Remember when ... Three boys in blue, and Billy Mcneill

AFTER the second Rangers goal went in, courtesy of Willie Johnston, there was pandemonium in the “blue” end of Celtic Park. “To say that their supporters were ecstatic would be putting it mildly,” wrote the Glasgow Herald’s Glyn Edwards. “Several even had to receive medical attention behind the goal after having been caught up in the delirium.”

It was Saturday, September 14, 1968, the second week of the new league season. Celtic had won the previous three league titles, and Rangers had a lot to play for in the new campaign.

Örjan Persson put them ahead in the 17th minute, followed quickly by Johnston. Both strikers, said Edwards, had a field day. (Highlights of the game, shot by a Rangers fan using a Super 8mm camera, are viewable on Youtube.)

Willie Wallace reduced the leeway in the 29th minute, then Bobby Lennox had a goal disallowed for offside.

“Incident crowded upon incident thereafter,” our report continued. “[Jimmy] Johnstone struck the bar in the course of producing several mesmeric runs; and [Norrie] Martin and [Ronnie] Simpson pulled out one magnificent save after another.”

At one point, Celtic’s Billy Mcneill and Rangers’ Sandy Jardine landed off the pitch (above) after leaping for a header together.

Andy Penman increased the Rangers lead in 65 minutes. Wallace got a second goal for Celtic, but with moments remaining Jardine sent in a cross and Willie Johnston headed home, to make the final score Celtic 2, Rangers 4.

It was the first Rangers victory in an Old Firm match for exactly 12 months, and their first at Parkhead since New Year’s Day, 1964.

Edwards wrote that the result injected new life into the Scottish game, for had Celtic won, the league championship might well have been over before it had had time to get off the ground.

Despite the setback, Celtic went on to retain the title.

IN 1948, this former RAF ambulance was enjoying a new lease of life, a Glasgow fishmonger and poulterer having turned it into a van selling fresh produce. It was a popular idea, if this scene, in Dundas Street, in the city centre, is any yardstick.

Test your problem-solving prowess and numerical knowhow with these teasers.

1. Steve was looking bleary eyed when he appeared for breakfast. “I didn’t hear you come in last night,” Jane told him. “What time was it?”

The boy smiled. “Not too late, but see if you can work it out,” he replied. “The minute hand was right on a minute mark, one minute ahead of the hour hand.” What time is it?

2. I am thinking of a 10-digit number. If I put a 1 to the left of the first figure, and a 1 to the right of its last figure, I get the same result as if I multiply the number by 33.

What number am I thinking of?

3. Sports coach Paul Paulsen spent £180 on footballs from Medhursts. If he had bought them from Nortons, he would have paid £3 more per football, so he would have got two fewer balls for the same money.

How many did he buy?

4. I’m three little digits, just three in a row.

I add up to seven, all different, you know. My first is the greatest, two more than my third. You’ll get what I am if you read every word.

5. My Magic Square is an arrangement of consecutive positive numbers in a 4x4 square array. Each row, each column, and each of the two diagonals adds up to the same Magic Total. That’s just one less than five times the smallest number in the array.

What must that smallest number be?