Posts Tagged ‘1986’
Tuesday 6 May 1986
Back to school today, for what it's worth, after the extended weekend. Our usual, c****y Chemistry teacher wasn't there today so consequently the lesson 'was even more of a dos.' One friend broke another friend's calculator, and considering that at one stage we'd been having calculator wars - who can get the machine with the most scientific functions, or built in constants, e.g. Planck's Constant (6.626068 × 10-34 m2 kg / s) used to calculate the sizes of quanta in quantum mechanics - that was quite a faux pas. The fact that such calculators were not terribly useful for your average 'O' Level Physics student, never mind, Chemistry student, was lost on us boys (as always!). I finished up with a Casio fx570 - not bad, but not the winner either...
I also had an argument with another friend. I described it as 'brill' and that's probably because I won.
3 days to go...
Monday 5 May 1986
Just a quick note for today, Bank Holiday Monday. Joe Johnson won the World Snooker Championship by 18 frames to 12. His prize - £70,000, but much more than that, he was now snooker immortal. As I noted, 'he buried Davis, absolutely thrashed him.'
Oh, yes, just the 4 days left at school now...
Sunday 4 May 1986
Now don't let this shock you, but way back in the 1980's, I was a mad Snooker fan. Huge. It was just the best thing to spend an entire afternoon watching the chaps knocking their balls around their green baize covered slabs of slate. If you could then persuade your mum to let you have your tea in front of the telly, even better. And then of course you had the evening session to watch. Great stuff! But then Stephen Hendry came along and really put me off...
But, back to the matter in hand. Today saw the start of the Embassy World Championship Final. No, it wasn't played in an Embassy, they were the sponsors. The Embassy World Snooker Championships were played at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield. After today's frames, Joe Johnson and Steve "Interesting" Davis were locked together at 8-8. This was quite an effort from the unknown Johnson, as Steve Davis was the big thing in snooker at the time. Tomorrow being the first May Bank Holiday, the final would be played out to a finish.
Amidst all the excitement re Football League Championships and Rugby League Challenge Cup Finals, not to mention the snooker, I recorded that I 'done no h/wk this weekend.'
Saturday 3 May 1986
This was a very big day for sport. In the Rugby League Challenge Cup Final from Wembley, Castleford defeated Hull KR by 15 points to 14 in a closely contested match. Across London in the Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, Kenneth Mathieson Dalglish scored the only goal of the game as Liverpool won their 16th First Division title. In his first season as player-manager, Dalglish himself had set his team up for the classic 'Double' of League and FA Cup in the same season. The FA Cup Final was a week away.
In Division 2, Shrewsbury Town beat Middlesbro 2-1 - a result that saw Boro go down to Division 3 and Shrewbury stay up. They managed to maintain their place in the Second Division until 1988-89 when they completed a west Midlands relegation triumvirate with Birmingham and Walsall. Try saying that without your teeth in...
Thursay 1 May 1986
A lovely day today - really sunny all day. Not perhaps the best of days for me, I wore contacts and due to being a teenager, their cleaning and general all round care left something to be desired. So sunny days caused me to squint and generally pull some spectacular gurns.
I received a letter from VIth form telling me that I had a place in Septemer and setting out their entrance requrements. Just the five 'O' Levels - well within my capabilities. It was a mate's birthday tomorrow and although I report that Xxxx and Yyyy had 'something ready' I don't recall that anything did happen.
Wednesday 30 April 1986
Liverpool's grip on the First Division Championship tightened today as they beat Leicester City 2-0 at Filbert Street, with their nearest challengers Everton losing 1-0 at Oxford Utd. Thus their game in hand was effectively spent. Theoretically, West Ham were still in with a shout as they beat Ipswich to leapfrog the Toffees into second place.
However, if Liverpool beat Chelsea on Saturday 3 May then their 16th League Title would be secured. The top of the table reading, as it did, Liverpool P(41)-Pts(85)-GD(51), West Ham 40-81-35 and Everton 40-80-39.
Tuesday 29 April 1986
Another exam today. A bonus one at that - English Language (speaking not writing). So no revision required! The examiner was one of our younger English teachers and I record that it wasn't so hard once I had brought the conversation around to cricket.
Anyway, that was 2 down, just the sixteen to go...
Monday 28 April 1986
I was actually getting in to doing some revision! I did some more Chemistry, Physics and Geography revision today, and noted that I must do some Maths. I was really quite upbeat about the whole thing.
Unfortunately the weather let me down. Sunday's nice day was replaced by a most displeasing grotty and grey day.
Sunday 27 April 1986
I was in philosophical mood today, with 'Ah well, another week in the life of Xxxxxxx Xxxxxxx is over.' That apart, it was a brilliant day, with grate (sic) sunshine. I managed £111.16 on my paper round and actually did some Physics, Chemistry and Geography revision. But then I qualified the statement, adding, 'well some of it - I have got a lot to learn.' No, you don't say.
Saturday 26 April 1986
Liverpool beat Birmingham City by five goals to nil as Everton could only draw 0-0 away at Forest. Thus, it was P(40)-Pts(82)-GD(49) versus 39-80-40. Liverpool with 2 games left still needed to win both of them unless Everton lost (or drew) one of their 3 remaining fixtures. I also noted that West Ham won. They were going really well on their way to a third place finish, as Man Utd ran out of gas.
In the second division, Shrewsbury Town lost 3-1 away at Bradford City, but their relegation fears were almost over for another season at least. And as it was the first full Saturday of the Cricket season it was, believe it or not, 'a very nice, sunny day'. And my impending exams were given no shrift at all.
