He didn’t wear a tie. He said they were for conservatives and if there was one thing he certainly wasn’t it was a conservative. A conservative wouldn’t have driven a crappy little car from Asia across Europe. Wouldn’t have revelled in the uprising of Paris in 1968. Wouldn’t have taken on the Iranian authorities when …
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David Ruffin’s Punctuality
When David Ruffin sings at the beginning of “I know I’m losing you” he starts off on point. His coo-ing, woo-ing, ooh slinks promiscuously across the intro, but he slips back behind the beat straight after. By the time he hits “I can feel your love fading,” he’s already late. The story of his life. …
When Karim almost scored
The kick-off had to be delayed by five minutes as a tidal wave of red and white streamers poured down onto the pitch from the Waldseite. It looked like an explosion in the confetti factory, but Jan Glinker just looked pissed off. He tried manfully to sweep some of the detritus away but it kept …
The Longest Jump in the World
Carl Lewis hadn’t lost a long-jump competition in ten years. He had won 65 in a row. His run-up was a study in technical perfection. His head still, his hands flattened, cutting through the air in high sweeps to his left and right. He rarely looked at the board as he hit it. He didn’t …
Claudia Pechstein’s Memory
Claudia Pechstein’s hair was platinum blonde when I met her. Cut just above the shoulder. Her jaw was certain, her eyes a piercing sapphire blue. She looked like a policewoman, which she was, and is of course. She looked like any one of the hundreds of them that fill the ludicrous looking Estrel hotel near …
Niney’s finest moment
“How can I give up a continent, for only an island?” Thus begins The Son’s of Selassie’s masterpiece, “I man a African,” starring Max Romeo at his righteous, wounded best. His voice cracks like splintering teak, he hits a high note in the middle of the line, but lets it slip back down by the …
The Magic in Their Sighs
I’ve been listening to the Shirelles’ “Will you still love me tomorrow” a lot recently. It had come back to me out of the blue, the way that certain songs, laying dormant, sometimes do. Its driving, almost mockingly martial, marching snare fits perfectly to a rolling walking pace. That’s when it comes back, mostly. When …
Shakers. All Over.
Before the joy there was a moment of profound sadness. For David Johnson only lasted for about half an hour of Ipswich Town’s win in the First Division Playoff final at Wembley. He limped off, knowing that he’d been struggling through training all week just to get there, the best moment of his career. His …
Sigmund Jähn’s Back
Though he’d never be so self-important as to complain about it too much, they say that Sigmund Jähn’s back still hurts. It has done since September 3, 1978. No wonder. As his Soyuz capsule plummeted towards Kazakhstan a gust of wind hit it, disturbing the otherwise orderly planned deployment of the last, and the largest, …
Ben Stokes can do anything. We all can.
Image courtesy of Getty. What mattered in the end was what he’d done at the beginning. Ben Stokes had needed to see out the day, to make it through the late English Summer twilight. To make sure he survived Saturday, to give England the chance of saving an impossible Test match, he firstly needed to …
Jacob Sweetman 