norbold

I'm glad you enjoyed your visit, Bob. But your posting reminds me that I think I should say that George will no longer be at the Museum. As we know George and Linda have put in a tremendous amount of work to get the museum up and running over the last couple of years and have now decided to take a bit of a rest from the day to day running. I think we all owe them a big debt of gratitude for putting their life on hold and creating the Museum speedway supporters have been wanting for years. As Bob says there is a new manager there now, Debbie, who those of you involved at Sittingbourne will probably know. We shall be having a Committee meeting Tuesday week to resolve a few issues about how the museum will be run from now on. No dramatic changes, but we have relied an awful lot on George and Linda, so it's time to take a new look at its running and organisation. I'll let you know what's decided.

I'm surprised you haven't mentioned this on the Who Was The Tallest Ever Rider thread...

Have you ever had that feeling of deja vu?

Not only do I know that but I also know Bob Andrews quite well.

Are you sure you're not thinking of Bob Andrews?

Hi annie Welcome to the Forum. As you will see people are expecting me to answer this because Tom Farndon is my all-time hero. The greatest speedway rider ever in my opinion. He won hundreds of trophies in his time so I am not exactly sure what the trophy is that you have. I'll make some investigations and see if I can find out...unless anyone else knows.

Yes, but the retro-speedway site also covers the VSM as well which goes back to the beginning. Incidentally, I think the site is looking really good now, Tony. And when you do get a bit more of the vintage stuff on it will be even better!

BBC teletext (or whatever the digital equivalent is called) normally only has results and fixtures for speedway, but yesterday they had a report on Chris's win.

Ronnie Moore rode for Australia in Test matches in 1950,51,52 and 53. He then switched to New Zealand and also rode for them in 1953. In 1954 the two countries were combined anyway to form an Australasian team and he rode for that from 1954 to 1960. He turned out again for New Zealand in 1969,70 and 72 and rode for Great Britain in 1969,70 and 71.

He won the London Riders' Championship in 1930. The nearest he came to the Star Riders' Championship was runner-up in 1935. As I explained on another thread I did try to meet him when I was researching my Wembley book but I was unable to. I know some other people who tried to contact him in his last few years but they were unsuccessful as well. I think he had been very ill for some time.

Sad news: I see Jack Ormston died last Friday.

I think he is 97 and Gordon Byers, 96.

Yes and not only that but Jack Ormston also qualified for the 1930 Star Riders' Final (the forerunner of the World Championship) and came second in the 1935 Star Riders' Final. Gordon Byers qualified for the 1932 Star Riders' Final. He is also still alive.

Yes, Louis Lawson and Cyril Roger are still with us. I am almost certain that Cliff Watson isn't, but not 100%. Vic Duggan, who qualified for the 1939 final, is still alive. Though, of course he didn't ride in it because it wasn't held! Also Jack Ormston, who rode in the first-ever final in 1936, is still alive.

The News of the World certainly sponsored the Southern League in the early days but the major cup was the Daily Mail National Trophy...which should give some clue as to who it was sponsored by!

I last saw Norman Hunter at High Beech this year and I didn't recognise him!

They sponsored the News of the World Belt at Crystal Palace in 1928.

John Poyser is living on Oxfordshire somewhere. I don't know about Norman Storer.

You could also ask what the middle pedal is for on a car....

The worst place for this is Hackney, because you know there could have been - and still could be - a track there...

No. But they don't seem to be asking for teams for a new series yet.

We entered a team consisting of AndyM, Kevin Meynell, Donsking, T.N.T. and me...but we didn't even get to the rehearsal stage...

I saw it as well. Vic did well to get to the final. I hate to mention this but I did get all five of his final questions right myself. Perhaps it's the pressure in the studio. Now to try again for Eggheads!

I believe Ian is still living in Swindon.

That's interesting, BOBBATH as the story I have heard is that Aub Lawson went to the other two (Williams and Waterman) and asked them if Biggs had "said anything to them", meaning had he asked them to stay out of his way as he only needed one point. When they said that he hadn't they decided to "deal" with him for being too arrogant to ask for help. I have never heard that story about Split Waterman before. Of course the fact of the matter was that Biggs had made four lightning starts in his first four races and did not feel the need to ask anyone for help, especially as Lawson and Williams were not having the best of nights. If he'd got the same sort of start that he'd been experiencing all evening it wouldn't have mattered what the others did as Biggs would have been away. Unfortunately, for him, this time he was drawn on the outside and gated slower than Lawson (in no. 3) who took him out wide. Whether the story about the others "fixing" him or not is true, I think nerves had more to do with his defeat that night that anything else. P.S. Even if Lawson and Williams tried to help Waterman by staying out of his way, Biggs only needed one point to win the title, so it wouldn't have mattered if Waterman had won if Biggs had come 2nd or 3rd.