well spotted, yes he had 7 meetings for Sheffield.

Cliff Parkinson 5 (Wembley, Clapton, Harringay, Hackney, West Ham) Others with 4 teams: Alf Sawford (White City, Wimbledon, Harringay, Crystal Palace) Arthur Warwick (Stamford Bridge, Clapton, Wimbledon, West Ham) Billy Lamont (Wimbledon, Clapton, Wembley, Hackney) Cliff Watson (Stamford Bridge, Clapton, West Ham, Harringay) Colin Watson (White City, Harringay, Wembley, West Ham) Gus Kuhn (Stamford Bridge, Wimbledon, Wembley, Lea Bridge)

Eric Hockaday is recorded as being from London but never joined a London team. Arthur 'Donovan' Price from Wolverhampton only rode there in second half races before moving elsewhere, including near neighbours Cradley Heath. Coincidentally, in the latter half of the 1960s Mick Handley who was born 'on the doorstep' of Dudley Wood started out at Wolverhampton instead, although he did eventually ride for the Heathens in the early 70s.

I understand that Fred Powell was born in England. Two Welsh riders who rode for Newport in the 1960s come to mind, Bob Hughes from Anglesey and Cyril Francis from Newport.

Thanks. Not too difficult, I kept the programmes from all of them. The team manager wasn't named in the Exeter programme for some reason.

The mid-1960s saw a number of team managers for Great Britain and England. In 1964 Tommy Price was team manager for the tests against USSR, which GB won 3-0. During 1965, when GB defeated USSR 5-0, Charles Foot took charge at Wimbledon and Coventry, Charles Ochiltree at Sheffield, Mike Parker at Belle Vue and Ronnie Greene at Newport. Vic Gooden was team manager when GB beat Poland 3-0 in 1966. The same year, England defeated USSR 4-1, managed by Bill Bridgett at Newcastle, Frank Varey at Halifax, Mike Parker at Wolverhampton and Charles Ochiltree at West Ham. I don't have a note of the team manager for the test at Exeter. Bill Bridgett was the losing team manager. Charles Foot managed the England team beaten by Sweden at Exeter in 1967. GB beat Poland 3-2 that year, managed by Wally Mawdsley at West Ham (lost), Ronnie Greene at Poole, Charles Ochiltree at Wolverhampton, Ron Wilson at Halifax (lost) and Ian Hoskins at Newcastle,

Yes, related to Bob Charles and the original James Oldfield were they not? Jack Brodie was a cycle speedway rider in his spare time.

Jack Shaw, Wombwell 1929

You would have to bend the rules even further to ignore 1965 and 1967 when he was with Edinburgh and 1968 at Coatbridge.

George was with Swindon from 1954 to 1961, but rode for Yarmouth in 1953.