It was WW1 and WW2 all over again today in 1966 when England beat Germany 4-2 in the World Cup. England was ahead 2-1 until the last minute when there was a German equalizer (think Arnhem, 1944). Alf Ramsay, the England Manager, said to his boys, 'Well, you've won it once. Now you'll just have to do it all over again and you will. The Germans are knackered.'
And so it proved (see Anthony Beevor's Berlin) in 1945.
In other news ...
The Parkinson family were in the news again today with the birth of Northcote in 1909. He was the one who coined the idea of Parkinson's Law - Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion. His dad invented the handle of the condition and his granddad, Michael, is still churning out insurance ads on the telly. And perhaps it is time someone told him he is nowhere as cute as a meerkat (although in his defence he is also infinitely less irritating than a tenor).
