Unauthorised item in the bagging area

Monday 18 July 2011

Meetings With Footballers 1


I'm not sure exactly when this photo was taken, sometime around the 70s turning into the 80s. That's me in the middle and my younger brother Z on the left. The gent on the right is Manchester United legend Bobby Charlton. A building society in Didsbury, M20, launched itself on a Saturday morning with a promotion where if you opened an account with them (minimum deposit, one whole pound) you got your picture taken with Bobby. So, me and Z trooped up the road from Withington to Didsbury, not quite believing the actual Bobby Charlton would be there, and opened our accounts. The photo turned up a few days later, signed by Bobby. Z still has the photo in his possession. It's worth noting that out of the three people in the picture Bobby is the one who looks most now like he did then. I wish I could still get my hair to look like it did then.

Radio 4 is the final track on Public Image Ltd's barnstorming 1979 Metal Box lp, the flood gate opener for post-punk. After four sides of Wobble's dub basslines, Levene's scraping guitar, the skittering rhythms and Lydon's caterwauling, Radio 4 was a moment of beauty and respite- drumless, synthchords, virtual strings, post-punk classical. Probably the only thing on the record Bobby Charlton could listen to.

No comments: