Celebrating 1066 and the Battle of Hastings

1066 is probably the most memorable date in English history.  On October 14^th (now officially Hastings Day) that year Harold, the last Anglo-Saxon king of England and most of his army with him were cut down at the Battle of Hastings, and William, Duke of Normandy earned his nickname “William the Conqueror”. William, who was using Hastings as his base, then claimed the crown and changed the way England was governed forever.

Unlike the Scots who sing national anthems (unofficial) about fighting the English and the Welsh can’t get over the military campaigns and begrudge the castles of Edward I (even though they generate lots of tourist revenue) it is a curious fact that the English actually celebrate and embrace the 1066 Battle of Hastings. I suppose this says a lot about the nature of the English because instead of sulking behind a defensive nationalist barrier and bristling with rage and resentment we have actually hijacked the event and reorganised our subsequent history around it.

After the successful invasion William the Normans set about imposing their military domination and completely reforming the previous Anglo Saxon administrative and political  regime and they were so successful that modern English history really starts from that date.  The subjugation and the transformation was so completely successful because the English (except Hereward the Wake of course) recognised the benefits of this, allowed it to happen and simply got on with their lives.  They didn’t sit in caves watching spiders or retreat to Anglesey to brood and get angry about it.

Today the French irreverently refer to the English as Anglo-Saxons (in the same way that we refer to them as Frogs) but their description is entirely incorrect because for a thousand years we have been Norman-English whereas the French do eat frogs!

In 1966, I was twelve years old and England went into a frenzy as the 900th anniversary was celebrated and it was such a success that Hastings Borough Council decided to mark the date every year as Hastings Day.

On the build up to the event there were commemorative stamps and gold coins, tea towels, pencil sets and mugs and everyone got in on the act: “Battle of Hastings 1066—Bottle of Guinness 1966” frothed a thousand billboards. ‘Whoosh! It’s another big breakaway conquest,’ proclaimed the makers of Bri-Nylon clothing in advertisements showing mounted Bri-Nyloned models setting out against the Saxons and another alternative version of the battle showed the Norman warriors armed with Desoutter Power Tools.  Heinz offered a chance to enter an archery contest in which the first 1,066 winners would be rewarded with Kenwood Chef food mixers.  Every English town that could claim the remotest connection with either Harold or William beckoned tourists with such  attractions as Conquest puppet shows, town-crier contests and battle re-enactments by grown men who still liked dressing up and playing soldiers.

  

Naturally, in the forefront of all this  was Hastings, which, as its local newspaper proudly pointed out, ‘is better known internationally than almost any other town.’  To give the anniversary its deserved importance and promote tourism, the Hastings Town Council spent a small fortune building a triple-domed exhibition hall called the Triodome.  The principal exhibit was intended to be the great Bayeux Tapestry but the tapestry is the property of the town of Bayeux in Normandy, which, fearing damage to the precious artefact, refused to lend it for the occasion, and so, rather than sulk,  like the Greeks and the Elgin Marbles, Hastings produced its own.

The Hastings Embroidery was made by the Royal School of Needlework in 1965. It took twenty-two embroiderers ten months to finish and it was intended to be a modern day equivalent of the Bayeux Tapestry.  It consists of twenty-seven panels, each nine by three foot, and shows eighty-one great events in British history during the nine-hundred years from 1066 to 1966.

The Embroidery is worked in appliqué by hand, with the addition of couched threads and cords in the same way as the Bayeux Tapestry.  It incorporates tweed from Scotland, fabrics from the Victoria and Albert Museum, and feathers from London Zoo.  When completed it went on public display in Hastings, firstly in the Town Hall and then at the White Rock Pavilion.  The Embroidery is currently in storage, and, despite local campaigns to have it brought out of the bottom drawer, apart from two panels on permanent display in the Town Hall, it is not on public display.  The reason given is that to preserve the cloth and appliqué that special storage displays would have to made and the cost would be prohibitive.  I can’t help thinking there may be another reason – perhaps it isn’t that good?

I began this article by trying to rise above patriotic smugness but I cannot finish without reminding the French that, in a delicious twist of fate, less than three months before the 900 year celebrations of a French victory over the Anglo Saxons, England beat France in the World Cup group stages by two goals to nil.  France finished bottom in the group, England finished top and went on to win the Jules Rimet trophy!

World Cup Willie

In 1966 England won the Jules Rimet Football World Cup and the official mascot for the team was a Lion called World Cup Willie who wore a Union Flag shirt of red, white and blue.  In hindsight this was strange because this was England that were playing and not the United Kingdom, but as none of the other home nations were in the finals I suppose England generously believed that they were representing Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland as well.

Embarrassingly England’s first defeat after the World Cup was against Scotland at Wembley in 1967 and the Scottish team that included the footballing legends, Denis Law, Jim Baxter and Billy Bremner promptly declared themselves the new World Champions.  Sadly for them it didn’t work like that, it still doesn’t  and let’s face it they never will.  Yellowstone Crater will explode long before Scotland will win the World Cup, with or without independence.

World Cup Willie had a World Cup song that was not unsurprisingly called World Cup Willie that made number one in the hit parade and was sung by Lonnie Donegan (born 29^th April 1931) who was the first person to become famous playing skiffle music in the UK.  He was a guitar and banjo player who also played the washboard and the tea-chest bass and who had a lot of chart success in the 1950s and early 1960s.  Anecdotally it was Lonnie who supposedly  inspired John Lennon to learn guitar and form his first group, The Quarrymen.

What is strange about Lonnie singing the English World Cup song however is that although he was brought up in East Ham he was in fact born in Scotland.  I wonder where his loyalties were when Scotland beat England in 1967?  Apart from ‘World Cup Willie’, Lonnie is probably best remembered for another number one hit called ‘My old man’s a dustman’.

There’s a football fellah, you all know his name                                                               And the papers tell us he’s in the Hall of Fame                                                          Wherever he goes, he’ll be all the rage                                                                                ‘Cause he’s the new sensation of the age

Dressed in red, white and blue, he’s World Cup Willie                                                   We all love him too, World Cup Willie                                                                                 He’s tough as a lion and never will give up                                                                      That’s why Willie is fav’rite for the Cup Willie,                                                            Willie, he’s evry’body’s fav’rite for the Cup

Well, we’re all football crazy and it’s plain to see                                                              That we’re all so happy, like one big family                                                                       Now we’ve found someone who makes the rafters ring                                               Welcome to a brand new soccer King

Dressed in red, white and blue, he’s World Cup Willie                                                   We all love him too, World Cup Willie                                                                                 He’s tough as a lion and never will give up                                                                      That’s why Willie is fav’rite for the Cup Willie,                                                            Willie, he’s evry’body’s fav’rite for the Cup

All the fans are waiting, how they’ll spur him on                                                              And those sixty nations will soon know Willie’s song                                                         Wherever he goes, he’ll be all the rage                                                                             ‘Cause he’s the new sensation of the age

Dressed in red, white and blue, he’s World Cup Willie                                                   We all love him too, World Cup Willie                                                                                 He’s tough as a lion and never will give up                                                                      That’s why Willie is fav’rite for the Cup Willie,                                                            Willie, he’s evry’body’s fav’rite for the Cup

A Year in a Life – 14th October, 1066 And All That!

1066 is the most memorable date in English history. On October 14^th that year Harold, the last Anglo-Saxon king of England, and most of his army were cut down at the Battle of Hastings, and William, Duke of Normandy earned his nickname “William the Conqueror”.

‘1066 and All That’ is the title of the greatest historical pastiche in English, but that title enshrines a truth – the “all that” was extensive and enduring. A wine-drinking, French-speaking, castle-building aristocracy took over England in 1066.

Unlike the Scots who sing national anthems (unofficial) about fighting the English and the Welsh can’t get over the military campaigns and begrudge the castles of Edward I (even though they generate lots of tourist revenue) it is a curious fact that the English actually celebrate and embrace the 1066 Battle of Hastings. I suppose this says a lot about the nature of the English because instead of sulking behind a defensive nationalist barrier and bristling with rage and resentment we have actually hijacked the event and reorganised our subsequent history around it.

14 October (now, unofficially, Hastings Day) was the date in 1066 when King Harold lost the Battle of Hastings. William Duke of Normandy, who was using Hastings as his base, then claimed the crown and changed the way England was governed forever.

After the successful invasion William and the Normans set about imposing their military domination and completely reforming the previous administrative and political Anglo Saxon regime and they were so successful that modern English history really starts from that date.  The subjugation and the transformation was so completely successful because the English (except Hereward the Wake of course) recognised the benefits of this, allowed it to happen and simply got on with their lives.  They didn’t sit in caves watching spiders or retreat to Anglesey to brood and get angry about it. Today the French irreverently refer to the English as Anglo-Saxons (in the same way that we refer to them as Frogs) but their description is entirely incorrect because for a thousand years we have been Norman-English.

In 1966, I was twelve years old and England went into a frenzy as the 900th anniversary was celebrated and it was such a success that Hastings Borough Council decided to mark the date every year as Hastings Day.

On the build up to the event there were commemorative stamps and gold coins, tea towels, pencil sets and mugs and everyone got in on the act: “Battle of Hastings 1066—Bottle of Guinness 1966” frothed a thousand billboards. ‘Whoosh! It’s another big breakaway conquest,’ proclaimed the makers of Bri-Nylon clothing in advertisements showing mounted Bri-Nyloned models setting forth against the Saxons; another version of the battle showed the Norman warriors armed with Desoutter Power Tools. Heinz offered its soup buyers a chance to enter an archery contest in which the first 1,066 winners would be rewarded with Kenwood Chef food mixers and Arrow shirts.  Every English town that could claim the remotest connection with either Harold or William beckoned tourists with such quaint attractions as Conquest puppet shows, town-crier contests and dancing on English Channel piers.

In the forefront of all this of course was Hastings, which, as its local newspaper proudly pointed out, ‘is better known internationally than almost any other town.’ To give the anniversary its deserved importance (and attract 250,000 extra tourists to boot), the Hastings Town Council spent a small fortune building a triple-domed exhibition hall called the Triodome. The principal exhibit of the Triodome was intended to be the great Bayeux Tapestry but the tapestry is the property of the town of Bayeux in Normandy, which, fearing damage to the precious artefact, refused to lend it for the occasion, and so Hastings produced its own.

The Hastings Embroidery was commissioned by Group Captain Ralph Ward and made by the Royal School of Needlework in 1965. It took twenty-two embroiderers ten months to finish and it was intended to be a modern day equivalent of the Bayeux Tapestry.  The embroidery consists of twenty-seven panels, each nine by three foot, and shows eighty-one great events in British history during the 900 years from 1066 to 1966.

The Embroidery is worked in appliqué by hand, with the addition of couched threads and cords, tweed from Scotland, fabrics from the Victoria and Albert Museum, and feathers from London Zoo.  When completed it went on public display in Hastings, firstly in the Town Hall and then at the White Rock Pavilion.  The Hastings Embroidery is currently in storage, and, despite local campaigns to protestt, apart from two panels on permanent display in the Town Hall, cannot be publically viewed . It has been said that to preserve the cloth and appliqué that special storage displays would have to made and the cost would be prohibitive.

I began this article by trying to rise above patriotic smugness but I cannot finish without reminding the French that, in a delicious twist of fate, less than three months before the 900 year celebrations of a French victory over the Anglo Saxons, England beat France in the World Cup group stages by two goals to nil.  France finished bottom in the group, England finished top and went on to win the Jules Rimet trophy!

A Life in a Year – 29th April, Lonnie Donegan and World Cup Willie

In 1966 England won the Jules Rimet Football World Cup and the official mascot for the team was a Lion called World Cup Willie who wore a Union Flag shirt of red, white and blue, which was strange because this was England that were playing and not the United Kingdom, but as none of the other home nations were in the finals I suppose England generously believed that they were representing Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland as well.

 Embarrassingly England’s first defeat after the World Cup was against Scotland at Wembley in 1967 and the Scottish team that included the footballing legends, Denis Law, Jim Baxter and Billy Bremner promptly declared themselves the new World Champions.  Sadly for them it didn’t work like that, it still doesn’t  and let’s face it they never will be.

World Cup Willie had a World Cup song that was not unsurprisingly called World Cup Willie that made number one in the hit parade and was sung by Lonnie Donegan (born 29^th April 1931) who was the first person to become famous playing skiffle music in the UK.  He was a guitar and banjo player who also played the washboard and the tea-chest bass and who had a lot of chart success in the 1950s and early 1960s.  Anecdotally it was Lonnie who inspired John Lennon to learn guitar and form his first group, The Quarrymen. 

What is strange about Lonnie singing the English World Cup song however is that although he was brought up in East Ham he was in fact born in Scotland.  I wonder where his loyalties were when Scotland beat England in 1967?  Apart from ‘World Cup Willie’, Lonnie is probably best remembered for another number one hit called ‘My old man’s a dustman’.

There’s a football fellah, you all know his name
And the papers tell us he’s in the Hall of Fame
Wherever he goes, he’ll be all the rage
‘Cause he’s the new sensation of the age

Dressed in red, white and blue, he’s World Cup Willie
We all love him too, World Cup Willie
He’s tough as a lion and never will give up
That’s why Willie is fav’rite for the Cup
Willie, Willie, he’s evry’body’s fav’rite for the Cup

Well, we’re all football crazy and it’s plain to see
That we’re all so happy, like one big family
Now we’ve found someone who makes the rafters ring
Welcome to a brand new soccer King

All dressed in red, white and blue, that’s World Cup Willie
We all love him too, World Cup Willie
He’s tough as a lion and never will give up
That’s why Willie is fav’rite for the Cup
Yes! Willie, Willie, he’s evry’body’s fav’rite for the Cup

All the fans are waiting, how they’ll spur him on
And those sixty nations will soon know Willie’s song
Wherever he goes, he’ll be all the rage
‘Cause he’s the new sensation of the age

All dressed in red, white and blue, that’s World Cup Willie
We all love him too, World Cup Willie
He’s tough as a lion and never will give up
That’s why Willie is fav’rite for the Cup
Ev’rybody!
Willie, yes Willie, he’s evry’body’s fav’rite for the Cup
One more time!
Willie, Willie, he’s evry’body’s fav’rite for the Cup

A Life in a Year – 3rd January, the Curse of Tutankhamun and Pickles the Dog

On 3^rd January 1922 the archaeologist Howard Carter discovered and entered the tomb of Tutankhamun and allegedly released an ancient curse that led to the deaths of many people associated with the discovery.

 But this is not the only story of a sinister curse and I will fast forward now to 1966.

The biggest story of this year of course was that the England football team won the World Cup when they beat West Germany 4-2 and Geoff Hurst famously scored the only world cup final hat trick ever.  The whole country went football mad that year and everyone knows all about the brilliant victory.  Sir Alf Ramsay’s England team however were not the only national footballing heroes of 1966. There was also Pickles the dog, without whom there may not have been a trophy for Bobby Moore and his teammates to lift on that glorious day in July.

The solid gold Jules Rimet trophy was stolen while on public display at an exhibition in London and this led to a nationwide search and the Football Association Chairman, Joe Mears, receiving threatening demands for money to ensure its safe return.  Brazil, the then holders of the trophy were understandably outraged and accused the English FA of total incompetence.

No change there then and they were almost certainly right of course but by a delicious twist of fate the trophy was stolen again in 1983, this time in Rio de Janeiro and this time it was never ever recovered.  It is believed that it was melted down for the precious metal and it will almost certainly never be seen again.

Back to 1966 and this is the point where the story becomes unbelievably weird or perhaps just plain unbelievable.  One evening a week after the theft, a man called David Corbett was out walking his mongrel dog Pickles, in south-east London, when the dog’s attention was caught by a package wrapped in newspaper lying under a bush in somebody’s front garden.

It was the World Cup, it was the solid gold Jules Rimet Tophy. I’ll say that again.  It was the World Cup, it was the solid gold Jules Rimet Tophy in a bush in someone’s front garden!

No one has ever satisfactorily explained what it was doing there wrapped in a copy of the Daily Mirror but David Corbett received a reward of £5,000, which was a huge sum, the equivalent of over £250,000 today and Pickles became an overnight national hero.  I am surprised that he wasn’t in the BBC top one hundred greatest Britons.

But some people said that the trophy was cursed and within weeks of the cup’s recovery, Joe Mears died of a heart attack having suffered severe angina after the stress of the hunt.

Pickles, in a remarkable instance of bad luck, choked to death by snagging his choke lead on a fallen tree while chasing a cat and the man accused of the theft David Bletchley served two years in prison for his part in the crime and was released, only to promptly die of emphysema.

Bobby Moore died aged just fifty-one from cancer.  Gosh, I remember that day as though it was yesterday!

That’s what I call a curse!