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Are fans getting a fair deal?

As a kid I loved football annuals. I don’t know if they exist any more in this brave new world of social media and digital publishing but best of all were the photographs. I’m reminded of Harold Pinter’s poetic eulogy of Leonard Hutton: “I saw Leonard Hutton in his prime Different time, [...]

November 1, 2023 // 0 Comments

The Admirable Crichton (1957)

I livened up Monday morning by watching this film, directed by Lewis Gilbert, on Film 4 yesterday. Dramas on service and class have always been popular. Think of Upstairs Downstairs, Downton Abbey and Remains of the Day.   In many ways the genre all started with the J.M. Barrie play and Lewis [...]

October 31, 2023 // 0 Comments

Brighton 1 Fulham 1

The Rust Sports desk called it the Alivan Derby as of course Alan  Tanner was my guest for this match. It ended honours even with the Seagulls dominating the first half against a passive Fulham. Evan Ferguson deservedly gave us the first half lead but, after Jaoa Pahlinha equalised with a superb [...]

October 30, 2023 // 0 Comments

Thoughts on two World Cups – the England perspective

The words England and English will be appearing a lot in this post. The Rugby World Cup Final was a tense, thrilling, match but afterwards there was some criticism of English referee Wayne Barnes. The problem is that – if you are continually told you are the best in the world – you [...]

October 29, 2023 // 0 Comments

A la Colthard/The Black Horse Amberley

Yesterday I met an old friend from my travel journo days for lunch near his home in Petworth. My friend acquired – and built up – a highly-successful internet “bucket shop” website which at its peak attracted 3 million hits monthly. We meet every 3 months of so for lunch in [...]

October 28, 2023 // 0 Comments

Brighton 2 Ajax 0.

Were we to go back nearly 30 years, you would see Brighton struggling to survive and Ajax – with the likes of Dennis Bergkamp, Edwin van der Sar, Marco van Basten, Marc Overmars and Jan Lithanen – winning the European Cup. That very good Ajax team broke up whilst the then homeless [...]

October 27, 2023 // 0 Comments

Das Boot

The best testament I can give to Das Boot is that I was really tired last night but managed to watch both final episodes between 9-11 pm. The plot is multi-layered. Klaus Hoffmann (Rick Okon), war hero and U-boat commander from a distinguished naval family, is complicit in a plot to topple Hitler [...]

October 26, 2023 // 0 Comments

Chess defeat

Last night I played my second game for the Reform Club which ended in personal and team defeat. This was no disgrace as our opponents – the RAC – are the Manchester City of club chess.  They host the Varsity Match and their chess dinner usually attracts a British Grandmaster. Before my [...]

October 25, 2023 // 0 Comments

Farewell to The Stoop: Harlequins 22 Exeter Chiefs 14

Yesterday I made what in advance I had billed as “possibly my last-ever visit to The Stoop” as a member of a five-person contingent for the Harlequins home Premiership match against the Exeter Chiefs, eventually won by the hosts by the margin of 22-14. I don’t regard myself as generally a [...]

October 23, 2023 // 0 Comments

Shakespeare on film

As part of its celebration of the Immortal Bard the BBC has been showing some of the more celebrated film Shakespearean film adaptations, notably 1950s Richard III and Julius Caesar. Richard III was produced and directed by Laurence Olivier who made the title rôle definitive although the accuracy [...]

October 23, 2023 // 0 Comments

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