BL65

John asked for information about the speedway rider Jack Keen on more than one occasion, after he had already used the name as a forum alias. The only connection I noted was that John first saw speedway at New Cross in 1946 and Jack took part in a few second half events there at that time. Jack had previously ridden for Oxford in 1939. I never discovered why John chose to adopt that particular alias.

He certainly looked a fine prospect. In the closing weeks of the 1960 season his UK scores in consecutive meetings (four at Leicester, four away) were 14 (from 5 rides), 15 (5), 14 (5), 14 (5), 14+1 (6), 13+2 (6), 15 (5), 15 (5). CMA 10.86.

2 x Zabik (Jan and Karol) Zeal (Roy)

Freddie Quick rode for Romford in the Sunday Dirt Track League in 1938. South African Bob Quick appeared three times for Edinburgh in Division 2 in 1948, including the match at Bristol when Cyril Quick was in the opposing team.

Speedway was staged there from 1929 to 1931.

It looks like a recently closed track in the north-east.

Tom Farndon had been due to travel to Australia at the end of the 1935 British season. I have never seen any reference to him competing there in earlier seasons.

Horace Burke, who rode speedway under the name of Paddy Mills, served with the RAF and was awarded the British Empire Medal. Although never a rider, former Bristol and Wimbledon promoter (as well as Shelbourne 'technical adviser'/clerk of the course) Ronnie Greene was awarded the MBE for his exploits as an Auxiliary Fire Service District Officer during the London Blitz.

Steve originally specified the British League era, starting in 1965.

Cradley Heath: Gert Handberg (Denmark) 6 seasons and Bruce Penhall (USA) 5 seasons.

Yes, your memory serves you well. Although the finals were not shown live in full, there was coverage on BBC television on 22/09/49 from 21.30 until 22.10; on 21/09/50 from 21.30 until 22.00; then from 21.00 until 22.00 on 20/09/51, 18/09/52, 17/09/53, and 16/09/54; from 21.15 until 22.00 on 15/09/55; from 21.00 until 22.00 on 22/09/56 and 21/09/57. There were reports in the Sport Special programme on 20/09/58 (22.15-22.45), 19/09/59 (22.50-23.20) and 17/09/60 (22.00-22.40).

23rd April 1951 part of Walthamstow v Coventry was broadcast live on BBC. 17th and 24th February 1962 the Grandstand Pairs were shown live from Cradley Heath, also on BBC. I have a vague recollection that some highlights of Belle Vue v Sheffield from 3rd April 1965 were shown on Grandstand a week later. The Internationale highlights were shown in the mid-1960s. Speedway clips were also shown occasionally on the midweek programme 'Sportsview', which became 'Sportsnight' in 1968, with presenters including Peter Dimmock, David Coleman and Harry Carpenter. Alan Weeks was the Internationale commentator. He also used to commentate on ice skating, ice hockey and swimming. He covered speedway World Finals for the BBC from the mid-1950s until the late-1960s. Weeks was a big speedway fan.

Thank you both for your kind comments. '50 Days of Speedway, Sunderland in 1964' by Keith Corns and Georgia Smithson is available from various outlets in Sunderland, or via Speedway PMB (https://speedway-pmb.webador.co.uk/)

Wolverhampton programmes are printed in Stourbridge by Brierley Printers.

Speedway Researcher site shows in the Sheffield A to Z that Ron Johnson was in a demonstration race at the end of the 1962 season. I suspect this was his last appearance there.

Peter Moore was regarded as one of the fastest gaters in the sport in the 1950s and early 1960s, particularly during his association with Wimbledon and Ipswich.

Cyril left Wimbledon and joined Belle Vue in 1962. He was in his second season with the Aces when Ronnie was injured so didn't really leave the Dons in the lurch by moving.

That is correct, Doug died 8th June 2000.

You would also have seen the great Arne Pander a few times between 1965 and 1967. He was still riding in 1968, although badly affected by injuries by then.

The Bell Helmet company was formed in Bell, California in 1954 and the Bell Star helmet was claimed to be the first full face helmet when it was introduced in 1967. I have a vague recollection that Barry Briggs first tried these helmets when he visited California with Ivan Mauger. That would have been either 1967 or 1968, when they ran training schools for local riders.

Dave Gifford.

Tyburn Gallows

Bill Bridgett, Mike Broadbank (1961)

In 1964 Eric Boocock had one match at Belle Vue before reverting to the PL with Middlesbrough. Colin McKee and George Major started the season at Oxford in the NL. McKee joined Swindon before moving to the PL with Sunderland, then Wolverhampton. Major also rode for Norwich before going back to the PL with Cradley Heath. Trevor Hedge and David Crane left Hackney to return to Norwich in the NL. Tich Read also left Hackney for Norwich. Crane subsequently rode for Hackney and Exeter in the PL. Colin Pratt and Kid Bodie (Howard Cole) started the season with Swindon but quickly reverted to the PL. Bodie was injured in a second half race and never actually rode in the Swindon team. Roy Trigg appeared for Wimbledon, Swindon and West Ham before going to Hackney in the PL. Tommy Sweetman rode for West Ham before rejoining Wolverhampton. John Mills also appeared once for West Ham at the beginning of the year before returning to the PL. Pete Jarman started the season at Wimbledon before joining Wolverhampton. Of the 1963 PL riders, Trevor Hedge, Tich Read, Norman Hunter and Malcolm Simmons joined a National League track and stayed for the whole of 1964.

In the beginning there was Russia, well at least from the 14th century. Russia gained an empire. Following the 1917 revolution there was Soviet Russia, from 1918 until 1922, otherwise called the Russian Soviet Republic. In 1922 a group of national republics formed a federal union with its capital in Moscow. The proper title of the federation was the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, which lasted until 1991. Any ‘national’ speedway or other sporting team during this period should properly have been called U.S.S.R., not Russia or Soviet Russia, although Soviet Union was acceptable as an alternative. By the time the Baltic States had been annexed in June 1940 the U.S.S.R. comprised Armenia, Azerbaijan, Byelorussia (also called White Russia and now Belorus), Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kirgizia (now Kyrgystan), Latvia, Lithuania, Moldavia (now Moldova), Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan. With the dissolution of the U.S.S.R. in 1991 the constituent members became countries in their own right, including the Russian Federation, with its capital in Moscow. My A-level geography teacher was a lucky (and foolish) man as he took photographs/slides of sites across the U.S.S.R. from Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) in the west to Vladivostok in the east without being caught. He was able to show them in school lessons a lifetime ago.