Daley Thompson

Daley Thompson is the kind of athlete I would liked to have been. I loved his confidence and he always looked like he was enjoying himself (and still does today). For some it was bordering on arrogance but I think he only crossed that line when required. If anything when he did cross that line I felt it was always in a humorous way rather than being too cocky. What he achieved in his time was amazing, going nine years unbeaten and setting 4 world records whilst winning two Olympic gold’s, 3 Commonwealth Games gold’s and wins in both the European and World Championships. He has also been awarded the MBE, OBE and the CBE. I wonder how long it will be before he becomes Sir Daley.

The picture above is my favourite of him and one that inspired Sir Steve Redgrave no less. It says it all about the man. His competitors lying at his feet exhausted (by the way you can purchase the picture by going here if you are interested).

Last year’s fantastic London Olympics also provided us Brits with another winner in Jessica Ennis. Watching her win gold reminded me of how Daley was in his day. Dominating the event and enjoying it along the way. I really enjoyed seeing the competitors do a lap of honour together at the end. I always think it’s nice to see competitive rivals get along once they are off duty.

My experience of athletics at school was rubbish. About 4 weeks before ‘Sports Day’ out would come all the athletics kit they had. For the next few weeks we’d all be instructed to practise the javelin, discus, long jump, high jump and running events. Then as soon as Sports Day was over it would all be packed away until the same time the following year. There was no chance for any naturally gifted athlete to be discovered in those days, at least not in the area where I lived.

As an ex Fitness Instructor I have a healthy respect for all athletes and I think it’s great that today there is so much more available to anyone who wants to have a go at athletics. I just wish it would have been like that when I was younger.

I downloaded the Jessica Ennis photos without making a note of the source. If they are your photos, and you can prove it, please get in touch and I'll put your name to them. I hope you don't mind me using them.

Supertramp - Their First Album

Growing up in the 1970's Supertramp were a big part of my youth. My elder brother did a light show for them when they appeared in Wells, Somerset, England, before they were well known. This would have been sometime in late 1970.

The album they were touring with then was their self titled debut album, released 14th July the same year (The album was not released in the States until 1977). An album that is still a strong favourite of mine and one that I feel is still one of the best Supertramp albums.

The songs have a strong melancholy feel to them but in places they rock. The band were very much a prog-rock type of band then with guitar solos and riffs far away from the keyboard based band they would become. 

This album should not be overlooked. The lyrics were mainly written by Richard Palmer and deserve to be listened to. It's a pity these songs are not sung live by Supertramp or Roger Hodgson. I'm sure many die-hard Supertramp fans would love to hear them.

The album, despite critical acclaim, was not a success. Their second album, Indelibly Stamped also failed, selling fewer copies than their first album. Apart from Davies and Hodgson the other members quit the band. Their mentor, Stanley 'Sam' August Miesegaes, (a Dutch millionaire who the band dedicated their next album to) paid off their debts and after recruiting new members the band took refuge on a farm in Somerset to work on their future. It would be here that most of Crime of the Century (their breakthrough album) and other tracks were written.

The track above, Maybe I'm a Beggar is the only track I can find on You Tube from the first album. I did try uploading my own video of the song Words Unspoken for the purposes of this blog, but the internet police took it down pretty quickly.   

If you haven’t already heard this album of theirs I strongly recommend you purchase a copy. I don’t think you will be disappointed.

Somerset Churches

I enjoy exploring Somerset and specifically exploring Somerset's churches. I don't class myself as religious but I do love the history that each church has, as well as the architecture.

I can spend a long time taking in the various inscriptions and if there's an effigy or two then I'm set for the day.

There are few churches in Somerset, as in England generally, where the Victorians have not left their mark.  Their use of Bath stone, made cheap by the use of the railways, in place of the local stone from which the original structures were made, have aggravated many, but, in a great number of cases, without the Victorian restoration work a large number of our churches may no longer have remained.

The picture above is of Meare church on the Somerset levels. There are plenty more photos of Somerset churches at my Flickr account and if you're into anaglyphs there are lots of 3d photos of Somerset at my website Somerset in 3d.

What the blog is about

This blog will feature all the things I like. That could be food, a certain song or album, a movie, a certain well known person, anything that comes to mind. Why am I doing this? Because I want to. I'm not concerned if I don't have any followers or, if I do, they don't agree with my choice. It's not a problem to me if you don't like what I do, nor is it an issue if you like something I don't. This is just for the fun of it. I'll do my best to post an entry once a week, but reserve the right to be more or less frequent as and when it pleases me. Thank you for reading.