There was no royalty at the Tynwald Ceremony but, because of Marie's role in the Clerk of Tynwald's office, I attended a function for the guests that did attend, and for those that work so hard behind the scenes.
One of those is civil servant Tina Kelly whose responsibility it is to get the Fair Field ready for the big day, something none of us really think about. I was talking to her and her husband Mike before the dinner and Mike mentioned that he had recently seen the Pathe news report of his uncle, Bill Kelly, winning the London to Brighton run.
I immediately thought that it would be an interesting link for the website and particularly given that I knew that Bill had also been extremely successful in the TT40, the ultra distance run held over an extended version of the TT course, starting and finishing on Douglas Promenade. Peter Cooper had recently given me a copy of the programme and results sheet for the 1996 event, the last time it had been held.
I'm going to add that to the current feature in the next day or two and also revive the statistics that I compiled on the TT40, one of the early databases I compiled (from Peter McElroy's little book) and published in 2001.
I used to watch the TT40 on May bank holiday weekend from our house in Kirk Michael alongside the course. It was from there that I started heading to Douglas on a Saturday night just before my 16th birthday in 1972. That was the year that, I am fairly certain, Status Quo first played in the Isle of Man. I had previously enjoyed their early hits such as "Pictures of Matchstick Men" but their new style on the" Piledriver" album suited my teenage preference for something loud and heavy.
It cost £1 to see Quo perform on the stage at Palace Lido, the first professional band I had ever seen. I was so impressed with the atmosphere I even wrote a letter to NME which was published, the first of many letters to national papers and magazines. "Paper Plane" and a few pints of bitter......
From there their popularity grew and they were to return on 16 June 1974. That one I could find when I googled. But despite adding the "Hello" and "Quo" albums to my collection I refused to attend. I didn't realise how young I had been when I became a grumpy old man but "I'm not paying £3" I went around telling everyone. Well that was about my entire earnings from two weekend jobs!
I think we've paid about £45 tonight! It will be the first time I have seen them live since the Bowl in 1991 (check) although I also saw them in public at the start of the Great North Run in 1998. Without any warmup they belted out a medley of hits at 10 o'clock in the morning, even the harmonies they did with the Beach Boys were there. It took me a while to realise that they were miming!
The TT 40 feature will have to wait until a day or two as we have another important family event after the concert. It could be a late night.
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