norbold

Gus Kuhn was captain of Stamford Bridge, the first Southern League champions (1929). Buster Frogley (Roger's brother) was Wembley's first captain in 1929.

The story so far... On Saturday, for the first time in 37 years, I met up with the man who originally nicknamed me norbold back in 1965 (see General Discussions). He is now the headmaster of a primary school in Hertfordshire. At a school jumble sale one of the items left over was a small autograph book. The organisers were going to throw it away but my creator, Andy, kept it. He showed it to me on Saturday. It was the autograph book of a Wembley Lions supporter in the early 1930s and contained, amongst others, the autographs of Tom Farndon, Vic Huxley, Sprouts Elder, Bluey Wilkinson, Lionel Van Praag, Dick Case, Gus Kuhn, Buster Frogley and Wally Kilmister. There was also a real photograph of a young Johnnie Hoskins stuck in on the back page together with his autograph. Andy asked me if it was worth anything. I told him it was worth a fair bit in the right circles with those names in. As I was leaving at the end of an enjoyable afternoon, Andy gave me the book and said, "Here take it. It's no good to me." I told him again it was worth a bit of money and he said, "No, I don't want anything for it, I'm just glad to have found someone to whom it means something." I'm glad I met up with my creator again 37 years on....

1. Crump 2. Gollob 3. Adams 4. Hancock

Wake me up when you get to the 50s and 60s...

Shazzy, do you know what happened to the former Canterbury rider called Steve Hone? I've often wondered and thought you might know....

norbold's day??????????????????????????????????????????????????

Thanks, bucket. I agree absolutely with what you say. Books, magazines and web sites all have valuable contributions to make, each in their own special and particular way. It's not a case of either/or but both/and.

Thanks for that, boywonder. I'll certainly ask Stan about it. I was going to ask him anyway if he'd like to contribute a match for the book. Perhaps one of those will be the one he contributes!

Having now had five books on speedway published, I only wish this was true! I can assure you I don't do it for the money. There's not much of that to be made with speedway books. I do it because I like doing it and for the very reason you are suggesting setting up a website, i.e so that the information is not lost and is disseminated to as wide a public as possible.

Maybe the fact he was dizzy for the rest of the meeting explains why he forgot?

Well, this seems to be all very encouraging. As I said before, I am not quite ready to start on this yet, but keep hold of your memories and I'll be in touch probably in a couple of months. In the meantime don't let me stop you continuing to post on the subject. It will give me a feel for what's out there. Thanks everyone.

I reckon I know! Strange the score should be 40-38, eh Grachan?

I used to love bus trips out to Epping Forest. On summer sundays the 35B ran to High Beech. Wonderful.....

I wish I knew. I'm supposed to be writing it jointly with Peter Lipscombe as he has all the material, but he is always too busy. We've got as far as 1932!

I don't think the run-off was re-run. Craven came in third behind Moore as far as I know.

Of course. Doesn't matter which league and I could do with a few older matches. Thank you.

This is the 1950s we're talking about here! To an East End cockney lad like myself, South London might just as well have been the far side of the Moon!

I think we can run to a few more than ten in the book. I don't really want to restrict it unless we really get too many, but I don't think that will happen somehow. I would be only too pleased if we did.

There wasn't, and still isn't, any underground in Hackney.

Just another thought about illustrations. The programme cover for the meeting would be good.

Brings a lump to the throat, Jim.....

Lloyd Goffe rode for Harringay in the late 40s. Apparently he used to put cotton wool on his backside inside his leathers because he sweated so much.

Sorry about that. I think you're right about Ronnie Moore but I'm afraid I don't know who the other rider is.

Thanks for the response so far. Very encouraging. Two points arising from the contributions so far: 1. Yes, we spoke about the problem with photographs. Obviously it will be very difficult to get photos of some of the meetings - they may not even exist. As I said, my own contribution would be the 1965 Wimbledon v. West Ham KO Cup encounter. I don't know that any photos exist. Where they do, of course, we would use them. Where they don't we'd just have to use photos of the riders involved or of the track or team photos of the time etc. 2. I am currently working on another book, so it will take me a bit of time to get round to doing this, though hopefully I can start in the summer. When I do, I think it would be best for people to e-mail me their reports/memories etc. I will save those that have already been posted on here. I may need to come back to contributors with questions, further info and so on. What you could do in the meantime is just to let me know if you are willing to take part and what match you are proposing. Go to my profile and e-mail me through that. Thanks everyone.

I have just been discussing possible future books with the sports editor at Tempus. One idea we came up with was a book on classic matches. Not just factual reports but fans' memories of "The best match I ever saw" type of thing and what made it a classic. I know we've done this sort of thing before on the Forum, but we thought it would make a good book. The obvious candidate for such a book is the 1981 World Final, whereas my own Classic Match of all time, for example, was the Wimbledon West Ham 1965 Knock Out Cup encounter. I may need to include some early matches that no-one on here will remember for completeness, but generally the idea, as I say, would be to get a fans' view. I would compile and edit the book. Firstly, what do you think of the idea? Secondly, if the idea finds favour, what matches would you want to include and would you be willing to add your memories? As we are looking for a lot of help from Forum members we thought that proceeds from the book could go to the Forum itself and FAST.