A knock on the door

The sight of a hunched and broken Stuart Hall shuffling into Manchester crown court yestersday was a sad one. The football pundit, and star of 'It's a Knock-out' has been arrested for alleged sex offences against minors and young people which seem to be a knock on affect to the Jimmy Savile sex scandal. Stuart is 83, and the offences date from the 1970's and 80's

Jim Davidson is the latest high profile individual to be accused of similar acts, and he was arrested last week as he flew into England to take part in Celebrity Big Brother.

The facts behind the Saville case seem to be well proven as more and more BBC personnel indicate that his habits were well known and brushed under the carpet, as things were in those days. Saville is not around to defend himself, and one wonders why it has suddenly become big news? Cyril Smith, the ex-MP for Rochadale and another larger than life character has also had allegations thrown at him which he too cannot answer.

Quite why Max Clifford has been accused  needs some explaining, as it is unlikely he was anytrhing other than a run of the mill hack at the time of the allegations made against him. Jim Davidson, Stuart Hall and other TV and radio personalities were all high profile figures with easy access to fans and at the height of their fame were unlikely to be lacking  in male or  female company as was their preference.

It all seems to be gathering momentum as a result of more and more potential victims jumping on the band waggon and hoping for a few quid at the end of it. They give little regard to the affect on the individulas and their families.

There are , of course, two sides to every story, and these victims may well have been subjected to sexual assaults of a style which would be unacceptable today, and these acts could have been tearing them apart ever since.. Why, though,  did they not call it out when it happened? Were the victims part of what would be described as the 'groupie' culture, and saw any sort of attention as a playground plus point? Only now do they think they will get a fair hearing for their contributary negligence. We shall see.

In the meantime I just hope no dissapointed girlfriends of mine are looking for retribution.

Smoke gets in your eyes.

An article in the Daily Telegraph at the weekend indicated that Stuart Hall was nearly 78. He will be remembered by most people as the linchpin of the 'Its a knockout' television programme, a roll he shared with Eddie Waring . Eddie was primarily a rugby league commentator and made such phases as " he's off for an early bath" and "an op and under" into household sayings.

Stuart, however, has been something of a cult hero since the programme ended as he continues to provide summaries on Radio 5 Live for Saturday afternoon sports listeners. He has been providing commentary for almost 50 years, and will be continuing that service during the coming season. In the article it mentions that his first ever game was Sheffield Wednesday v Leicester in 1958, a match which ended 4-4, and was played almost entirely in fog. He had no idea what was happening so made everything up. It clearly served him well.

Fog has also played a part in embellishing the folk law status of the Kop terracing at Anfield, home of Liverpool FC.. A match was played there once and visibility was so bad that when Liverpool scored at the other end the Kop had to chat "Can you tell us who just scored, can you teeeelll us, who just scored?" A reply came back through the fog "Kevin Keegan, Kevin Keegan" to which the Kop replied paraphrasing the famous Scaffold hit single "Thankyou very much, thankyou very, very, very, very much".

Years before that at the time Stuart Hall was just starting out, England rugby teams used to be selected after a traditional game at Twickenham between the Probables and the Possibles. On this occasion fog again conspired to play a part to the extent that the selectors needed to run along the touchlines trying to see who was doing what, or listening out for shouts of encouragement to help them decide on their international side.

Throughout the game they heard such phrases as 'well played Johnston-Taylor', or 'good tackle Johnston-Taylor, or even ' excellent play Johnston-Taylor. Faced with such comments the selectors had no hesitation in selecting said player for the upcoming Five National Championship. It was only some years later that Johnston-Taylor was gracious enough to admit that it was indeed he who had called out praising himself throughout the match. His cunning stunt being rewarded with several subsequent caps.