Friday 10 January 2020

12. Norwich City

Whenever anybody mentions Norwich I fondly remember my great uncle Seamus O'Wibble who emigrated from his native Galway and settled in the Colegate area of the city.  He was an ardent Norwich City supporter and was a regular attendee at their home matches for many years. 
Seamus was a popular character, well connected and pursued many careers whilst striving for his first million. 
In the early Sixties he had the great fortune to meet a young, up and coming musician by the name of Mick Jagger.  Jagger was inspired by my great uncle's business acumen and for a while engaged him as manager and promoter of the Rolling Stones. 
During this period Seamus was living in a squat, over the brush, with his then girlfriend, an unknown hairdresser called Delia Smith. It was the Sixties, they were young and wild. 
It is fair to say that Seamus was not the most organised of men but could think on his feet.  One morning after a heavy night on the Jamesons and Guinness he received a call from a nervous Mick Jagger asking 'where are the designs for the new album thang maan?'.  
Thinking quickly he asked 'Delia, take a photo of that flan you made last week.  Put it on that old bike tyre on the record player and try to make some of them wedding ornaments look like rock stars, I can bullshit this.' 
The rest is history, the album became Let It Bleed, helped propel the Stones into rock history and simultaneously launched a cookery career for his girlfriend.  The last one was no mean feat as she had trouble making instant mash and boiling eggs before that. 
Seamus and Delia later parted ways, she went on to own Norwich City and Seamus settled for a quiet life teaching the locals how to read and write. 
It is for this reason alone that I hope Norwich thrash whatever team they happen to be playing this weekend. 

No comments:

Post a Comment