norbold

I remember seeing him at New Cross.

Eric Chitty was one of those who missed his best chance at the World Title because of the War. He was probably at his peak in the early 40s. He won the War Time British Championship at Belle Vue three years running, 1940 - 42.

All very good riders of course. Sprouts Elder had quite a short career but was certainly one of the leading riders in the very early days of the late 20s. He didn't really continue on for long, so a bit difficult to make too many comparisons. Ron Johnson is, of course, one of my heroes. Started in this country at Crystal Palace in 1928 and remained with the Crystal Palace/New Cross set up until New Cross closed in 1963, though his last year of actually riding was 1960. Althoigh he had been one of the top riders throughout the 1930s, perhaps his best period was just Post War. For longevity he is right up there. An early Greg Hancock! Frank Varey was another great in a team of great riders at pre-War Belle Vue. He was maybe a bit overshadowed by being Eric Langton's partner, but together, they were arguably the best team pairing ever. Dent Oliver was good too, but I personally would not put him in the same class as the other three mentioned.

If we're now talking about Brits who have actually won the World title, my top 5 would be: 1. Craven 2. Collins 3. Lee 4. Williams 5. Price Nearly men: 1. Parker 2. Waterman 3. Langton 4. Simmons 5. Jessup Those who never had a chance (or past their best or at War at their best) 1. Farndon 2. Roger Frogley 3. Atkinson 4. Kempster 5. Lees

Thank you, chr. Your comments are very much appreciated. Tom Farndon had been a hero of mine ever since I read an article about him in the 1961 Speedway Star & News Digest. He seemed such an incredible man and and incredible rider. When I eventually got round to writing the biography, something I had wanted to do for many years in order to bring the exploits of this extraordinary man to an audience that had never seen him ride and many, I suspect, had never even heard of, I really enjoyed doing the research and meeting Betty Farndon, his daughter-in-law, and talking to her about the great man. The more I researched, the more I came to realise he was an even greater character than I had originally thought. Of course it is impossible to say who is "The Greatest Of Them All", Rob. In fact that subtitle was added by the publisher to help sell the book. It was not my idea - especially as by the time I wrote it I had become good friends with Ove Fundin! But I would certainly always include him in my top five, though, funnily enough, as a consequence of researching Tom and the riders he rode against in his period, I have to say that I also realised what a truly great rider Bluey Wilkinson was as well, and a real challenger to the Greatest title from more or less his own period.

Talking of Brit "nearly men", what about Ken McKinlay and Arthur Forrest? Or Ron How?

There fixed for you.

Yes.

It depends what you mean by 'nearly men'. There are a number of riders who never won the World Championship like Tom Farndon, Vic Huxley and Vic Duggan, but that's because they were at their peak when there was no World Championship, so they weren't really 'nearly' men. Of those that were around and failed to win for one reason or another, I think maybe Aub Lawson and Gote Nordin should be in the final along with Jack Parker (not just at reserve). As to the result I think Igor Plechanov would be hard to beat.

Harold was one brother, TWK. In fact he was the England captain. The other brother was riding on a Norwegian license.

I wonder how many people will understand this...

Thank you, chr. You never made it to Stamford Bridge then....

Yes, I agree, BWitcher. You're right. I wonder how the old time showman promoters like Johnnie Hoskins, Ronnie Greene and Freddie Mockford would have got on with today's audiences...

I remember seeing a challenge match race at West Ham between Barry Briggs and Bjorn Knutson. Briggo said that the fastest way round Custom House was round the outside, while Bjorn said it was round the inside, so they lined up with Bjorn off gate 1 and Briggo off gate 3. As soon as they started they crossed over with Bjorn taking the outside line and Briggo round the inside. Bjorn won, thus proving Briggo right!

Yes, you're probably right there. It's interesting you mention Ronnie Moore as well as one of the most naturally talented riders as he was a bit like Jack in regard to his approach to speedway. He was much more of a team man and once said that the most important thing to him in speedway was to see Wimbledon win. He used to treat the World Final just like any other individual meeting. He said, "If I won, I won, if I didn't, I didn't. It wasn't the end of the world. I used to look round the pits on final night and see other riders literally shaking they were so nervous. I thought that was just silly."

I took part in a BBC London radio broadcast and phone in a few years ago with the author of the book and the man behind the website, Paul Talling. He talked about lost sports stadiums in general and I spoke about the speedway tracks. I think there is a thread on it somewhere on the Forum.

This is the web site: http://www.derelictlondon.com/londons-long-lost-sports-grounds.html

In a way gustix raises an interesting point on your discussion with sommelier, Bwitcher. We know about riders like Jack Young, Jack Milne and Peter Craven because they were World Champions and had the record to prove how good they were. For all we know Cyclone Billy Lamont (for example) may well have been the most exciting rider of his era - or even of all time - but he is not as well remembered because he didn't get the results to go with it. The same will be true of Hancock over Gollob in 50 years time.

Actually, RP, joking aside, you're absolutely right and it is undoubtedly a good thing that that practice has been done away with.

The big question now is, what about stewed eels? Pick out your eel from the writhing plate of live eels in the shop window, watch the chef drop it into a pot of boiling water and be ready in time to have with your pie 'n' mash. Luvverly!

Thank you, chr. I might send you a bowl of jellied eels for Christmas.

Yes, now you mention it, I recall that incident. I'm not sure myself if that was the crash. I'll see if I can find out.

Call yourself an Eastender? Bah!

You know, chr, I never thought of that. Hmmm....could be good, though maybe a bit of a limited market?

Thank you, Ian. The review is up on Amazon.