Author Topic: There's a Golden "Anniversary" Sky  (Read 8760 times)

Offline WOOLTONIAN

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There's a Golden "Anniversary" Sky
« on: October 8, 2004, 01:05:32 pm »
Getting you arl fellahs to remember things is getting harder and harder, but hoping to spark a memory or two, here we go. Dicky Valentine was singing “Finger of Suspicion”, Frank Sinatra was singing “Three Coins in a Fountain”, but the one yer most likely to remember is, Rosemary Clooney singing, “This Ole House” ...

This ole house once knew his children
This ole house once knew his wife
This ole house was home and comfort
As they fought the storms of life
This old house once rang with laughter
This old house heard many shouts
Now he trembles in the darkness
When the lightnin' walks about

Chorus:
Ain't a-gonna need this house no longer
Ain't a-gonna need this house no more
Ain't got time to fix the shingles
Ain't got time to fix the floor
Ain't got time to oil the hinges
Nor to mend the windowpane
Ain't a-gonna need this house no longer
He's a-gettin' ready to meet the saints


This ole house is a-gettin' shaky
This ole house is a-gettin' old
This ole house lets in the rain
This ole house lets in the cold
On his knees I'm gettin' chilly
But he feel no fear nor pain
'Cause he see an angel peekin'
Through a broken windowpane

Chorus

This ole house is afraid of thunder
This ole house is afraid of storms
This ole house just groans and trembles
When the night wind flings its arms
This ole house is gettin' feeble
This old house is needin' paint
Just like him it's tuckered out
But he's a-gettin' ready to meet the saints

Chorus

This ole house dog lies a-sleepin'
He don't know I'm gonna leave
Else he'd wake up by the fireplace
And he'd sit there and howl and grieve
But my huntin' days are over
Ain't gonna hunt the coon no more
Gabriel done brought in my chariot
When the wind blew down the door

Chorus

With that out of the way and a dim light beginning to shine in the portals of what’s left of them grey cells, here we go. Not many will realise how close we are, to one of the most famous anniversaries in the history of our beloved club.
Liverpool were sitting in the 2nd Division, while Everton were riding high on the hogs back in the Top Flight. Everton were favourites to win the FA Cup and Liverpool were given little, if any hope.

I wonder whether my parents realise they are approaching a “Golden Anniversary”? 50 Years ago in season 1954/55, two “Teddies” danced the night away, while two girls in “Teddies” waited for them elsewhere.

Young Billy had had numerous jobs since leaving school, none of which held great memories for him. In late 1951, the postman put an end to his so far, far from great employment record. National Service would send him to exotic places like Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaya. But his first port of call, like so many, was the delights of Catterick.

The dreaded unwanted, unpaid “stripe” had been awarded early to the 6 foot Scouser. Memories of the Far East are mixed. Talk of Army duties will always remain locked away, but nights on the town will be remembered until his final days. The story about the future preacher who fell in love with a Singapore “hooker” will have me chuckling for a long time, although it is a tale of sadness as well as humour. But until these stories appear in x-rated magazines, the story will have to remain a “pub tale”.

Back on the streets of his beloved Garston four years later, he had matured into a bull of a man. And Friday night was his night. For all the bollocks he gave my son and I later in life about spending an hour in front of the mirror, I’m assured by his Mam he spent just as long getting the “Elvis Style” quiff just right.

Would it be Dingle or would he stay closer to home tonight ?

He had to ponder the question as he needed some cash for tomorrow. The following night he had a date. The destination of The Rialto had been decided on last week, when Gerry and Billy had first met the two girls. His first proper date for a long time, young Billy had to make a good impression. He decided on a visit to his local and finish the night with his father in The Matchworks.

The talk of the pub, was the following days game. All the talking was being done by the local blue boys. Would it be five or would it be six they mockingly joked. It was best for a Red to keep it shut. We only had “one player” but he was more than capable of performing a miracle. Rumour had it, he had the ear of God. At least he spoke to him often enough. The banter continued ...

Hickson would score a bag-full ...
Lello would have Jackson in his pocket ...
King Billy wouldn’t get a kick of the ball ...

Heavily outnumbered by the blue boys, young Billy bit his tongue. After a couple of hours, Garston’s very own 6 foot “Elvis” had had enough, time to catch up with his arl fellah. Things didn’t improve, the blue boys were everywhere. A couple of milds and several rums later, Yanner and his young son decided to make their way home. After all. proclaimed the famous movie, “Tomorrow was another day“.

Winkle pickers shined, drain pipes ironed the young lad bade his Mam farewell. The lads had agreed to meet in The Sandon and then walk across Stanley Park together. Malaya was not the only place that had “Snipers”.

72,000 fans packed Woodison that day, the majority were chatting about a mauling in the making. Billy and young Gerry Flaherty had entered the amphitheatre to support “The Christians”.

The game started well for the Garstonian and Dinglite. Liddell was giving Jones the roasting of his life (before it was a sexual offence). Jackson was having all his own way with Lello and Rankin. Was this going to be the day when The Christians actually ate the Lions?

17 minutes in, a quick free kick by Geoff Twentyman found Jackson, he rounded Lello and fired in a cross. Billy Liddell “he who performs miracles” caught the ball on the chest. As the ball dropped he pulled the trigger of his left foot ...

BANG

... the power with which Billy hit the ball could be heard at the other end of the ground. The net nearly tore with the ferocity of the shot. The two Southenders went wild.

The Brylcreem Boys were jiving for all their worth.

In contrast to the sluggish, over confident blues, Liverpool were quicker into the tackle and much more direct in their style of play. Liddell continued to give Jones his very own nightmare. It must have been hard for Jones, deciding which way Liddell would go. His ability to use both feet equally well was beyond the capabilities of even the best centre halves, let alone the cumbersome and flat footed Jones. All Billy had to do is push it past Jones and evade the flying boots.

His partner Evans was also having his best game for a while. In fact all the Redmen were enjoying success all over the pitch. Laurie Hughes was not allowing Hickson a kick of the ball - the so-called "Blue Bagfull" was beginning to look like a pipe dream. Close to the half hour, Liverpool were awarded another free kick. Evans, Anderson and Liddell took their places in the crowded penalty area. As the ball came across, Liddell had misjudged his run, Evans was also not able to connect, worse still his run had put off Anderson. However the ball found it’s way to A’Court who was having a quiet game, until now ...

He trapped the ball and went closer, O’Neill came off his line to meet A’Court, he met A’Court but the ball was already past him, and it settled in the corner of the net. Two boys with equally impressive “Quiffs” went wild.

In the second half Evans pounced on an O’Neill error when he couldn’t hold a shot from Jackson. At 3-0 the Red boys were planning a night on the town. Everton didn’t look like turning this one around. By the time Evans scored his second, a bullet header twenty minutes later, the ratio between blue and red in the ground was getting closer.

For all their Jibing, the Reds were Jiving !!!

4-0 to The Tricky Reds and the Blues were leaving in their droves. Billy and Gerry were planning a night never to be forgotten.

Two girls stood outside the Rialto that night, first date excitement was overwhelming them. Half an hour later they were shifting about to keep their feet warm. Bunty and Angela may well have forgiven them over the next 50 years, but the only jiving going on that night, was in town, two miles away ...

where the two lads were PAINTING the town RED !

Happy Anniversary, you four!

Wooly (son of Bill & Bunt)

© Wooltonian 2004
« Last Edit: October 14, 2004, 05:06:47 am by Rushian »
Living descendant of Sir Thomas Brodrick, Vice Admiral of the Red in the 18th Century

Offline nidgemo

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Re: There's a Golden "Anniversary" Sky
« Reply #1 on: October 8, 2004, 01:14:07 pm »
1. Like I'm going to remember that

2. Wasn't that Shakin Stevens (the Welsh Elvis  :lmao)

3. Cracking thread as ever Wolly. Enjoyed it!
I'm no longer on RAWK, but if you need to contact me about anything, you can email me on nigelmorrison@connectfree.co.uk

Offline Harry_Wong

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Re: There's a Golden "Anniversary" Sky
« Reply #2 on: October 8, 2004, 05:20:51 pm »
Shocking behaviour, standing the young ladies up.  :'(

An outstanding post about the club we've inherited.

Thanks.

Bill Shankly invites reporters into the changing room to meet his new captain, Ron Yeats:
"I've just signed a colossus. Come in and walk round him…"
1961-71: Promoted 1st season, 2 Championships, 1 FA Cup

Offline Bannside Red

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Re: There's a Golden "Anniversary" Sky
« Reply #3 on: October 8, 2004, 07:45:26 pm »
Another classic Karl, keep them coming.  :thumbup

Offline The Fletcher Memorial

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Re: There's a Golden "Anniversary" Sky
« Reply #4 on: October 8, 2004, 07:55:05 pm »
You're a class act sir!

I am humbled in your presence!

 ;D
The sky does not know of east or of west;
it is in the minds of men where such distinctions are made, and then they believe them to be true.

Offline Rushian

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Re: There's a Golden "Anniversary" Sky
« Reply #5 on: October 8, 2004, 09:38:09 pm »
top work as ever mate  :D
If you're going to sign up on Betfair and fancy getting a free £25 on sign-up then use my refer code 749DCNQGK and I'll also get a £25 bonus ;)

Offline Maggie May

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Re: There's a Golden "Anniversary" Sky
« Reply #6 on: October 8, 2004, 10:45:53 pm »
Exhilarated and exhausted after reading that.  Thank you.  Truly magnificent.
Rather a day as a lion than a lifetime as a sheep.

I can only be nice to one person a day.  Today is not your day.  Tomorrow doesn't look too good either.
I tried being reasonable.  I didn't like it.  Old enough to know better.  Young enough not to give a fuck.

Offline Red Lozza

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Re: There's a Golden "Anniversary" Sky
« Reply #7 on: October 8, 2004, 10:58:37 pm »
Great read, enjoyed that.  :)

Offline Mottman

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Re: There's a Golden "Anniversary" Sky
« Reply #8 on: October 9, 2004, 10:29:57 am »
Cracking read Karl,

I have seen highlights of this game on one of the LFC video's. This was a real giant killing affair, in those day's Everton certainly held the bragging rights in the City.

I can remember my Dad telling us about this game, I don't think he got home until the next day the celebrations lasted for day's.  Sadly we were beaten at home in the next round by Huddersfield.

Here is a picture of the 1953 -54 team

A boy from the Mersey and a Son of Shankly.

Offline The Fletcher Memorial

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Jack Westby
« Reply #9 on: October 10, 2004, 10:14:00 am »
Liverpool v Everton 1942.
Team was: Back Row: Easdale, Kaye, Hobson, Pilling, Westby, Gullive,
Front Row: Liddell, Taylor, Balmer, Shannon, Welsh.
Liverpool won 2-1. Liddell and Shannon scored. 
Date: September 12 1945

This the best I could come up with MOTTMAN.

Jack Westby, born 20th May 1916 in Aintree.

(photo from Liverpool history online)



« Last Edit: October 10, 2004, 11:09:19 am by Rushian »
The sky does not know of east or of west;
it is in the minds of men where such distinctions are made, and then they believe them to be true.

Offline Mottman

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Re: Jack Westby
« Reply #10 on: October 10, 2004, 10:31:44 am »
Cheers for this.. Jack Wesby was our PE teacher in the 60's & early 70's.

He was one of the most passionate Liverpudlians I have ever met in my life, a hard man - but very fair.

As far as I know Jack's still around [He was in the Bootle Times earlier this year] he still play's indoor tennis.
 
Is he Liverpool's oldest surviving player?
A boy from the Mersey and a Son of Shankly.

Offline The Fletcher Memorial

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Re: Jack Westby
« Reply #11 on: October 10, 2004, 10:41:15 am »
He must of had some cracking stories to tell? Would be nice to find him & get them & any more pics archived.

Is he Liverpool's oldest surviving player?

Good question!
Surely must be, take some finding out that though  ;)
The sky does not know of east or of west;
it is in the minds of men where such distinctions are made, and then they believe them to be true.

Offline Mottman

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Re: Jack Westby
« Reply #12 on: October 10, 2004, 10:47:47 am »
I have sent Mark Platt [LFC.TV] an e-mail to see if he know's who is the oldest surviving player.
A boy from the Mersey and a Son of Shankly.

Offline Mottman

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Re: Jack Westby
« Reply #13 on: October 10, 2004, 11:07:20 am »
20 August 1974.

2nd game of the season - Wolves away. We'd travelled down to Woverhampton with hardly any money between us [not enough to pay to get in].  Thousands had made the trip for the 0.0 night time match.  We had a walk around the ground, just having a gander... nothing sinister? Walk's past the Wolves ticket office and bump's into Jack and a few of the other teachers from our school.

Have a gab and that, we suddenly they all huddle together then turnaround and give us enough money to pay to get in the ground. As you can imagine, we were over the moon.

Next PE lesson in school, we thanked him he just played it down and said "He was just happy he could help"

 ;) 

 
A boy from the Mersey and a Son of Shankly.

Offline The Fletcher Memorial

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Re: Jack Westby
« Reply #14 on: October 10, 2004, 11:26:06 am »
Sounds like a cracking fella & a true gent!

Superb stuff.

More!  :)
The sky does not know of east or of west;
it is in the minds of men where such distinctions are made, and then they believe them to be true.

Offline Murf

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Re: Jack Westby
« Reply #15 on: October 10, 2004, 11:27:18 am »
Nice story that Rob,how old was he when he packed in teaching then
never forget the 96....... justice   www.contrast.org/hillsborough

NO GAME ON APRIL THE 15th please write to

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Offline Mottman

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Re: Jack Westby
« Reply #16 on: October 10, 2004, 12:56:38 pm »
Don't know John, he was still teaching after I left school.
A boy from the Mersey and a Son of Shankly.

Offline Murf

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Re: There's a Golden "Anniversary" Sky
« Reply #17 on: October 10, 2004, 04:24:24 pm »
Gret read that Karl,wouldnt have looked on this thread for the Jack Wesby thread,thanks Robbie,trying to put a photo album together.
never forget the 96....... justice   www.contrast.org/hillsborough

NO GAME ON APRIL THE 15th please write to

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Offline Mottman

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Re: There's a Golden "Anniversary" Sky
« Reply #18 on: October 10, 2004, 10:42:31 pm »
Musical tale of two cities Jul 5 2004
 
As the music world celebrates 50 years of rock 'n' roll, Paul du Noyer looks at Liverpool's role in rock history.
 
NOW, it's a mighty long way down rock'n'roll/from the Liverpool Docks to the Hollywood Bowl."

Mott The Hoople's classic song, All The Way From Memphis, makes the link between the twin capital cities of music - Liverpool and Memphis.

There are plenty of places WHERE music is made. but there are few cities that provide the reason WHY music is made.

Liverpool and Memphis are soulmates. Together they shaped the popular culture of the 20th century. For that reason alone they merit the sort of attention that historians have previously reserved for Rome and Athens.

Memphis has rightly been called "the cradle of the blues and rock'n'roll's home town".

Liverpool has a plausible claim to the title of pop culture's global HQ.

The two seminal events in rock music were Elvis Presley's arrival at the Sun Studio, Memphis on July 5, 1954 - and the meeting of John Lennon with Paul McCartney at a Liverpool summer fair on July 6, 1957.

Modest events at the time, each proved cataclysmic in the development of modern music.

But their historic impact was only possible because of the uniquely fertile cities in which they occurred.

Glance at a map and the clues begin to reveal themselves. Beside the mighty Mississippi in the heart of the American south, Memphis was a crossroads of commerce; the bright hope of an army of rural immigrants in search of a better life.

Liverpool, where the Mersey led to the international shipping lanes, was the conduit for every commodity from cattle to cotton. Amid appalling poverty, Liverpool grew into one of the Empire's wealthiest ports. And Memphis enjoyed a comparable boom.

For a generation of African Americans, Memphis was at least a taste of relative freedom; for the hundreds of thousands of Irish people fleeing famine, Liverpool was their nearest chance of food and shelter.
Many colours and creeds sought succour in these cities. The desperate energy of migrant populations and their heartfelt need for beauty and self expression are somewhere in the very souls of Memphis and Liverpool.

Neither city has had an easy history. The bitterest divisions of American history found their European echo in Liverpool: in defiance of the British Empire it once flew Confederate flags from every high building. Racial and sectarian conflicts were endemic to both cities.

Yet it can be said, without sentimentality, that music proved to have a healing power.

The young Elvis Presley, a white country boy whose parents moved to Memphis, grew up on the Negro blues and gospel that his new home made available - mainly via the radio.

The Beatles were born into a cosmopolitan city unlike anywhere else in Europe: a raw compound of British tradition, Celtic romanticism, Afro-Caribbean vigour and ready exposure to imported American sounds.

Memphis is the birthplace of stars, from Aretha Franklin to Justin Timberlake. It's been the home of legends such as Elvis Presley and Al Green. And as any reputable jukebox could tell you, it's repeatedly name-checked in the funkiest songs ever written, whether it be W. C. Handy's Beale Street Blues or Credence Clearwater Revival's Proud Mary.

Above all, though, Memphis is a recording centre with a glorious track record.

The greatest label of Southern soul, Stax, was built around the historic multi-racial house band of Booker T & The MG's (short for The Memphis Group). They were the engine for epic hits by Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett and others. Across town at Hi Records, the gifted producer Willie Mitchell worked with vocalist supreme Al Green.

Other important studios have been Ardent and Chips Moman's American. From the former came Big Star, an early 70s rock band led by Alex Chilton and Chris Bell. It became the rock'n'roll cult band par excellence.

Big Star's members were, ironically just a few of the Memphis boys whose heads were entirely turned around by the 1964 arrival in the US of The Beatles.

For if Memphis had taught the world to rock, Liverpool was its star pupil. Rock'n'roll and R'n'B were swiftly taken up in a city primed by long years of US interaction. Britain's first real rock star Billy Fury, came from the Liverpool docklands.

By 1962, Liverpool teamed with teenage beat groups attacking American music with energy and passion, if not always expertise, in the formof Merseybeat. They took the driving rhythms of rock and soul but also the close harmonies and songcraft of US pop, to produce something utterly fresh.

By the mid 70s those creative juices were flowing again. At the centre of the action was a new club, Eric's, just across Mathew Street from the site of the Cavern; within a decade the scene here would generate a massive number of punk and new wave luminaries such as Elvis Costello, Echo & The Bunnymen, Frankie Goes to Hollywood and Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark.

A little later came The La's - rather in the Big Star tradition, they wield a posthumous influence out of all proportion to their commercial success at the time.

It's remained the most musical of English cities to this day, whether through dance clubs like Cream, fun pop acts like Atomic Kitten or vibrant rock bands like The Coral.

This year, we've seen Memphis celebrated across the world for its historic role in rock's "official" 50th birthday. And 2008 will see Liverpool honoured as Europe's Capital of Culture.

More than ever before, the glory of these cities resides in music.

And, like the mighty Mississippi and the magical Mersey, the beat goes on ... .


http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/0800beatles/0050news/tm_objectid=14394896&method=full&siteid=50061&headline=musical-tale-of-two-cities-name_page.html



 
A boy from the Mersey and a Son of Shankly.