So lets make the most of it, not bother to to turn up for the game against Iceland, withdraw from The Eurovision Song Contest, brick up the channel tunnel and wave our union jacks while raising our pints of English Ale to Britain retaining its position as number one island state for decent music, stone houses, gastro pubs, varieties of boiled sweets and reasons for not going to work because of the weather! (Thanks to Bill Bryson for the statistic).
Interestingly though, 73% of the 18-24 year olds, who have to live most of their lives with the decision, voted to Remain. I blame the bitter and twisted oldies, many of whom will be 6 feet under by the time the exit is complete and the dust has settled despite the government appointing David Moyes to mastermind an early Euro exit. But that's Democracy ! Me? I've just changed my toon: Hey Ho!
The sun comes up on a massive day
in the Algarve, if you’re a football fan that is, and that means the majority of the
population.
The Portuguese are fanatical
about their football and men like Eusebio and Sir Bobby Robson are National
heroes.
Here in Fuseta allegiances are pretty well split down the middle with almost
half the town supporting either Benfica or Sporting Lisbon with a small band of
loyal FC Porto fans.
As in the English Premier League,
today is the final day of the Portuguese Primeira Liga and, unlike the English
Premier League, the title is still up for grabs.
Benfica, who are 2 points clear and
with a superior goal difference and a relatively easy home fixture against CD
Nacional, are the clear favourites but if they lose and Sporting Lisbon win a tricky
away game against 4th place Braga, Sporting will win the league.
The cafes and bars will be busy this
afternoon for the warm up final Premier League games but by 5 pm they
will be overflowing for the “main event”.
But after all "it’s only a game” and does it really
matter which teams wins?
Methinks it does!
Sir Bobby summed it up perfectly:
“What is a football club in any case? Not the buildings or the
directors or the people who are paid to represent it. It’s not the television
contracts, get-out clauses, marketing departments or executive boxes. It’s the
noise, the passion, the feeling of belonging, the pride in your city. It’s a
small boy clambering up stadium steps for the very first time, gripping his
father’s hand, gawping at that hallowed stretch of turf beneath him and,
without being able to do a thing about it, falling in love.”
And that is exactly what happened
to me in 1953 when my dad took me to my first match at Portman Road.
Here’ a reminder of those two
great men, first Eusébio da Silva Ferreira, The Black Panther, who scored 721
goals in 715 matches for Benfica and 41 goals in 64 games for his national team.
and the gentleman of football,Sir Robert William "Bobby" RobsonCBE, whose achievements in football in England and Europe are too many to list.
But for me he will be remembered most for his thirteen-year
tenure at Ipswich Town, when he brought in only 18 players from other clubs
most notably Allan Hunter, Paul Cooper, Bryan Hamilton, Mick Mills, David
Johnstone, Paul Mariner, and Dutch imports Frans Thijssen and Arnold Mühren but relied instead on players developed through Ipswich's youth programmes, including
Terry Butcher, George Burley, John Wark, Russell Osman, Colin Viljoen, Alan
Brazil, Trevor Whymark, Brian Talbot, Kevin Beattie, and Eric Gates who all
went on to play international football.
Not only was Robson a tactical genius, he also
showed a talent for developing new players, with his good interpersonal skills,
caring attitude, hard work and enthusiasm helping them to achieve their best.
Last Wednesday, to celebrate our 48th Wedding Anniversary,
we made a nostalgic trip back to Hastings staying the night at a wonderful
up-market B&B in the Old Town, Laindons.
If you find yourself in Hastings and need to stay over this is definitely the
place to stay.
After a few drinks in our old haunts and a very good meal in Webbe’s restaurant we rounded
off a memorable day at Porters Wine
Bar in Old Town High Street where our old friend Liane Carroll was
performing, including songs from her new CD "Seaside".
Here’s an excerpt from an article by Hannah Collisson about “Seaside” in
the Spring edition of the music magazine “The Stinger”.
LIANE CARROLL
MADE IN HASTINGS
WRITTEN BY HANNAH COLLISSON
____________________________________________
Born in London but made in Hastings; this is
how jazz singer and pianist Liane Carroll describes herself. It is therefore fitting
that her new album, 'Seaside', is inspired by her beloved hometown.
Liane is to be found playing to a trans-fixed
crowd in Porters in Hastings Old Town most Wednesdays, a venue she describes as
her favourite wine bar in the world.
Those in the audience who have never seen
Liane perform before may wonder what she is doing there when surely she ought
to be gracing the stages of London's top jazz clubs. But the truth is she does
perform in London and internationally, with a terrifyingly hectic schedule.
It's not for the kudos that Liane plays in Porters, it is because even after 27 years she still loves it. In fact she was there for her regular Christmas eve slot, before rushing to London for two nights at Ronnie Scott's.
The idea for the album, a mixture of originals and covers, came about when her friend and musician John Stilgoe wrote her a song called 'Seaside'. For Liane, it was so evocative of Hastings that she decided to make a whole album along the same lines.
The album was recorded in Hastings at James's Quietmoney studio on The Ridge, a place Liane describes as her second home.
'Seaside' is particularly special says Liane, not only because she was given carte blanche to do whatever she wanted with it, but because it is more about Hastings than ever before.
"Loads of my friends are here, my husband was born here, I was made here. It has got such a vibrancy about it this town.
You work on something for quite a while and you think 'I hope it's alright' as you can't be objective when you're right in the middle of it."
Liane need not have worried as 'Seaside' has been very well-received indeed, and was named Best New CD at the 2015 British Jazz Awards.
For someone who freely admits they have never been ambitious, Liane's CV to date is pretty impressive.
"I love it if someone enjoys what I do," says Liane. "I don't want to be a star, I don't want to be rich. Sometimes it is a struggle because you don't know when the work is coming in."
Her biggest buzz comes from interacting with an audience, and being part of something that makes people happy.
Liane learned to play piano before she was a singer, given lessons by concert pianist Phyllis Catling.
"I used to sing all the time when I was playing the piano, but I never had a singing lesson; I didn't want to go down that road, I didn't want to be trained.
I was given encouragement, but when I started singing at Republic in Hastings, aged 14 or 15, I was a dormouse, I was so shy.
But the years have changed that. That's a good thing, it should be a slow journey I think."
Now Liane performs all over the world, and is a regular at London's top jazz clubs.
The biggest festival Liane has played to date was the electronic music festival in Brasilia, Brazil, in 2004 to an audience of 70,000 as part of live drum & bass outfit London Elektricity (they were on just before Eminem, who Liane describes as a "pussy cat").
Since 1993 she has been a regular at Ronnie Scotts Jazz Club.
In 2007, Liane headlined the BBC Radio 3 stage at Glastonbury, and in 2012 was named Best British Vocalist at the British Jazz Awards.
The cover photo for “Seaside” was taken by another Hastings resident, Carol Murphy, so it really was Made in Hastings.
As you are well aware by now I didn’t get where I am today by being a regular reader of the Telegraph but on the odd occasion that I do come across a copy I always go straight to the Readers Letters and the Obituaries.
Yesterday, however, I must confess to buying a copy.
The Telegraph started of its life as the Daily Telegraph and Courier and was first published on June 29th 1855.
Yesterday’s was their 50,000th edition.
The “Letters to the Editor” has always been a feature of the newspaper and to celebrate this landmark it included a four page supplement on readers' letters over the 160 years of its life.
The very first letter to appear was a short contribution signed E Harrisson.
As a “working man”, he explained that he could only afford sixpence a week. The Daily Telegraph cost two pence a day – and it was only that cheap because the Government had just taken the last remaining penny tax off newspapers. So Mr Harrisson planned to go in with a chum and pool their sixpences to buy a copy to share, six days a week.
In its first year the letters page was dominated by readers demanding the cleaning up of the Thames, that pubs should stay open longer on Sundays, that street muggers who garrotted pedestrians should be dealt with severely, that sea-bathers should emulate the ancient Greeks in unashamed nudity and a regular topic “Where are the police?”
In the summer of 1858 the hot topic was The Great Stink of London.
Here’s a further selection of topics that have featured over the years:
One of the most entertaining was the 1964 debate on Bertrand Russell’s use of the split infinitive which ran for a month.
It started with this:
13 May 1964
Sir – Is it not a little ironical that “attempts on the part of Western Powers to crudely dominate or surreptitiously undermine” should lead Earl Russell – of all people – to split the infinitive?
Yours faithfully,
SPW Corbett
Woking, Surrey
Russell then hit back:
15 May 1964
Sir – The aggressive military behaviour of the British Government in Southern Arabia has not lessened my admiration, ironical as it may seem, for the uses to which the English language was put by famous writers. For instance, Milton, who, apart from his concern for individual freedom, managed to admirably split infinitives. A reading of “Lycidas” might be expected to adequately teach this to Mr SPW Corbett. Even Fowler could be of help.
Yours faithfully,
Bertrand Russell
Penrhyndeudraeth, Merioneth
The debate hotted up: 18 May 1964 Sir – I fail to understand Lord Russell’s allusion to “Lycidas” in his justification of split infinitives. I have just read the poem again, and can find no trace of anything resembling a split infinitive. Yours faithfully, GM Douglas Lancaster
20 May 1964
Sir – Even Milton, Lord Russell and the excellent – but too lenient – Fowler cannot make right what is wrong. The infinitive, e.g. “to reply”, constitutes in effect one word – showing mood – and it should not be split any more than the present participle “replying”. One would not say “reply-kindly-ing,” but it is no worse than splitting the infinitive.
No one ever heard of a split infinitive in German, where the construction is the same, e.g. zu gehen, zu Machen, etc.
It is not a serious fault, but the fact remains that it is incorrect English.
Yours faithfully,
LG Crauford
London N6
22 May 1964
Sir – I regret Mr GM Douglas’s inability to discover the split infinitive in “Lycidas”. I suggest he read it again.
Yours faithfully,
Bertrand Russell
Penrhyndeudraeth, Merioneth
23 May 1964
Sir – Cannot Mr. G. M Douglas find any trace of anything resembling a split infinitive in Milton’s “Lycidas”? I have always thought that the following lines, which I take from the Oxford 1914 edition, might well rate as an example:
Alas! What boots it with uncessant care
To tend the homely slighted Shepherds trade
And strictly meditate the thankles muse…
In case of comment the spelling is Milton’s, not mine.
Yours faithfully,
Kenneth P.D. Thomas
London W2
25 May 1964
Sir – Mr Kenneth PD Thomas quotes the lines from “Lycidas”:
Alas! what boots it with uncessant care
To tend the homely slighted Shepherds trade
And strictly meditate the thankless muse…
To call this a split infinitive is absurd. There is no word between “to” and the verb it governs, which is “tend.” English usage does not require the repetition of “to”, but its presence is understood: why should it be supposed that Milton would have placed it before, not after, “strictly”?
I do not know if this is the passage to which Lord Russell refers, since he does not deign to specify. If it is, it is not too late for him to take a course in English.
Yours faithfully,
GM Douglas
Lancaster
On 30th May even T. S. Elliot joined in the debate which was eventually put to bed by this wonderful contribution:
13 June 1964
Sir – I quote below a legal opinion on the subject of split infinitives.
Mary, having shot in dozens
Sisters, Aunts and Second Cousins,
Told the judge with eager zest,
“I hope to soon bump off the rest.”
Reaching for his black cap, he
Cried, “Ye Gods, what infamy!
The liquidations I’d forgive
But not that split infinitive.”
Yours faithfully,
A Hazelwood Atkins
Hildenborough, Kent
Yesterday’s letters page was much less entertaining, being dominated, predictably, by Europe and Junior Doctors with a centre piece letter headed “Why TV producers are immune to mumbling” following viewers complaints about the sound quality in BBC’s “Happy Valley” – heaven forbid!
Far more interesting was the obituary of the Trinidadian batsmen Andy Ganteaume who died aged 95. In his debut test for the West Indies against England in 1947 he made 112 then was promptly dropped from the team and never played another test match, giving him a test average of 112, the highest in Test history beating Donald Bradman’s 99.94.
I’ll leave you with another Dire Straits contribution:
Over the last year and a half,
when I have had any spare time, I have been researching the history of my local
pubs, The Fox and The Prince of Wales,
the surrounding areas and more lately Farnborough in general.
I have discovered many
interesting facts about the area and some of the more notable residents that I
previously had no knowledge.
I have recently also picked up
where I left off from researching “Family Baltzer” and starting to document a
family tree.
Several people have asked me how
and where I find the information so this blog entry is for them and anyone else
who might want to do some research of their own.
In time I will include more articles
on www.thefoxfarnborough.co.uk
but I will also publish them as blog entries.
The maps, local history books and
directories at Farnborough public library have been invaluable but it is the Encyclopaedia
Internetica that has provided the vast majority of information and photographs.
Yes there is a lot of rubbish on
the internet but also such an immense range of data, information and photographs
which are constantly being added to and updated.
In case any of you are intending
doing any historical research the obvious places to start are google, googleimages and wikipedia.
Facebook history groups also
provided an invaluable source of information and interest:
If any of you do embark on any
kind of research I’ll warn you now – there’s a lot of history out there - it
will become an obsession and consume all your spare time, so good luck and if you come across any useful source of information that I haven't listed I would be grateful if you would let me know.
Earlier this week we had a most enjoyable day in Puerto de la Cruz.
Puerto de la Cruz is Tenerife’s
main tourist resort in the north of the island which, although it welcomes
hundreds of thousands of visitors a year, remains very much Canarian in
character.
It receives more sunshine and less
rain than the rest of the north of the island but enough to sustain lush
vegetation that provides the town with its abundance of gardens and its
sub-tropical appearance particularly the Botanical Gardens with over 5,000
exotic tree and plant specimens from all over the world and its stylish garden
beach.
It was developed originally as a
port for the wealthy town of La Orotava, exporting sugar and wine to the New
World and was known as Puerto de La Orotava.
Today, the Old Town and harbour
remains a centre of activity with brightly painted fishing boats, food stalls serving
traditional Canarian food and its narrow cobbled streets lined with traditional
colonial-style cafés and bars.
It is in this area, known as the
Ranilla district, that street artists from mainland Spain, Tenerife and other
Canary Islands left their multi-coloured marks on the walls of buildings for the
Puerto Street Art 2014 festival.
Puerto Street Art, comprising of
13 murals incorporating different styles, techniques and themes, is
considered one of the most important in the world.
It is confined to a small area
and the tour can be done in around an hour or if you stop for sustenance after
viewing each mural in one of the many small bars and cafes, about a day!
I didn't get where I am today by being easily impressed with art but I was indeed very impressed!
Here are a few of the murals:
You can take the tour here in 7 minutes:
And here is how they did it:
I'll take my leave with a bit of Randy Crawford and the Crusaders:
It was with much mirth and a
certain amount of sheer amazement when I read this news item last week concerning
arch-rivals Norwich City:
Former
shadow chancellor Ed Balls named new chairman of Norwich City
NORWICH City Football Club is delighted to confirm the appointment of former
Cabinet Minister and lifelong Canaries fan Ed Balls as Chairman of the Board of
Directors.
Mr Balls, 48, takes up his non-executive
role with immediate effect and will join his fellow Directors at Carrow Road
for tomorrow's Barclays Premier League match against Aston Villa.
Welcoming Mr Balls to the Board, City's
joint majority shareholders Delia Smith and Michael Wynn Jones commented:
"We're absolutely
delighted to confirm that Ed Balls is the new Chairman of Norwich City.
His economic know-how and experience,
coupled with his passion for all things Norwich City, will be a major asset for
the Board and we're excited about working closely together with Ed, David
McNally and the other Directors in this new era for the Club.
Ed will work closely with all of us
on the short, medium and long-term strategy to shape the future of this great
football club."
Economic know-how and experience? Surely, even Delia can see that
the appointment of a man whose policies would have bankrupted the country, will
eventually end in disaster.
Delia Smith
and
Ed Balls
A marriage made in hell!
But enough about NCFC – here’s the
goal that prompted me, for the very first and
last time, to kiss another male of the species:
Happy days!
I’ll leave you with a song from a
lady who I saw for the first time on Jools Holland’s Hootenanny show on New
Years eve and for me stole the show.
American singer/songwriter Beth
Hart with Jeff Beck:
For those of you born on January 1st. here's what to expect for 2016:
Great news - Pluto is in motion confirming your struggles have not been in vain. Yes, finally a reward comes in a major way. You could fill any shoes with all the qualities the Capricorn naturally possesses. It is quite possible to achieve a role in life that is unsurpassed by even your wildest dreams.
Surround yourself with those that you wish to become and the shoes you fill could be some prominent ones. Get out there, and make some new connections. Money, power and respect can be all yours
And if you believe that then your dafter than I thought!
Famous people born an January 1st include:
E M Forster - Writer (A Passage to India) – born 1879
J Edgar Hoover – (First Director of the FBI) - born 1895
Dana Andrews - American film actor (Over 80 films in a 40
year career) – born 1909
Kim Philby British Intelligence (double agent who defected to the Soviet
Union in 1963) – born 1912
J D Sallinger – Writer (Catcher in the Rye) - born 1919
Milt Jackson - American jazz vibraphonist (Co-founder of the
MJQ) - born 1923
Ty Hardin - American film actor (Bronco Layne in TV series
Cheyenne & Bronco) – born 1930
Joe Orton – Writer – (Entertaining
Mr. Sloane) - born 1933
Phi Read – British Grand Prix Motorcycle Road Racer aka “The
Prince of Speed” – born 1933
Suzy Kendall – British actress- (Up the Junction) – born 1944
Jack Wiltshire – (Arsenal & England footballer) – born 1992
Those not so lucky on the 1st January were:
Hiram King "Hank" Williams, Sr.
Legendary Country & Western singer/songwriter who, despite his short life, isregarded as one of the most significant and influential American singers and songwriters of the 20th century.
Williams had 11 number one hits in his career as well as well as many other top ten hits, the early ones with his band The Drifting Cowboys.
Sadly, several years of back pain, alcoholism, and prescription drug abuse severely damaged Williams' health and he died in the early morning hours of January 1, 1953, at the age of 29, from heart failure exacerbated by pills and alcohol.
Alexis Andrew Nicholas Koerner
Britishblues musician and radio broadcaster, who has been referred to as "a founding father of British blues".A major influence on the sound of the British music scene in the 1960s,Korner was instrumental in bringing together various English blues musicians.
Alexis Korner's Blues Incorpoated - Korner on guitar & vocals, Dick Heckstall-Smith on sax, Cyril Davies on vocals and harmonica, Jack Bruce on bass and Charlie Watts & Ginger Baker on drums - were the first Blues band I ever saw, appearing regularly at Bluesville at the Manor ballroom Ipswich on Monday nights.
Korner, a chain smoker, died of lung cancer aged 55 years, on 1 January 1984.
Clara Ann Fowler
Known by her professional namePatti Page anAmerican top-charting female vocalist of the 1950s,selling over 100 million records during a six decade long career.
Her hit song "(How Much Is That) Doggie in the Window" topped the charts in the US and the UK in 1953.
A sample of her hit song "Old Cape Cod" forms the basisfor the 1999 Groove Armarda hit "At the River".
Patti Page died on January 1, 2013, at the Seacrest Village Retirement Community in Encinitas, California, aged 85 years.
I'll leave you with the opening sequence from one of my favourite boyhood westerns - I don't think I missed and episode!
Not since 1977 has a full moon dawned in the skies at Christmas. But this year a bright full moon will see in Christmas day 2015 - the Werewolves will be out wearing their Christmas jumpers!
Talking of Werewolves it’s also Shane MacGowan’s birthday (born 25th December 1957) and Santa has only gone and brought him a set of new nashers.
He was once dubbed as “the thinking man’s Liberace” by Radio 1 DJ Gary Davies, a bit over the top I think, but he did write some great lyrics and among my favourites is this:
It was Christmas Eve babe In the drunk tank An old man said to me, won't see another one And then he sang a song The Rare Old Mountain Dew I turned my face away And dreamed about you Got on a lucky one Came in eighteen to one I've got a feeling This year's for me and you So happy Christmas I love you baby I can see a better time When all our dreams come true They've got cars big as bars They've got rivers of gold But the wind goes right through you It's no place for the old When you first took my hand On a cold Christmas Eve You promised me Broadway was waiting for me You were handsome
You were pretty
Queen of New York City
When the band finished playing
They howled out for more
Sinatra was swinging,
All the drunks they were singing
We kissed on a corner
Then danced through the night
The boys of the NYPD choir
Were singing "Galway Bay"
And the bells were ringing out
For Christmas day
"Fairytale of New York" started life as a bet - Pogues producer Elvis Costello bet Shane MacGowan and co-writer Jem Finer, the band’s banjoist, that they couldn’t come up with a Christmas record that wasn’t slushy.
The song was originally written as a duet between Shane MacGowan and Pogues bassist Cait O'Riordan. However, O'Riordan married Costello and left the band in 1986, before the song was recorded. Costello was replaced as producer by Steve Lillywhite, who asked his wife, Kirsty MacColl, to record test vocals to help the band hear how the duet could work. They were so astounded by her performance she got the job. Before hearing MacColl, MacGowan had suggested Pretenders frontwoman Chrissie Hynde as a possible partner for the duet. It was first recorded in 1987 and kept out of the number 1 slot by the Pet Shop Boys’ “Always on my Mind” or according to MacGowan, "by two queens and a drum machine"!
Ella Finer, daughter of co-writer Jem Finer, now often sings Kirsty’s parts at live concerts.
In celebration of these trivial facts here is the countries favourite Christmas song which has been in the top 20 every year since it's re-release in 2005, (look out for Matt Dillon as the NYPD patrolman who arrests the intoxicated MacGowan):
Mick
Murphy, one of Ireland’s most colourful sportsmen, has died aged 81.
Over
his 80-plus years, the eccentric Kerry man was a cyclist, wrestler, boxer,
runner, farmer, circus performer, fire eater, ventriloquist and bricklayer.
He lived in a simple home on his parents farm outside Cahersiveen,
without electricity or running water, corrugated iron sheeting as windows and
door and with few modern conveniences. He joked that he modelled it on a
'chicken shack'.
This basic lifestyle mirrored his race preparations, which included
sleeping in hay barns, eating raw meat and even drinking cow’s blood. He
trained using homemade stone weights in his self made gymnasium.
Murphy was known as ‘the Iron Man’ following his epic 1958
win in the Rás Tailteann cycling stage race. Taking up cycling full-time only six months before the 1958 Rás, Murphy,
who was raised on a small farm at Sugrena near Cahersiveen, defeated far more
experienced athletes in the race. Moreover, he continued to ride despite
breaking his collarbone on one of the stages, in Co Kerry, having to be
strapped to his bicycle to continue the next day.
He said he learned about drinking cow’s blood from the Masai warriors of East Africa, a ritual also practiced by Russian weightlifters.
Murphy pared down a knife into a sharp point and would pierce the animal in the thigh and drain a glassful of blood, which he believed gave him strength.
“Attack is the best defence. Attack after attack. I was a different breed. I used to attack and go away from the bunch. I have no doubt about it, I was the greatest solo rider in Ireland because I surged, I surged, I surged,” he said.
“We were known as the riff-raff of the road. The convicts of the road.”
His 1958 win in the Ras Tailteann, which at the time was one of Ireland’s leading sporting events, is the stuff of legend.
He came from nowhere to take honours having only taken up cycling six
months before.
It was reported that he would ride up to 40 miles on his bike after a stage just to cool down and to find a field of
cows so he could build back his strength with a cup of their blood.
Also during the ’58 race, mechanical failure forced him to abandon his
bike on a stage to Clonakilty in Cork and so as not to lose time he stole a
bike from a shocked local farmer herding his cows. The old boneshaker had no
gears and was too heavy, but Murphy buried himself to ensure that he didn’t
lose much time on the leaders and this kept him in overall contention.
Following the race he was arrested for the theft of the bike but was later released, without charge, following his overnight rise to fame and national hero.
After his third Rás in 1960 he never cycled competitively again.
Earlier
in his life he was left deaf in his right ear following a punch from a
heavyweight in the boxing ring. Murphy was a far smaller welterweight.
His first sporting pursuit was wrestling and during an early stint in
London he was a leading fighter on the English circuit.
He left school early in order to work and help his family, but his
mother taught him to read and he devoured books all his days.
From 1972 until 1980, Murphy worked on building sites in
Germany, where he returned after re-unification in 1990 to work in the
country’s east.
As late
as 1998 he was performing circus tricks such as sword swallowing, balancing
ladders on his chin, fire-eating and walking on his hands, in London’s
Covent Garden.
However, a work place fall off scaffolding whilst bricklaying
the same year resulted in broken ribs and a collapsed lung.
This
lead to his decision to return home to South Kerry following decades on the
road around Ireland, Britain and Germany.
In his latter years Murphy, born in the early 30s, walked
with the aid or two home-made sticks and he refused to draw the state pension.
In an article in the Kerryman earlier this year, well-known
Kerry broadcaster and journalist Weesie Fogarty paid tribute to his friend.
"He has brought me in
the mind's eye to far away places as he recounted his experiences working with
circuses, farmers, on the bogs of Ireland on the motorways of Germany and of
course his memorable exploits on the bike," wrote Fogarty.
"Yes, he is
eccentric, yes he is a loner, yes he is different, yes he dresses unlike others
but he is one of the most charismatic, fascinating, enthralling, and strictly
honest men I have ever been privileged to know." Listen to Mathew Bannister paying tribute to Mick Murphy on Radio 4's Last Word
In recent years the legend of the “Iron Man” was been celebrated in film
and writing. There has been an RTÉ documentary,A Convict of the Road; a film made for the Killorglin Archive Society
calledThe Marvels of Mick Murphy; a play based on his life by UK-based Irish
writer and actor Roddy McDevitt.
