norbold

Ron Johnston has sadly just died. A great rider and such a friendly and helpful man. I contacted him several times over the years to ask for information or his personal memories. He was always very patient and helpful, spending a lot of time giving me full answers and also sent me some photographs. He will be very sadly missed.

And what was wrong with West Ham?

Whilst on the subject of birthdays...today (28 July) is the 86th anniversary of the opening of Belle Vue and West Ham

We all have our little foibles....

Happy 91st birthday to Split Waterman. Captain of my team, New Cross, in the first race I ever saw back in 1960. Twice runner-up in the World Championship and British Match Race Champion. One of the all-time greats of speedway.

I agree with lucifer and falcace. I saw speedway at the old Wembley stadium many times from league matches to world finals and there was something really really special about the atmosphere from arriving at Wembley Park Underground Station right through to waiting on the platform for the return journey. It was like no other stadium I've ever been to - and I've been to a few! BUT....the new Wembley Stadium and its environs are not a patch on the old Wembley. I went there for the Olympic Games football and, actually, not only was the atmosphere gone, I found the whole thing a fairly unpleasant experience which I really wouldn't want to repeat. I used to be a great advocate for bringing the British Grand Prix back to Wembley, but not any more. The Millennium Stadium knocks spots off the new Wembley. It would be a big mistake I think to move it back....not that there is the slightest chance of it happening anyway.

Thank you for buying a number of my books, iris, I am very grateful.

My first Internationale was 1961 at Harringay...but I can't remember what the queues were like.

Vegemite apparently. According to a tweet by Chris Holder.

Well yes, it's definitely a moot point what to call the 1947 & 48 finals. Certainly the 1948 final included one non-British rider, even if you include Australians and Canadians as British, and that was the American, Wilbur Lamoreaux. If he'd won, would he still be counted as a British champion? In some ways, I always feel that to lump them in with the British Finals undervalues them a bit as they were really the equivalent of the World Final at the time. However, I wouldn't die in a ditch over it!

The "stand-in" World Final in 1946 was called The British Speedway Riders' Speedway Championship, but in 1947 and 1948 it was simply called "The Speedway Riders' Championship", so technically not British Championships. Going right back to 1929, there was, of course, the British Section of the Star Riders' Championship, won by Roger Frogley, so I suppose that he could be called the first British Champion.

Er.............

Ove Fundin won the 1961 Internationale at Harringay. Sorry, Hunters.

Hunters, I don't wish to spoil your happy memories but Craven beat Ronnie Moore in the 1961 Internationale final at Harringay. Heat 13.

I saw him a few times in league matches and big events and would agree absolutely with Wessex Wanderer's view. It's exactly what I would have said.

Did you ever see him on television, Gem? If you did you will know why he was on radio!

Anyone know anything about Harolds Cross Park? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvYgfz53OMg

Rickardsson won the World Championship whilst an Ipswich rider.

Tomasz Gollob? Tony Rickardsson? Mark Loram? Savalas Clouting?

Yes, I did. :-)

I've just received this email from Ray Emslie: "There was a story in my family that my father, Leslie Emslie, once rode for the Rye House club. From what little information I have I would imagine the period to be in the late 1940s. I would be most grateful if you could shed any light on this possibility." Neither I nor John Chaplin nor John Hyam recognise the name. Can anyone here shed any light on Leslie Emslie? Incidentally, Ray says he was named after former New Cross and Harringay rider, Ray Duggan (Vic's brother), who was tragically killed in a racing accident in 1950.

He was signed up towards the end of May. Crystal Palace had their last match on 1st July. His two matches were English Trophy matches away at Norwich and then home to Hackney.

And there's more: http://www.wrestlingheritage.co.uk/B/Ed%20Flash%20Barker%202%20200.jpg His nickname Flash came from his resemblance to the comic book hero, Flash Gordon. He was also known as Blondie Gordon in the ring. http://www.wrestlingheritage.co.uk/Posters/1947%20Fri%206%20Jun%20Fleetwood.jpg He only rode twice for Crystal Palace scoring a grand total of three points!

Some years I ago I was given an autograph book which contained the signatures of Sprouts Elder, Tom Farndon, Lionel Van Praag, Wally Kilmister, Dick Case, Gus Kuhn, Alec Jackson, Vic Huxley, Alf Foulds, Buster Frogley, Bluey Wilkinson and Johnnie Hoskins (amongst others). It was given to me by an old college friend I hadn't seen in just under 40 years. We held a college reunion in 2005 and I met people there I hadn't seen since I left college in 1966. One, Andy Sawyer, came up to me and said he had a book he thought I might be interested in as he had seen some of my books in a bookshop near where he lived and knew I was interested in speedway. He then showed me this autograph book and said that it had been on sale at his school fete (he became a Primary School Headmaster) but had not been sold. The woman who brought it along took it back and said she was going to throw it away as no-one wanted it. Andy took it from her and said he knew someone who might be interested in it and that he would be seeing him soon at the reunion. So here he was showing me. He asked me how much I thought it was worth. I told him I wasn't sure but I'd guess about £75 to the right person. He thanked me and took it back after I'd drooled though it - sorry looked through it! At the end of the evening he came over to me and said, "Here, you take this book, it's no good to me." I reminded him that I thought it was worth some money but he wouldn't take anything for it, just saying, "You keep it. It means more to you than me." So I did. Afterwards I contacted a dealer in speedway memorabilia and told him about the book and he offered me £100 for it on the spot. But I said it wasn't for sale. I still have it today. Now, as if all that wasn't remarkable in itself. The other thing about this story is that Andy Sawyer was the very person who first came up with my norbold nickname, which I had revived a couple of years earlier especially for the BSF.

Very good, waihekeaces 1.You've got me going there. So here's a go at completing the decades... 1920s: Arthur, Huxley, Smythe, Lamont, Pearce, Parker (J), Frogley ®, Kempster, 1930s: Farndon, Wilkinson, Milne (J), Langton, Huxley, Van Praag, Milne ©, Parker (J). 1940s: Duggan (V), Parker (J), Price, Johnson, Kitchen, Chitty, Langton, Parker (N) 1950s: Young, Moore ®, Fundin, Briggs, Craven, Williams, Waterman, Lawson,