DRIVING TALE BRINGS BACK MEMORIES

accompaniment on YouTube.

Soul Limbo by Booker T and the MGs, that was for many years the theme music for the BBC Test Cricket highlights, has been used by enthusiasts of the sport, while the Match of the Day theme tune has been picked by football fans. Gary Lineker supplying crisps at the reception afterwards could be an optional extra.

An inappropriate one, except for those dearly departed with a great sense of humour, might be Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead, while Happy Days Are Here Again could suggest the deceased is looking to a bright tomorrow.

ITOLD of taking my driving test, an event that was so long ago I suspect some readers may have thought it was in the days when a bloke had to walk in front of the car with a red flag to warn pedestrians and horse drawn traffic. This was not quite the case. I took it in a red Ford Anglia.

Dave Whitworth of Mount says: “My first test was on a cycle with an engine attachment when I was 16. I just had to ride around the block several times and the examiner would leap out one time and hold his hand up for the emergency stop. I passed, which means I am now allowed to ride one of those modern multicylinder Japanese monsters. Heaven forbid.

“I was 22 before I learned to drive a car when I joined the YEB as an engineer and needed to drive one of the board’s vehicles. I had a fairly intense course of lessons, paid for by the board, so failing the test wasn’t an option.

“Fortunately I passed and subsequently drove many thousands of miles for the YEB. Much later, when I retired, I passed the Advanced Driving test, as did my wife. In fact, she’s a better driver than I am.”