Comics’ snub for anthem

DAVID Baddiel and Frank Skinner have turned down a bigmoney offer to record a new World Cup anthem.

The double act teamed up with The Lightning Seeds to record Three Lions back in 1996.

The song helped to rally support for the England squad in the Euros where they got to the semi-finals.

Two years later, Baddiel and Skinner released a new version for the 1998 World Cup.

Both tunes reached No.1 in the charts. Frank, 60, said: “We’ve had offers to do it again. But definitely not, we won’t.

“I think that was a special moment but to then try to recreate it… it’s bad enough that we changed the words and had another No.1 hit out of it.

“The last one didn’t work. I think old men singing about football is about as bad as it can get.

“We have to let it go. We did an operatic version no-one really noticed.

“That completely disappeared – it didn’t even register. That was the end for me.” Frank remains popular among fans after hosting BBC’s Fantasy Football League for a decade.

Since 1996, stars like Ant & Dec have done their own anthems.

Frank said of a possible new World Cup tune: “It needs to be someone like Ed Sheeran or someone like that.

“That’s who people like.”