Mascot was a top scorer
QUESTION Which was the first World Cup to feature a mascot?
A TOURNAMENT mascot is a common feature in all sporting events nowadays, but a lion called World Cup Willie was an innovation in 1966.
Willie was strangely at odds with the conservatism that so characterised the English game in the Fifties.
The FA and the Football League had shown disdain for many of the sport’s key innovations: floodlights, the Pools, TV coverage and, above all, the new European club competitions.
Nevertheless, the FA hired Walter Tuckwell & Associates to design a mascot for the tournament. The firm had licensing experience with Noddy, James Bond and Doctor Who.
Walter Tuckwell personally gave the brief to artist Reg Hoye, best known for illustrating Enid Blyton’s books, and his colleague Richard Culley, a young New Zealander. As Culley explained: ‘We were given the task of creating a mascot to exploit merchandising beyond the insignia of the Jules Rimet trophy.
‘It took us five minutes to decide that a lion would be better than a bulldog and another five minutes for Reg to draw it. Willie allowed us to create a product with a sense of fun.’
Willie, who wore a Union Flag jumper inscribed with the words World Cup, was hugely successful with 125 licensees, including ones in France, Germany, Italy, Denmark and Holland.
More than ten million items of merchandise were produced. There was no style guide and Hoye would draw Willie to order.
There was a comic strip and even a song, World Cup Willie, sung by skiffle star Lonnie Donegan: 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 favourite for the Cup. Willie, Willie, He’s everybody’s favourite for the Cup. After England won the 1966 World Cup, demand for World Cup Willie merchandise increased and there is still a thriving market in memorabilia.
Jack Renwell, Middlesbrough, N. Yorks.
QUESTION I read about a blood donation service for dogs and wondered if there are different canine blood groups? Do they relate to breeds?
BLOOD types are determined by the presence or absence of proteins and sugars on the surface of red blood cells.
Dogs have eight internationally recognised blood types, though there may be as many as 13.
The most important is DEA 1.1. Dogs that are negative for DEA 1.1 can give blood to dogs that are DEA 1.1 negative or positive, but dogs that are DEA 1.1 positive can only give blood to dogs that are also DEA 1.1 positive.
The majority of dogs are DEA 1.1 positive. Dogs that are negative for DEA 1.1 and the majority of other blood types are considered universal blood donors.
There is a predisposition to being DEA 1.1 positive or negative in some breeds. Greyhounds, boxers, Irish wolfhounds, German shepherds, dobermans and pit bulls are more likely to be DEA 1.1 negative. Golden retrievers and labradors are commonly DEA 1.1 positive.
Diane Taylor, Bromsgrove, Worcs.
QUESTION Did Channel 4 recruit contestants for a show called Lapdance Island?
IN 2003, Channel 4 advertised for ‘ ten hot-blooded males to battle it out as 40 lapdancers do everything in their power to make it hard for them’. At least 20,000 men applied — but it was a hoax.
The spoof was to provide a cover for embarrassing auditions to be screened on a new E4 show, The Pilot Show. Comedy actors posed as TV executives and egged on hapless candidates to make fools of themselves.
In the fake auditions, the men were filmed trying to complete tasks while young women in bikinis distracted them. As in a real lapdancing club, they weren’t allowed to touch the girls.
Minor celebrities were also tricked into thinking they were being offered a new TV show to front.
EastEnders actor Dean Gaffney appeared in a fake audition for a show called Soul Searching, supposedly about celebrities seeking the TV actor and singer David Soul, who would be hiding.
Bob Dillon, Edinburgh.
QUESTION What is the best genuine excuse for not handing in homework?
FURTHER to earlier answers, while I was lecturing at a local college, one apprentice came in late.
His excuse? He had been knocked off his bicycle by an aircraft, and his homework had been lost in the accident.
I didn’t ask him for details and set him to work. At the end of the class, two airmen turned up and asked for the lad.
It seems they had been taking the main body of a light bomber in a trailer to Chivenor, North Devon, when it moved and a tail fin knocked the apprentice off his bike. They took him for a check-up before delivering him to college, arranged to repair his bike and collected him when his class ended.
I was glad I had not blasted him when he had turned up late — his excuse was so way out there it had to be true.
Mike Bennett, Barnstaple, Devon.
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