norbold

I don't know about other tracks. Sir Arthur Elvin refused to use the name "Ginger" in Wembley's programmes as it was a bit "downmarket"! He insisted on Lees having his initials, H.R., printed in the programme. I don't remember seeing any away programmes of the period featuring Lees. Interesting point!

Yes, that's true. Of course it was expected that Galloway and McKay would demonstrate the art of broadsliding at the first High Beech meeting but, owing to the nature of the track, they were unable to do so. Galloway also suffered from another difficulty and that was that he was unable to use his own bike and instead had to borrow Freddie Dixon's Isle of Man TT machine with road racing gearing. Even worse for Galloway was the fact that he never managed to get out of bottom gear because, as he said afterwards, he didn't know how to. This also shows, of course, that the bikes had gears as well as brakes at that first meeting.

There's only one Morian Hansen...as the song goes.

Yes, Maldwyn Jones and Eddie Brinck are credited with "inventing" broadsiding in America in the early 1920s, long before either the West Maitland meeting or the High Beech meeting. As far as I know the brakes had come off and sliding the norm in Australia well before High Beech; though when it first happened in Australia I am not sure. High Beech was a dirt track, though, like Droylsden, not made for sliding. At the end of the day, top Australian promoter, A J Hunting, told Jack Hill-Bailey (the promoter of the High Beech meeting), "My boy, you're all wrong - this isn't the way to run a dirt-track meeting." The official ACU report of the meeting made a number of recommendations including widening the track by a further 16 feet and also recommended that "certain parts of the track be rolled at intervals, and then raked over to a depth of two inches in order to retain sufficient looseness to permit skidding." It was probably at High Beech's second meeting on 9 April that broadsiding was seen for the first time in England when Australian Digger Pugh and two British riders, Colin Watson and Alf Medcalf, showed how it was done. The Motor Cycle magazine commented, "For the first time in this country real, honest-to-goodness broadsiding was seen..."

Steve Langton and Tiger Hart both rode at Eastbourne in 1930.

Merv Harding Doug McLachlan

As has been said above, Ron, I suppose it depends on what you mean by speedway. Even at Britain's "first" meeting at High Beech there was no sliding and the bikes had brakes which were used as it was considered "unethical" to put your foot on the ground. When did the brakes come off? That's the question.

Leif Berlin rode for Wolverhampton 1975-6.

It was Jens Erik Krause Kjaer Also Bengt Norregaard

Denmark Baltzar Hansen Jan Henningsen Kurt Pedersen Preben Rosenkilde and the little known Jan O Pedersen..

Just a minor point - it's Doug Davies not Davis.

Well, you were warned!

Hilary Buchanan and Jack Bishop rode for White City (London) Buzz Hibberd rode for West Ham

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Welcome to the BSF, Ross. About time you found us!

The biggest gates for speedway were just after the War in the late 1940s. There were probably three main reasons for the decline in gates. 1. Entertainment Tax. Although sports were partially exempt from this tax, which at one time, in the early 1950s, went up to over 60% of gate money, speedway for some strange reason wasn't exempt as it was classed as a trial of speed and not a sport. 93,000 people witnessed the 1950 World Final with £22,600 being taken at the gate. If it had been a football match the total tax bill would have been £3100, because it was speedway the tax bill was £10,200. This was, of course, being repeated at all tracks up and down the country. The tax was crippling many smaller tracks. Either the promoters had to absorb it, which most couldn't, or they had to put admission prices up, which drove people away. 2. Television! 3. Just after the War people were looking for some excitement after the long dark days of the War. Speedway fitted the bill admirably, but, as time went, on I think the sheer excitement element of it palled for many people and just left the hard core supporters. Life was returning to normal and there were other things to do...

I'd go along with that, Ian.

30 September 1933: Belle Vue v. Wembley National Trophy Final 2nd Leg: Capacity crowd of 40,000 with hundreds locked out. I don't know about Belle Vue but admission prices at Wembley were 1s 2d, 2s 4d, 5/- and 10/- The average working man's wage at that time was about £3 10s per week.

I don't think anyone has said that 800 was not enough for the sport to be considered "born". If you read what I said above that's not the reason at all. Yes, but it wasn't directly linked to Droyslden. I don't know if the organisers of High Beech even knew that a meeting had taken place in Manchester. After High Beech, the sport suddenly took off with many tracks in London and the South East opening with the riders that had been at High Beech and then spread throughout the country. Of course, talking of firsts, there was the meeting at Camberley held on 7 May 1927, before Droylsden...

Yes, that sums it up nicely, chunky.

The Droyslden meeting was on 25 June 1927. 800 spectators attended. The first race was won by Fred Fearnley and Charlie Pashley won the "Experts" Race. It was a 440 yard circuit with cinders supplied by the nearby East Manchester Corporation Power Station. However, the cinders were packed down hard leaving no loose cinders to enable any sliding to take place. Was that speedway?

That is exactly the point I am making, Jeff. Droylsden was certainly before High Beech, but nothing happened afterwards. It was with the High Beech meeting that speedway took off in this country.

Yes. He spent his racing career in Britain as British before moving to New Zealand.

Don't forget the one at Ipswich in 1904.

Can you remove the ??? He was definitely a Kiwi.