Gratuitous picture of footballers in their scanties
Ignoring the defeat of the England football team rather neatly [there will be little escape from the endless analysis and commentary for a few days to come, of that I am certain], our trusty TARDIS has landed us once again in the middle of 1993: the year of "Back to Basics", Bill Clinton, the Maastricht Treaty, IRA bombings in Warrington and in Bishopsgate in the City of London, Jordan Chandler (the boy paid off by Michael Jackson after accusations of molestation), the Stephen Lawrence murder, the Waco siege, Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time, the murder of toddler James Bulger, and the decriminalisation of homosexuality in Ireland; the births of Ariana Grande, the state of Eritrea, UKIP, and most of the founder-members of One Direction; and the deaths of Vincent Price, Rudolf Nureyev, Ruby Keeler, Les Dawson, Audrey Hepburn, and Czechoslovakia...
In the news in July a quarter of a century ago: John Demjanjuk ("Ivan the Terrible") was acquitted of all charges relating to his accusation of murders in the Nazi death camp at Sobibor (he was later convicted after new evidence emerged), an earthquake and resulting tsunami killed 230 in Hokkaido in Japan, John Major's government was almost defeated by "Maastricht Rebels" but survived the challenge, the security agency MI5 "went public" for the first time with a booklet that explained its role and activities, and the Iraq disarmament crisis continued (UN weapons inspectors continually found themselves blocked, and President Clinton ordered a cruise missile attack on Iraqi intelligence headquarters); in the ascendant were Microsoft (whose Windows NT 3.1 system was released), trade union UNISON (a merger of the National and Local Government Officers Association (NALGO), the National Union of Public Employees (NUPE) and the Confederation of Health Service Employees (COHSE)), and scientist Faiza Al-Kharafi of Kuwait (the very first woman to hold the presidency of a university in the Middle East); but we bade a fond farewell to Fred Gwynne, aka Herman Munster. In our cinemas: Jurassic Park, Benny & Joon, Super Mario Bros. On telly: Rugrats, the Michael Ball Show and the final episode of Eldorado [the ill-fated soap set around ex-pats in Spain that I adored!].
And what was gracing our charts in the UK this week in July 1993? At #1 was Take That's sexiest moment Pray. Contending their hold were artists including Gabrielle, Haddaway, Chaka Demus & Pliers, M People, UB40, Rod Stewart, Michael Jackson and (ahem) Gloria Gaynor. However, this (possibly appropriate for today) number from a group of one-hit-wonders [they spent two weeks at #2 at the end of July, then nothing else] made its debut - the faboo 4 Non Blondes!
Twenty-five years and my life is still
Trying to get up that great big hill
Of hope for a destination
I realized quickly when I knew I should
That the world was made up of this brotherhood
Of man for whatever that means
And so I cry sometimes
When I'm lying in bed
Just to get it all out
What's in my head
And I, I am feeling a little peculiar
And so I wake in the morning
And I step outside
And I take a deep breath and I get real high
And I scream from the top of my lungs,
"What's going on?!"
And I say, "Hey, hey, hey, hey!"
I said, "Hey, what's going on?"
And I say, "Hey, hey, hey, hey!"
I said, "Hey, what's going on?"
And I try, oh, my God, do I try
I try all the time
In this institution
And I pray, oh, my God, do I pray
I pray every single day
For revolution
And so I cry sometimes
When I'm lying in bed
Just to get it all out
What's in my head
And I, I am feeling a little peculiar
And so I wake in the morning
And I step outside
And I take a deep breath and I get real high
And I scream from the top of my lungs,
"What's going on?!"
And I say, "Hey, hey, hey, hey!"
I said, "Hey, what's going on?"
And I say, "Hey, hey, hey, hey!"
I said, "Hey, what's going on?"
Twenty-five years and my life is still
Trying to get up that great big hill
Of hope for a destination
Twenty-five years? That's scary.
As an American, I don't know much about soc-English football, but there some other prize cup they could win--perhaps a sexy scanty award.
ReplyDeleteApparently:
Delete"The word “soccer” actually comes from England, where the modern version of the game originated.
In England, there were two types of football: rugby football and association football.
The slang term for rugby football was “rugger,” and the slang for association football was “assoc.” The word “assoc” gradually evolved into “soccer,” which was much easier to say.
When association football was introduced to North America, gridiron football (the type played by the NFL and in the Super Bowl) was already well established. To avoid confusion, Americans adopted the British nickname “soccer” for the new sport."
And yes, there some very sexy players out there - David Beckham and Cristiano Ronaldo being my faves... Jx