'Sixty Years of Hurt with David Baddiel' .... a fascinating story on the wireless today

Despite not being interested in football, here is a series of broadcasts I have been drawn to.

It is available on Saturdays and there after from BBC Radio 4.*

"'Sixty Years of Hurt with David Baddiel' explores the meaning of England and Englishness through the history of the England Men’s Football team. 

This is a social and cultural history as much as a sporting one, examining the story England tells about itself and how it's changed, via the medium of the international game.

Football is singularly the most important cultural institution in the country for defining Englishness” says Historian David Goldblatt, as the series begins looking at the most famous moment in English football – the world cup win in 1966. Comedian, writer and football fan, David Baddiel, sees how the victory adorned swinging London, and yet the characters in the team spoke to a very different kind of England. 

David also travels back to the very origins of the game in England (discovering that Henry VIII had a pair of football boots), checks in with Elis James for a view from Wales, and muses on the meaning of national anthems.

The series delves deep into how national myths are both forged and reflected in the fate of eleven young men with three lions on their shirts. 

It takes in the view from England’s sporting rivals, from Wales to Argentina, and asks what light the success of England’s Woman casts on the story of England’s Men.

Across the series, David Baddiel will be joined by contributors including Stephen Fry, Alex James, Maisie Adam, Elis James, Barney Ronay, Roy Williams, Des Lynam, Stuart Pearce, Jean Williams, David Goldblatt, Pippa Grange, Jonathan Wilson, David Seaman, Omid Djalili and many more.

Sixty Years of Hurt with David Baddiel is produced by BBC Studios Audio for BBC Radio 4, in collaboration with Left Bank Pictures who are producing the upcoming drama Dear England for BBC iPlayer and BBC One.

The producers are Rich Power and David Baddiel."

Location; BBC Radio 4

Pictures; football figurines, circa 1990s courtesy of Ben, Josh and Saul, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

*Sixty Years of Hurt with David Baddiel, BBC Radio 4, https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002wlk2

A little bit of Manchester in Deptford …….. football …… VHS …… and a charity shop

Deptford in south east London was almost where I grew up.

Au Revoir Cantona, date unknown

As a kid it was just a short bus ride from Peckham, and when we moved to Eltham was still a place I went back to.

But long ago I moved to Manchester, and never thought I could make a link between the two, but my new Facebook friend Paula, managed to find the link. 

And of course, I am the first to admit it will not appeal to everyone …… as the comments to the post will no doubt reflect.

That said it is a neat piece of history, being not only a record of Eric Cantona’s time with Manchester United, but one of those bits of lost technology.

VHS tape with time scale

Au Revoir Cantona is a VHS tape, which is now another example of a technological back alley.

Video Home System was briefly in the 1970s and 80s, the go to way of recording stuff to watch on the telly.  It saw off the Betamax rival but in turn was sent off the scene by the DVD.

For perhaps a decade and a bit more they were an essential addition to the television, allowing you to both buy or rent commercial films to watch at home, and to record stuff to watch at a later time.

It’s downfall was that often the tapes became slack or just got jammed, and for those with a hectic social life, recording something to watch later, didn’t always work given that the hectic social life left little time to watch even the recorded shows.

I bet most of us will still have the odd VHS tape knocking around, which can never be played given that the accompanying VHS recorder has long since been skipped.  So they sit in a corner of the cellar or attic waiting the time  they will be transferred to a DVD, which is a time that never comes.

My kids are of an age which means that they remember them, but not so the next generation.  To them these clunky rather unsophisticated looking bits of technology are as remote as the cassette, the 78 record, and telegrams.

We will have had a few Man United VHS tapes given that three of our four lads are fans, and deep in the cellar at least one may have escaped the cull of all things obsolete.

And there they will stay, for without the recorder they are lost to us.  And I doubt any of the three will be beating their way to a shop to have them transferred to a DVD.

Deptford Town Hall

Leaving me just to ponder again on my time wandering the streets of Deptford, playing out one of many adventures, now over 60 years in the past.

Still it has rekindled an interest in the place, and I have asked Paula if she has pictures of Deptford, which in turn I suspect will lead to a series of stories.

We shall see.

Pictures; Au Revoir Cantona, 2021, from the collection of Paula Griffin,VHS tape with time scale, May 20, 2020, Tobias ToMar Maier, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license  and Deptford Town Hall, SE14, Philip Talmage / Deptford Town Hall, SE14 / CC BY-SA 2.0, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.

Johnny Haynes tells you ..... the topical advert

You will have to be a certain age to remember Johnny Haynes, or be familiar with Fulham FC.

On the other hand I doubt many will escape the topicality of a football advert like  this.

And for those who want more, he was an English association football player, making 56 appearances for his country including 22 as captain. 

"He was selected for 3 World Cup finals squads playing in the latter two of those. Nicknamed 'the Maestro', his attacking play was noted for two footed passing ability, vision and deftness of touch. Haynes is widely regarded as Fulham's greatest ever player remaining loyal there for 20 years despite coming no nearer to a major trophy win than two FA Cup semi-final appearances. 

Immediately following the abolition of the £20 maximum wage in 1961 he became the first player to be paid £100 a week. He also had a spell on loan with Toronto City in 1961 and ended his playing days at Durban City, winning there the only trophy he won in his football career".*

Picture;  Johnny Haynes tells you, 1959, from the Eagle Comic, May 30, 1959, Vol. 10 No.22 

*Johnny Haynes, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Haynes