Gazza’s top of the pops
QUESTION What is the most successful chart hit by a UK sportsman? Has a cricketer ever had a song in the charts?
The most successful individual charting sportsman is Paul Gascoigne, billed as Gazza, who released a heavily reworked version of Fog On The Tyne with the Geordie folk-rock band Lindisfarne, which reached No 2 in October 1990.
It was also Lindisfarne’s biggest hit; they’d had a No 3 in 1972 with Lady eleanor and a No 5 hit with Meet Me On The Corner.
Gazza had another crack at the charts the following year with Geordie Boys (Gazza Rap), which peaked at No 31.
Next best are Glenn hoddle and Chris Waddle (as Glenn & Chris) with Diamond Lights which reached No 12 in 1987.
Other footballers who have released records are Kevin Keegan with head Over heels In Love, which reached No 31 in 1979 (and got to No 10 in Germany), Ian Wright with Do The Right Thing, which hit No43 in 1993, and Andy Cole who got to No68 with Outstanding in 1999.
The england national football team is the most successful sporting group, with two No 1 UK singles.
Back home, written by Bill Martin and Phil Coulter, was recorded by the 1970 england World Cup squad and stood at the top of the UK singles chart for three weeks in May 1970. The other official anthem, World In Motion, was a collaboration with New Order — and was the group’s only UK No 1.
The only football club to have topped the charts is Manchester United with Come On You Reds, recorded with Status Quo, which entered the UK singles chart in April 1994 and remained there for 15 weeks, peaking for two weeks at No 1.
The england cricket team have been less successful. In 1971 they released The Ashes Song with lyrics by Test Match Special commentator Brian Johnston and Observer journalist Jon henderson.
With lines such as, ‘When we arrived people said/The Aussies would leave us for dead/But we knew we would prove them wrong/And that’s why we’re singing this song/Oh! The feeling is great/For losing is something we hate’, it didn’t chart and brought in royalties of just £53.86, which then had to be split 17 ways.
england were brilliant in the seven-match series, however, winning 2-0 with Geoffrey Boycott amassing 657 runs at an average of 93.85.
A cover version of the hymn Jerusalem was released as a charity single in the UK on December 18, 2005, and reached No 19. The single featured soprano Keedie Green backed by the england cricket team who had just won the Ashes Test Series.
Proceeds were split equally between the Save The Children’s Children In emergencies Appeal and two cricket charities. No solo cricketer has had a hit single, but one extraordinary collaboration was that of Aussie fast bowler Brett Lee and Bollywood legend Asha Bhosle. You’re The One For Me was written by Lee during the 2006 ICC Champions Trophy in India.
The song tells the story of a Westerner, played in the video by Brett Lee, trying to woo a young Indian woman.
Asha plays an adviser, teaching him hindi to impress the girl. It includes the lyrics: ‘Please/Give me one chance/I know I’m not an Indi/I promise I’ll make you laugh/I’ll even learn some hindi.’ It reached No 2 in the Indian charts.
Charles Barnes, Longcliffe, Derbys.
QUESTION Why is the ancient Sweet Track pathway in Somerset so named?
The Sweet Track, an ancient causeway on the Somerset Levels, was originally part of a network of tracks built to provide a dry path across the marshy ground.
It ran between what was then an island at Westhay and a ridge of high ground at Shapwick, close to the River Brue.
The remains of similar tracks have been uncovered nearby, connecting settlements on the peat bog; they include the honeygore, Abbotts Way, Bells, Bakers, Westhay and Nidons trackways.
About a mile long, the Sweet Track was discovered in 1970 by peat cutter Ray Sweet, hence the name.
Tree ring studies have shown that ash, oak and lime trees were cut and transported to the site, where they were built into a narrow footpath supported on crossed poles, driven into heavy poles underwater and pegged together.
Finally, the oak walking platform was laid on top.
All this indicates a high degree of Neolithic organisation and forwardplanning. Using dendrochronology (treering dating), the track has been dated 3807/3806BC. For many years it was thought to be the oldest trackway in Northern europe, until 2009, when a slightly older one was discovered in Plumstead, London.
The Somerset Levels are an area of wetlands and peats. These conditions can lead to the preservation of organic materials, which become encased in a wet and airless environment thus preventing, to a degree, decomposition.
Wooden artefacts and structures have been recovered from the Levels, as well as the two well-preserved Iron Age villages of Glastonbury and Meare.
Sections of the actual Sweet Track are on display in the British Museum, London. A section has been recreated at the Avalon Marshes Visitor Centre, Glastonbury.
Darren Adams, Wells, Somerset.
QUESTION What became of Davenports whose slogan was ‘Beer at home means Davenports’?
FURTHER to earlier answers, in my marriage when cash was short, I decided to copy my grandfather and father-in-law and have ‘beer at home’.
I had a weekly delivery alternating between Davenports’ stunning Brown Ale and super Best Bitter. They delivered a crate containing six pint bottles with a seventh bottle lying on top — one for each day of the week.
I was told by the delivery man that this was because the elderly ladies on his round would complain that they needed one for every day.
Their flagship public house, the Black horse in Northfield, was where my wife and I often did our courting and I could imbibe Davenports’ amazing Drum Bitter.
The three main local breweries — Davenports, Ansells, and Mitchells and Butlers — all used artesian wells. Over a comparatively short time all three closed, pushing the water table to very high levels in some parts of the city.
Recently, on a visit to my local council tip, I saw that someone had left an original Davenports ‘beer at home’ wooden crate.
Cleaned and polished, it now sits in my porch as a constant reminder of some distinctively good brews, delivered to your door.