norbold

Did he?

Ron started in 1927 in Australia. He certainly did not have an unbroken run. It was broken several times.

Although I knew about both Clem Beckett and Fay Taylour's politics, that thought hadn't occurred to me, Ian. I must look that up.

Yes. It's going to be an indoor arena as Sean says.

Yarmouth speedway was in Great Yarmouth at Yarmouth Stadium on Caister Road.

According to Ron's mini-autobiography, he says, "I am a Scot by birth. In fact the folks are Scottish through and through, and descended from good old farming stock. Dad was working on a farm when I was born...The place - near Glasgow. I was an only child. I went to school at Paisley....When I was six we emigrated to Western Australia..."

Yes, Ron must be the classic example. He also tried a comeback in 1963 at New Cross when he rode in a second half match race against Phil Bishop!

Yes, that's the meeting I saw him in. As you say, very sad. Can you imagine Ron Johnson giving 10 yards to Jimmy Chalkley in his prime!?

Indeed. One of those frequently mentioned in "Greatest rider never to reach a World Final" type threads.

Yes.

I agree. I can't see how anyone comes even close to Hurri-ken, let alone top him in a poll.

I have a copy but have not read in depth yet as I have been mainly interested in reading what Colin had to say about Tom Farndon! I have skimmed through the rest it and it seems really good. Well researched and a comprehensive coverage of pre-War Coventry.

Great idea. That would solve the problem once and for all.

The Speedway Museum is inside Paradise Wildlife Park. If Peter Sampson hadn't donated the ground and the time and money for his staff to help build the Museum and maintain it, it would never have been built. There simply just wasn't enough money raised for it to be built and maintained as a separate entity. The Speedway Museum as such though is not an integral part of Paradise Wildlife Park. It retains its own existence and all the objects in the Museum belong either to the Museum or the people who loaned the objects and is run by an independent committee. You talk about the "Glory Hunters" on the Speedway Museum Committee. Presumably if they are all in it just for the glory you will have no difficulty in naming everyone the committee and nor will anyone else on this Forum. Can you? Yes, the Barclays put in a lot of hard work, but so did a lot of other people, whose names, unlike the Barclays, you probably don't know. I think it is a big slur on the integrity of the people who have worked hard not just to keep the museum going, but have improved it out of all recognition to when it first opened to accuse them of just being "Glory Hunters". And I hope you will withdraw that remark.

Back in the early to mid 60s I can remember the likes of Roy Trigg (at New Cross) and Dave Jessup and Barry Thomas (at West Ham) coming up through the ranks. In the case of Jessup and Thomas I saw their first-ever ride in public and I remember thinking at the time that they were going to be good. Conversely, if it hadn't been for the second half at New Cross, I would never have had the privilege of seeing Ron Johnson ride. He was, of course, well past it by 1960, but, nevertheless, it gave me my one chance of seeing Mr New Cross at the end of his long and very distinguished career.

No, but I can be fairly certain that it wasn't Johnnie Chamberlain.

The reason I do it in my books is mainly one of space. I sign a contract for all my books which say how many words the publisher wants. For every rider whose average I include it's the equivalent of something like 18-20 words as they are tabulated across a whole line. Although I think it is of interest to put in a club's leading riders each year I think the space it would take up to include every rider is too much and would mean having to leave out a fair amount of detail in the book itself. However, you may be right, speedyguy, that it would be a good idea to include a list of "also rode". I did, in fact, in my Wembley book, include a list at the end of all riders who had been contracted to Wembley and the years. Maybe I should have done this in all my books.

I think you are probably right. Nicky's debut was in 1972. He rode in two matches for Hull in the Second Division. His First Division debut was in 1974 when he rode in just one match for Belle Vue and then rode for Sheffield in 17 matches in 1975.

Yes, I guess so. Split was born on 27 July 1923.

QUOTE (Robbie B @ Jun 17 2009, 06:37 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Norbold, Briggo rode for Hull in 1976 Ooops! Quite right, Robbie. Thanks.

According to Wikipedia, Cyril Roger was born on 27 December 1921 and Louis Lawson on 25 October 1921, making Louis two months older.

Ronnie Moore rode from 1950 - 1972. Barry Briggs 1952 - 1975.

The Grants - Alec, Rob, Rob.

Tom Farndon (England) Vic Duggan (Australia) Ivan Mauger (New Zealand) Ove Fundin (Sweden) Hans Nielsen (Denmark) Jack Milne (USA) Tomasz Gollob (Poland)

Graham Miles? Yes, it could be. Why has no-one ever mentioned this before?