The glittering showbiz event was held in the director's banqueting chamber of Stoke City FC, so you can imagine that I was rather keen to go. Pictures of bygone heroes festooned the place. I could almost hear the ghostly rattle of broken bones, stricken crossbars and crowd violence (very much a thing of the past).
Feeling rough, I didn't dance much, but did escort The Well of Lost Blogs, and shared a table with her and the other staff, delightful company all. Unfortunately, I lost out in the auction for a signed Stoke City ball, a French villa holiday and a bottle of House of Commons whisky signed by Tony Blair* (I planned to trace the signature onto a full confession of his war crimes).
The distinguished gentleman is Stanley Matthews, one of Stoke and England's greatest players. A few more pictures are here.
*In an effort to avoid the taxman and hide his enormous income, Blair has set up 12 companies to funnel his cash through. The full, incredibly boring, details, are here. So much for upholding the public good even once out of office etc. etc.
5 comments:
"Feeling rough, I didn't dance much"- do remind me, what was that song you leaped up to dance to?
The distinguished gentleman is Sir Stanley Matthews. A small point, but one worth making.
Can't remember.
Ben: titles only matter to people who care about titles. Matthews' greatness is a combination of his supreme footballing ability and his general air of humility. The baubles don't matter a bit.
Title's don't matter eh? What's your e-mail address again?
My e-mail address is my first initial, my surname and a digit. No title there at all.
If you're referring to the footer of my e-mails, yes, it's Dr Vole: my job depends on having achieved that qualification, and it wasn't awarded by an hereditary system of patronage. Stanley Matthews didn't need knighting to earn the respect of his peers - his football did that.
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