Wayne Briggs

[Fromafar 10,380]

Only too happy to oblige. This is what I wrote.

 

The Provincial Speedway Riders’ Championship Final

 

Saturday, September 28, 1963

 

A Personal Experience

 

1. It was six o’ clock in the morning and I was still wiping the sleep from my eyes. But it was time to fire up the old Mini and collect Stuart, David and John for the 250 mile drive from Edinburgh to Manchester for the Provincial Speedway Riders’ Championship at the old Belle Vue stadium on the Hyde Road in Manchester. We planned to get there as early as possible so we could find a cheap bed and breakfast place to stay the night to avoid having to face the long drive back tonight. You never know there might be reasons to celebrate!

 

2. The other three lived only a couple of minutes away so we were soon on our way. It was a beautiful September morning and we were in good spirits – particularly Stuart who was a George Hunter fanatic. Edinburgh had two riders who had qualified for the final – George Hunter and Doug Templeton – although neither could be considered favourites for the Championship with Ivan Mauger (Newcastle) and Jack Kitchen (Sheffield) both in the field but Stuart would not hear of any result other than a George Hunter win and his enthusiasm soon wore off on the rest of us.

 

3. But a bit about the event first of all. This Championship was the highlight of the old breakaway Provincial League (breakaway from the National League that is), our World Final if you like. Qualification was no easy task because each rider had to compete in three qualifying rounds, each one a 16 rider, 20 heat affair, to gain enough points to get to the Belle Vue final. The Provincial League in 1963 comprised 13 teams – Cradley Heath, Edinburgh, Exeter, Hackney, Long Eaton, Middlesbrough, Newcastle, Poole, Rayleigh, St Austell, Sheffield, Stoke and Wolverhampton.

 

4. In the previous year, 1962, the Championship had also been held at Belle Vue. In 1961 it had been held at Harringay in London and in 1960 (the inaugural year of the Provincial League) at Cradley Heath. The format for the final was unusual to say the least with 24 riders qualifying for the event, each of whom would have only four rides after which the top four scorers would go forward to the final.

 

5. The qualifiers were: Ivan Mauger (Newcastle) 43 points, Colin Pratt (Stoke) 43, Ross Gilbertson (Poole) 41, Ray Cresp (St Austell) 40, Clive Featherby (Sheffield) 40, Charlie Monk (Long Eaton) 40, Jack Kitchen (Sheffield) 38, Les McGillivray (Rayleigh) 38, Cliff Cox (Exeter) 36, Jimmy Squibb (Exeter) 36, Rick France (Wolverhampton) 35, Geoff Mudge (Poole) 34, George Major (St Austell) 32, Eric Boocock (Middlesbrough) 31, George Hunter (Edinburgh) 31, Ron Bagley (Sheffield) 30, Ivor Brown (Cradley Heath), 30, Brian Craven (Newcastle) 30, Maurie Mattingley (Wolverhampton) 30, Ken Adams (Stoke) 29, Maurie McDermott (Rayleigh) 29, Douglas Templeton (Edinburgh) 29, Norman Hunter (Hackney) 28 and Trevor Redmond (St Austell) 28. Unfortunately Brian Craven (brother of Peter Craven who died of injuries sustained in a crash at Old Meadowbank) had been injured and was replaced by John Hart of Cradley Heath who was first reserve. The other meeting reserve was David Younghusband of Middlesbrough.

 

6. The previous year the event had been won by Len Silver of Exeter (the same Len Silver whom now promotes at Rye House) with Wayne Briggs (Barry Briggs’ brother) of Edinburgh runner-up and Brian Craven of Newcastle in third place. With Len Silver having failed to qualify and Wayne Briggs and Brian Craven out with injury none of the three were returning to contest the Championship. Incidentally the prize money was – 1st £40, 2nd £20, 3rd £10 and 4th £5. A measure of the popularity of this event can be gauged from the fact that all the stand tickets were sold out within weeks of going on sale and some 20,000 attended from all over the country.

 

7. Back to the trip then. While Stuart was the livewire of the four of us he had one terrible problem which made him hard to live with – well on long car trips anyway – and that was flatulence. With a general diet of hamburgers, baked beans, chips and Coke he could concoct a smell that could clear a room faster than a Max Bygraves record! In the confines of a Mini with four occupants it was next to lethal and once or twice I had to pull in to the side of the road making emergency stops to let us clamber out before we lost conciousness. Still I was used to it but not immune from it unfortunately. David was pretty laid back – he was sort of foot loose and fancy free – his feet were attached with sellotape and if it was free he fancied it (courtesy of Round the Horne). He relished the chance to exercise his expertise in sarcasm usually at our expense while John stoically said little. Indeed John never said a great deal. He was the kind of guy who lit up a room whenever he left it. I often wondered what they thought of me! We were the best of friends nonetheless – out mutual bond being the love of speedway.

 

8. In these days there was no M6, only the A6. Anyone who has crawled up Shap behind a convoy of lorries watching the temperature guage in case the engine began to overheat will know what torture this was. The relatively few miles could take as much as two hours to complete even on a good day. We made good time this particular Saturday morning and were soon wheeling our way into Manchester and to Belle Vue.

 

9. What a place Belle Vue was. Apart from a custom built speedway track – the best I ever saw – the Belle Vue complex had an amusement park which claimed to have (at the time) the fastest gravity ride in the world. It was called the Bobs and was not the sort of ride you wanted to take after several pints of lager. Underneath you could always find a collection of coins and other things including the odd lost lunch!. There was also a Zoo and gardens while the King’s Hall had wrestling every Saturday night and also staged concerts, bingo etc. Every Saturday at 10pm there was a fireworks display on Fireworks Island. It was a great place to visit and a fabulous speedway venue now sadly gone.

 

10. Having checked out the stadium we set off to look for a bed and breakfast place within our frugal budget (we brought a new meaning to the word ‘frugal’). We found one off the Hyde Road which consisted of a series of dormitories each containing about a dozen beds, none of which ever got cold judging by the turnover. It seemed to be well patronized by lorry drivers and other such passing trade and was not one you would recommend to valued friends!

 

11. After making our reservations we headed off to the centre of Manchester for breakfast and a look around and then on to Old Trafford where we watched Manchester United play Tottenham (I think). United won 2-0 if I remember correctly and it was back to Belle Vue for the main event. We were early into the stadium and headed for the third bend to join the other Monarchs supporters and watch the proceedings. By start time the stadium was filled to capacity and the noise and colours of the fans from all the tracks gave the place an atmosphere to match Wembley in its halcyon days. The excitement built and then we had the usual preliminaries including a grand parade of the competitors. Ian Hoskins was the centre green man and was absolutely superb in his presentation of the meeting.

 

12. And so we were off:

 

Heat 1: Mauger, Squibb, George Hunter, Norman Hunter 73.6

Heat 2: Bagley, France, Hart, McGillivray 74.0

Heat 3: Templeton, Pratt, Cox, Adams 74.8

Heat 4: Kitchen, Mattingly, Gilbertson, Major 73.2

Heat 5: Cresp, Brown, Mudge, Redmond 74.4

Heat 6: Featherby, Boocock, McDermott, Monk ef 74.2

 

13. A bit of a mix for us! George Hunter didn’t make a good gate and had to settle for third place but Doug Templeton put the smile back on our faces by winning heat 3. Poor Charlie Monk had engine failure in heat 6 while lying second. Ivan Mauger and Jack Kitchen had got off to their expected opening heat wins and Ivor Brown who was never popular with us (I can’t for the life of me remember why) managed a second place much to our disappointment. There used to be an advert on TV for Hovis bread which had the slogan “Don’t say brown, say Hovis” . We rather cruelly changed this to “Don’t say Brown, say *****” The word we substituted for Hovis began with ‘sh’ and rhymed with night. Rather childishly we took great delight in taunting the Cradley fans every time Ivor Brown made an appearance but it was always in fun if not in the best possible taste.

 

14. The next six heats went as follows:

 

Heat 7: Kitchen, Mauger, Cresp, Bagley 73.4

Heat 8: Gilbertson, George Hunter, Brown, McGillivray 74.2

Heat 9: Squibb, Pratt, Major, McDermott 74.8

Heat 10: Mattingly, Featherby, Norman Hunter, Adams 74.4

Heat 11: Mudge, Hart, Boocock, Cox 75.2

Heat 12: France, Templeton, Redmond, Monk ef 75.0

 

15. Well the big two were out in heat 7 and it was Jack Kitchen who saw off Ivan Mauger. George Hunter managed a second place in heat 8 and Doug Templeton kept the Monarchs’ flag flying with a second place in heat 12. So after two races each only Jack Kitchen had the maximum 6 points with Ivan Mauger, Jimmy Squibb, Rick France, Doug Templeton, Maurie Mattingly and Clive Featherby all on 5 points.

 

16. The next 6 heats after the interval, during which the beauty queen competition was held, finished:

 

Heat 13: George Hunter, Featherby, Bagley, Major 74.4

Heat 14: Mauger, Mattingly, Boocock, Pratt 74.8

Heat 15: Gilbertson, Cresp, McDermott, France f.rem 75.0

Heat 16: Kitchen, Cox, Redmond, McGillivray ef 75.2

Heat 17: Templeton, Brown, Norman Hunter, Hart 76.2

Heat 18: Monk, Mudge, Adams, Squibb f.rem 74.8

 

17. We were ecstatic – wins for both George Hunter and Douglas Templeton had us in dreamland and gave both a good chance of qualifying for the final. While Ivan Mauger and Jack Kitchen continued to dominate. Charlie Monk finally got his bike going and won heat 18. Now, with just one race left each, Jack Kitchen led the field unbeaten on 9 points with Ivan Mauger, and Douglas Templeton on 8 and Ross Gilbertson, Maurie Mattingly and Clive Featherby on 7.

 

18. Then came the last six vital heats of the qualifying stage:

 

Heat 19: George Hunter, Mattingly, Cox, France 75.0

Heat 20: Mauger, McGillivray, Mudge McDermott 74.8

Heat 21: Kitchen, Featherby, Squibb, Templeton 74.8

Heat 22: Cresp, Major, Adams, Hart 75.8

Heat 23: Brown, Monk. Bagley, Pratt 75.8

Heat 24: Boocock, Gilbertson, Redmond, Norman Hunter 75.8

 

19. Another great win for George Hunter but disaster for Doug Templeton who finished last in heat 21 and failed to make it to the final. Jack Kitchen and Ivan Mauger continued on their winning ways and both were through to the final on 12 and 11 points respectively. But pandemonium broke out when the organizers realized that there were five riders tied on nine points for the final two places. Now the rules stated that the first way to break a tie was by heat wins. George Hunter, Ross Gilbertson and Ray Cresp all had two heat wins while Maurie Matttingly and Clive Featherby had one each. So Mattingly and Cresp should have been eliminated. The second tie breaker was by the fastest heat winning time. George Hunter’s fastest time was 74.4, Ross Gilbertson’s was 74.2 and Ray Cresp’s was 74.4. This meant that Ross Gilbertson should have been the third qualifier and a run-off should have been needed between George Hunter and Ray Cresp since they had both won two races and had identical fastest winning times.

 

20. There was a long delay while they tried to sort matters out. The riders hated the ‘fastest winning time’ rule because the earlier heat winning times tended to be better than those later in the meeting as the track changed. The officials then decided to settle matters by the toss of a coin but the riders were having none of that and staged a walk out. Pandemonium broke out as a lot of people were not happy to put it mildly. Matters were finally resolved when it was agreed to put all five riders who finished on 9 points into the one race with the top two going through to the final. So we had a five-rider semi final which finished:

Semi final: George Hunter, Gilbertson, Cresp, Featherby, Mattingly

 

21. What excitement as George Hunter leapt from the gates to leave the other four riders in his wake. The race seemed to last an eternity but George made no mistakes and was through to the final along with fellow Scot Ross Gilbertson. It had made the long journey from Edinburgh so much more worthwhile to have one of our riders in the final. So George Hunter and Ross Gilbertson joined Jack Kitchen and Ivan Mauger in the final. This was justice really because Ross Gilbertson should have qualified on heat wins and fastest winning time and George Hunter and Ray Cresp should have had a run off for the last final place which is effectively what the semi-final turned out to be.

 

22. The tension was unbearable waiting for the final to start. We were all shaking especially Stuart who must have gone through a pack of cigarettes before the final started. Could George Hunter upset the odds by beating the awesome Mauger and Kitchen? Up they came to the tapes and then with an almighty roar the tapes went up and George Hunter made a fantastic start. He was well into the first bend ahead of the field. On that first bend Ivan Mauger and Jack Kitchen diced for position which gave George Hunter time to build up an incredible lead. Going past the tapes at the end of the first lap we all knew he only had to keep going to win the title. Alas going into the first bend of the second lap George’s bike developed a fuel leak and ground to a halt while the rest of the field led by Ivan Mauger charged past. The Final was won by Ivan Mauger with Jack Kitchen second and Ross Gilbertson third in a time of 74.8.

 

23. We were speechless leaving the stadium at such a cruel letdown. Stuart was inconsolable. The rest of us weren’t far behind. We had a couple of drinks and wandered round the amusements rather aimlessly before returning to our already warm beds for the night where sleep was hard to come by through a combination of despair and the horrendous snoring of the other occupants of the dormitory. A herd of trumpeting elephants couldn’t have competed with the noise.

 

24. In the morning we went down for what was laughingly described as breakfast. It comprised of two rashers (is that the word? Perhaps shavings might have been more apt!) of what had once been bacon. It had clearly been subjected to a holocaust of fire and spitting grease before being presented to us in a totally cremated state. Not only was it black but it disintegrated into ashes when you tried to get a fork into it. The ‘egg’ which accompanied it had attached to its base what appeared to be a strange mixture of rubber and brown crinkly cellulose which was completely indigestible but, worse still, it was inseparable from the yolk which was just about recognizable but hard as a brick. The toast was black with brown overtones and the tea so weak it had to be helped out of the pot - not exactly your first course on a menu of international cuisine of gourmet cooking. More the sort of offering you might expect cooked in the galley of a motor launch ploughing through a force 10 gale mid-Atlantic. Still you get what you pay for!

 

25. Ah well – back home in silent reflection of what might have been. Even Stuart kept his bowels in check for the journey which is just as well – we were not far from assassination mode. These were the wonderful sixties and days of sheer speedway joy.

Great stuff,makes you wishI had kept a diary what memories.

PS

Sounds like we stayed in the same B&B

[peterh7 0]

 

You have reminded me as well that he had hardly been on a bike before he came to Edinburgh, and I vaguely recall that he had never actually raced until he lined up for the Monarchs. Is that correct ? Only going by what I read.

 

The Aranui track in Christchurch (N.Z.) closed down before he was old enough to ride and the new track at Templeton didn't open until 1963 so it's probably correct that he had never ridden in a speedway meeting. He had competed in some grass events though. As far as I know he only came back to ride in NZ once - at the end of the 1962 UK season.

[Fromafar 10,380]

Thanks for that. Its all slowly coming back through the fog of time. I do now remember reading that he emigrated and was married to an Edinburgh girl. I think the Haulage company bit was before he emigrated but if Barry is not sure what he does maybe what I read about the haulage company was just a story for the interview.

 

You have reminded me as well that he had hardly been on a bike before he came to Edinburgh, and I vaguely recall that he had never actually raced until he lined up for the Monarchs. Is that correct ? Only going by what I read. I only ever saw him race the once, he was always injured before that, and when I did see him he was just back from injury and well of the pace so it was a disappointment.

 

Incidently I thought Murray was the oldest brother, was I wrong on that. I never actually saw him ride.

 

As for THE man, THE Briggo, the one and only, he was without doubt the greatest ever in my opinion. Not the most consisitent ever, but at his best absolutely breathtaking.

In the book "history of the speedway Hoskins "Ian states that he had never ridden speedway before his debut at Edinburgh.He also states that he signed for Poole in 1966 and retired at the end of the season, which is a load of nonsense.He rode for Hoskins at Coabridge in 1968!!!!!!!!!!.He also rode for Exeter and possibly Wembley after that.

Edited September 28, 2010 by Fromafar

[britmet 233]

In the book "history of the speedway Hoskins "Ian states that he had never ridden speedway before his debut at Edinburgh.He also states that he signed for Poole in 1966 and retired at the end of the season, which is a load of nonsense.He rode for Hoskins at Coabridge in 1968!!!!!!!!!!.He also rode for Exeter and possibly Wembley after that.

 

Which demonstrates that anything a Hoskins (and a Redmond) say, - great showmen that each were - , has to be taken with a pinch of salt.

 

(so we may never know whether Wayne did have a speedway ride before coming to Old Meadowbank.)

[chunky 6,112]

He rode for Hoskins at Coabridge in 1968!!!!!!!!!!.He also rode for Exeter and possibly Wembley after that.

 

Wayne actually rode for Coatbridge in 1969, and did join Wembley after that. It is possible that he went into a short retirement after 1966, as he didn't join Exeter until the 1967 season was well underway. He rode for Exeter in 67 and 68.

 

Steve

[Fromafar 10,380]

Wayne actually rode for Coatbridge in 1969, and did join Wembley after that. It is possible that he went into a short retirement after 1966, as he didn't join Exeter until the 1967 season was well underway. He rode for Exeter in 67 and 68.

 

Steve

Cheers,should have got it right I was there every week for the 2 seasons.Good racing Reider Eide was the "King"

[BOBBATH 467]

Hi Merlin, thanx so muuch for your post I greatly enjoyed reading it-wish I'd been there. Must have been a great meeting. So in 1962 when Wayne was runner up to Len Silver was that the usual 20 heat format??

[britmet 233]

Hi Merlin, thanx so muuch for your post I greatly enjoyed reading it-wish I'd been there. Must have been a great meeting. So in 1962 when Wayne was runner up to Len Silver was that the usual 20 heat format??

 

No, it was the first 24 hts & a Final format, the Prov'l Lge being 13 teams strong that year.

4th man in that final, unmentioned so far, was Guy Allott of Sheffield.

 

The orig'l question of this posting has been answered, v/v Wayne & Barry, but the position of Murray in the family was questioned.

The facts are, - Barry came to UK in 1952, Murray in '57 or '58, and Wayne in 1961.

What odds on the order of birth being the same ?

[BL65 657]

I understand that Barry was born on 30th December 1934 and Wayne on 22nd June 1944. I don't know when Murray was borm but in his 1972 book 'Briggo', Barry says that Murray came to the UK in 1957 as a 19 year old, indicating that he would have been born in 1938. Murray crashed in a practice session at Wimbledon in 1957 and fractured his skull. I think that he may have ridden at the Eastbourne track as well as Wimbledon.

[boston five 16]

thanks for all the replys to my topic as the subject came up regarding the provicial riders champs i went to one at i think harringay did reg reeves win and one at cradley was it jack scott who won

[BOBBATH 467]

I think Trevor Redmond won one and Reg Reeves the other-I think the one Reg won was because Trev either fell or had e.f.-people who went said he was the best on the night-not sure which was which tho-60 or 61??

[britmet 233]

I think Trevor Redmond won one and Reg Reeves the other-I think the one Reg won was because Trev either fell or had e.f.-people who went said he was the best on the night-not sure which was which tho-60 or 61??

 

At the risk of repeating whats already been covered on the subject of the PLRCs, Trevor Redmond won at Cradley in 1960 and was set to do the same at Harringay in 1961 when his chain snapped and so Reg Reeves won.

 

Jack Scott who was the phenomenum of '61 after buying a new bike with a UK pools win, failed to shine at Harringay, (yes, thats how it was spelt before the pc brigade took over,) but Scotty, then with Plymouth did qualify for the Wembley Final, only a British Final that year, which was still quite something for a PL rider.

[BOBBATH 467]

I realise this topic has ranged far and wide from Wayne Briggs but does anyone know what happened to Jack Scott(mentioned in britmet's last post) after his famous year of 1961- I seem to recall he came back to UK in mid sixties(Poole or CH???) but wasn't as good as before.

[BL65 657]

Jack Scott joined Cradley Heath for the 1967 season, having won the Australian championship during the preceding winter. I saw his debut at Wolverhampton on 24th March and he was quite impressive, scoring 8 points from 3 completed rides (2 wins and a second place) on a borrowed bike. He survived being paired with Chris Julian! In the return match at Dudley Wood the next evening he won his first two races (one as a tactical substitute), then had a last place and a fall before withdrawing from his 5th ride.

 

I was looking forward to seeing him become a top man for Cradley Heath, but sadly he suffered a lot of machine problems and took a few heavy falls before deciding to return to Australia in June. He did have a few very good meetings when he scored double figures and it was a great disappointment when he left. This followed the 'retirement' in May of Jack Biggs, who had joined Cradley Heath from Newport (although Jack joined Hackney later in the season). As Howard Cole (who had won the New Zealand championship during the winter) refused to return to Cradley Heath (eventually joining King's Lynn) the team struggled, although the signing of Brian Brett midway through the year was a bright spot.

 

When Howard Cole returned to Dudley Wood with his new team on 17th June we saw Brian Brett fall in Heat 9 and he was excluded from the re-run. Howard Cole then had machine problems and was lapped by Chris Julian and David Crane. Howard impeded Chris and Cradley lodged a protest after Lynn took a 3-2 heat advantage. In keeping with the mad happenings that frequently occurred at Dudley Wood, Heat 9 was re-run (with 2 riders only) after Heat 13 and despite bouncing off the fence a few times Chris Julian held on to his machine to pick up the 2 points needed to give his team a 39-38 win (so, as it happened, the original 2-3 could have been allowed to stand). Happy days.

[britmet 233]

I realise this topic has ranged far and wide from Wayne Briggs but does anyone know what happened to Jack Scott(mentioned in britmet's last post) after his famous year of 1961- I seem to recall he came back to UK in mid sixties(Poole or CH???) but wasn't as good as before.

 

Bob, old boy, it comes to all of us eventually, and so it has. Don't you recall discussing Jack Scott, Bluey Scott and the other Jack S, the canadian singer of "What In the World's Come Over You" on this site about a year ago? (Lost since the site and its host chamged, so I copied this (below) from the Cradley site:

Jack had a triple heart bypass in 2008. He's now 76.

 

Jack Scott back in 1961, on loan from his parent club Southampton to Plymouth Bulldogs, had been the phenomenon of the Prov’l Lge., having invested in new equipment from a UK pools win after 2 struggling years at Banister Court. He had scored 212 league points, second only to our own Ivor Brown with 213pts, and though he had disappointed in the Harringay PLRC he was the only PL rider to get thru the NL rounds to the British Final of the World Championship at Wembley, - quite a feat. (On such form he ought to have earlier reverted to the NL, but the SCB refused it, declaring S’ton, with new men Briggs and Knutson, to be too strong. It cost S’ton the 1961 NL title !)

With a NL place guaranteed, Scott failed to return to the UK in ’62. Despite attempts by everyone, every year, to sign him up, Cradley made a coup in 1967 and lured him back to the UK, - on a 2-year contract at that ! The preceding year Cradley had signed the new Aussie champ, Chum Taylor. Our need for a former NL heat-leader in the amalgamated British Lge had become obvious, and former World Finalist and WTC rider Chum was to be that man. But at 38 years old, the Coca-Cola Kid, (Chum’s employer, whose logo he proudly bore on his tank, and of whom he loyally would speak, -“Pepsi ? no comparison”,) disappointed, with an average of just 6.3 and had to take much criticism. He was even reprimanded by the ref at Newcastle for not trying! 1966 was to be Chum’s last year of UK league racing. Undeterred, Cradley again went back to Australia and signed the newly-crowned Aussie Champion, Scott. With visions of his 1961 performances still in mind, surely he would do better than last year’s champ, we all thought. Scotty flew in, and for the first month used Ken Wakefield’s Rotrax-Jap whilst his own ESO was on the high seas, (the norm back then.) He did …, - well - , not too bad, “ But wait till his own bike arrives,” we said.

 

Meanwhile Howard Cole was sitting it out in NZ, arguing with the Cradley management that a champion should get his air fare paid. This subject was a regular ‘sticker’ in negotiations back then. Anzac riders had moved from the fast 10-day ship journey (with bikes on the slower 2-3 week freighters,) to flying in, bikes to follow. UK riders were trying on the same thing, and many would sit it out, waiting to see if their club, or any club desperate to boost a poor start to the season, would buckle first. Briggs, for instance, sat out 1959 after 2 World Final wins, to be brought back by the promoters’ assoc’n only in August to defend his title at Wembley. Scot Ken McKinlay was another who decided home was Perth, WA, and regularly expected his ticket paid or withheld his services. Cradley held firm with Cole and it was well into the season before the new NZ champ returned, - to Kings Lynn ! (Did they pay his fare?)

 

With the arrival of his own shipped bike Jack Scott proceeded to get some double figures, but then had a couple of falls and several blown motors, and in early June he walked out of a mtg. and wasn’t seen for a few weeks! Scotty and his wife Pat had been living in Quarry Bank. She, - English born, Aussie bred - , was getting homesick, we learnt: they went down South to familiar territory and put up with fellow Aussie Geoff Mudge and his wife. Two weeks later they were sailing back to Aussie, - 2-year contract or not - , having sold his equipment to buy tickets home !

Cradley completed the season with neither of the champions they thought they would be running with, and fared little better than in ‘66, escaping the Wooden Spoon by one place, - 18th out of 19 teams. Chum Taylor was now lauded for his loyalty in staying the course through the full 1966 season despite poorer than expected results, ( 34 appearances, ave. 6.3, c.f. Scott’s 16 appearances, ave. 6.5,) and Jack Scott was never forgiven, – nor chased by any British promoter again.

In Sept 2008 Scotty had to have triple heart by-pass surgery, after which some other complications followed. He apparently is “ still not too good now” but at the age of 75, in a country town outside Adelaide where he has 20 acres of land, he gets around on his tractor, farming a few sheep and assembling the odd computer or two.