Things aren't always what they seem......

So I did me some talkin to the sun...

Great clip from a memorable movie from the late sixties.

Chariots of Fire

Myself and the missus had the embarrassing experience of going for a weekend to Donegal with Gerry when he was going through his Chariots of Fire period.

Down the beach we'd go day after day (the same beach that Bomber Byrne got pummelled on three years earlier), the radio would get turned on to loud and he'd start running down the beach for hours on end like a madman. No doubt Jon and Vangelis were pounding through his cranium and he was dreaming of gold.



This desire to run stayed with him for many years and you can look for him now in any marathon, half-marathon or 10k that is being run in the greater Dublin environs. Sebastian Coe, principal organiser for the London Olympics, has been rumoured to have looked for him when searching for a role model for the over sixties.

The video recording I got of him on the beach in Donegal is old and grainy but I think it shows enough to give you a feel for the determination and will to win he had back in the early eighties.

Truly stunning.

Go for it Benjamin

Every Man's Hero

We spent the seventies in secondary school, university and first jobs with little care for anything other than the forthcoming Saturday night. We hadn't a worry in the world and we were influenced by sport, music and popular culture in general. We found new icons and were able to express our individuality in the stars we chose. Some of us got it hopelessly wrong - Gerry's infatuation with Les McKeown of the Bay City Rollers bordering on the downright bizarre.

To the rest of us however there was one man who lorded it over the masses when it came to "cool" - a man who fought the system but the system won. As we remember McMurphy by watching this clip, look for the adoration in the Chief's eyes. Second only to Gerry watching the Rollers lead singer belting out Shang-a-Lang on Top of the Pops in June 1974. As Art Garfunkel crooned "I only have eyes for you".