IT’S been 35 years since that memorable broadcast by an ecstatic Norwegian football commentator after his country shocked England with a 2-1 victory in a World Cup qualifier in Oslo.
Many of those that weren’t even born in 1981 have heard, or even quote the pay-off line to Bjørge Lillelien’s radio coverage: “Your boys took a hell of a beating.”
It’s a great line but I always enjoyed his choice of great Britons in a list of names he used to illustrate the magnitude of his nation’s feat.
Lillelien said: “We’ve beaten England 2-1 in football! It’s absolutely unbelievable! We’ve beaten England! England, birthplace of giants – Lord Nelson, Lord Beaverbrook, Sir Winston Churchill, Sir Anthony Eden, Clement Attlee, Henry Cooper, Lady Diana! We’ve beaten them all!
“Maggie Thatcher, can you hear me? Maggie Thatcher, I have a message for you: We have knocked England out of the World Cup in football. Maggie Thatcher, as they say in your language in the boxing bars round Madison Square Garden in New York: Your boys took a hell of a beating!”
Great stuff.
Why I mention it is that I was reflecting on the eclectic (or rag tag depending on your political stance) group of people who have banded together to campaign for Britain’s exit from the European Union in the forthcoming referendum.
Iain Duncan-Smith, Chris Grayling, George Galloway, Nigel Farage, Lord Lawson, Paul Sykes.
They’re not really names to inspire most Brits, never mind a Norwegian football commentator.
These individuals that are part of the Vote Leave campaign might have real passion on their side, but their diverse political views and personalities mean they are anything but a smooth functioning team with a slick campaign to match.
It appears they have gathered another supporter this week – John Longworth, chief executive of the British Chambers of Commerce, resigned from his post after expressing Brexit sympathies.
Longworth, a former Asda executive, was relatively unknown until his departure was announced.
Why he chose to voice an opinion when he was heading an organisation that had declared itself neutral in the EU debate is slightly odd.
Now it is reported he may be poised to team up with Vote Leave.
That’s another member to add to the Crazy Gang.
I’m not passionately in favour of staying in the EU or leaving. I just wonder whether I would vote for any of those people mentioned above?
And when it comes to George Galloway and Nigel Farage I doubt I could find anything to agree with either of them on.
I don’t think any of their utterances will ever be rated as the greatest cultural sayings in their country’s history.
Which is what Bjørge Lillelien can claim.
In 2012 United Nations cultural agency UNESCO and the Norwegian Arts Council jointly presented a list of archive documents to represent Norway in UNESCO’s Memory of the World programme.
In my book that’s one hell of an achievement.
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I’VE never quite understood why newspapers, struggling with tumbling sales, make their websites so clunky and cumbersome to navigate.
Then there are the pop-up advertisements which appear just as you are about to get to the point of an article.
It makes getting around the average newspaper website as easy as completing a level of a Dungeons and Dragons computer game.
But for once, and perhaps only once, I welcomed an advert that popped up on my screen when I was looking at a football website the other evening.
A stunning photograph of Sutton Bank in North Yorkshire appeared, followed by an image of York Minster bathed in evening sunlight and similarly beautiful shots of the Lake District and Lancaster and Northumberland.
It was all part of a campaign to promote British tourist destinations called This is Great Britain in which Welcome to Yorkshire is involved.
At last – an inspiring pop-up internet advert that gets the right reaction.
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SUPERMARKET group Morrisons’ latest financial results were announced yesterday and they didn’t show any improvement.
The Bradford-based chain reported underlying pre-tax profits had fallen from £345m to £242m in the year to January 31, further evidence that the price war in the supermarket sector is continuing.
Chief executive David Potts’ comments accompanying the results had a more positive ring to them.
“By improving the shopping trip for customers, we have started the journey to turn around the business and make our supermarkets strong,” he declared.
He’s talking a good game.
I have no idea whether this former Tesco director will successfully complete his “journey”, but his comments will certainly help the battered morale of the chain’s employees and perhaps encourage customers who have gone elsewhere to give Morrisons another try.
And they contrast with the seemingly unrelenting negativity of Asda boss Andy Clarke whenever he is quoted about the Leeds-based supermarket’s trading performance.
I’m not saying that gilding the lily should be the approach, but sometimes you have to focus on accentuating the positive – particularly in the retail sector.
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DID you mark International Women’s Day this week?
No neither did I.
Working in an office with two women, it certainly presents a contrast to the no holds-barred politically incorrect world of newspaper newsrooms where I used to toil.
Although my female colleagues do sometimes frown at some of my off-the-cuff utterances.
And whilst I’ve never been a chauvinist (it’s absolutely true, love), I find the idea of having to have an International Women’s Day a bit disappointing.
I read a piece by Emma Stapleton, a director of Yorkshire-based but international creative and branding agency Elmwood, on the Prolific North media website this week that argued that such a day is “a bit of a cop-out”.
She said: “To achieve real equality we need to focus on progressing individuals, not fulfilling gender quotas in an office. I’d love to live in a world where your merit came down to you as an individual. I’m happy to be judged by my vision, personality and values. You can judge me on anything, but my gender.”
Perhaps I am now less of a dinosaur, because I really do agree.
Have a great weekend.