iris123

At this very moment in Norrköping,some of speedways greats are gathering to celebrate the 75th birthday of someone who is not out of place among them.Namely Olle Nygren.A quick roll call tells how highly regarded he is.The guests include Freddie Williams,Ove Fundin,P.Jonsson,G.Nordin,S.Harrefeldt,T.Rickardsson,B.Knutson,A.Michanek,Bert Harkins and many more. Olle was perhaps the first top speedway rider that i saw,although i only know because of a tattered old rosette that i have from my early years At the moment when a lot of riders debt to British Speedway is being questioned,Olle is certainly a rider who put more back into the sport in this country than most.I would like to take this opportunity to say thanks Olle and hope the celebrations don't get too out of hand

Maybe people would be a bit more forthcoming with information if you put a bit more into things yourself rather than asking for help / making topics up and sitting back and feeling content with yourself ??? Just a thought. Rico <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I get the feeling that the forum is slowly doing tinkerbells school work

here is also a good article jawa

Your in Prague and you come on the forum!

I'm not saying he was poor on big tracks,just he had a problem with them,mentally maybe,which he admitted.Can't find the article where he discussed it but here is something else.Q&A Favourite type of track "Grippy ,deep and smooth! And preferably small" worst track "Exeter was always pretty dodgy! And Halifax..."

I thought Hans had a well known problem with big tracks that it took quite a while to overcome

Give over,the site can't cope with "Rode For" and this

Nicht schlecht And Booey?

Being the author of a book about speedway in Sugar Beet country i would expect you to know how long Bettsy was captain Norbold.Also how long was Roger Johns captain.Must say it was never something i worried about.A captain of a speedway team being rather less important than in most sports i would have thought

If you wouldn't mind the video travelling overseas,i would be interested.I will of course re-imburse you.You can e-mail me if the idea is a go-er

Yes, Norbold.Belle Vue was the team.Don't know but i would guess he was captain post war .Norman Parker was another that came to mind but again i don't know when he became captain although i would have thought he like Jack only lost the captaincy on retirement.Total guess work Just refered to one of your publications to see Norman was captain for 8 years,only Edit 2.Just wondering if Nigel Boocock or maybe Terry Betts are a possibility?

Jack Parker,perhaps.Sounds like one for Norbold

Don't think so

Took all the old speedway pics off,sorry.Can put the A.Silver ones back on if you really want?

what beans are we talking about?Black eyed susies,mung or just the whole lot

I would say that Ivan also had an "aura" about him.It was generally a matter of wondering if he would be beaten,no matter how strong the line up.Once in front (which was most of the time)he was rarely beaten.I don't even remember him holding too many track records,he just got out of the gate and cruised round,the other riders knew he wasn't going to make a mistake and his bikes rarely packed up.Got a video of a World Champ round where i think Dave Lanning is saying something like "look,he's not even putting his foot down,just cruising round the corners!"

Gdansk was quite heavily populated with Scots.There was even an area called Stary Szkoty-Old Scotland.Of course from these early Scots came the polish saying "skapy jak Szkot" -mean as a Scot So its not just the English.Also here in Germany something cheap is often advertised with a stereotypical red headed kilt wearing man with "schottenpreise".Had me wondering at first when i saw one outside a bakers,thought they had tattie scones or something

Always was a bit uneasy being near someone who didn't fill in their programme.People who threw their programmes away at the end,well

You thinking of Calais?

Apparently the idea came from the true wartime story of the Canadian parliament turning the maternity wing of a hospital into Dutch territory. This allowed the exiled Dutch Queen to give birth on Dutch soil, which is apparently necessary to inherit the throne. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> There was also a part of the Hamburg Docks that was Czech territory.Something to do with shipping and customs laws.

Its the atmosphere i remember most.The Internationale,having to get there a couple of hours early and still find yourself in a large queue.The 2 Division Riders Championship with all the different colours and flags from places like Workington and Berwick.Hardly finding a place to sit. The 75 Wembley Final,was amazing for me to enter a stadium with 80,000 speedway fans.I had been to Wembley a couple of times before to see England play but i think there was only 30,000 or so.

There was definitely something floating in the vinegar,Jim. It might have been a Tooting speciality as i don't remember it elsewhere

Ooh,pie & mash with eels and vinegar with chillies in it.I remember that Sadly i have not found a shop here

agreed (within reason!) between the two promotions in those days that neither would worry too much about what one said about the other - afterall it was all about pre-match build up. Sadly, in modern times thanks to the "football mentality" of some, I doubt you could do it. I remember Cyril Maidment getting worked up on a number of occasions by something in the Hackney programme.Not sure if he was a football fan though

I'm hoping for the AOL Arena