RIP Sir Bobby Charlton CBE

England winner and Manchester United legend Sir Bobby Charlton CBE has died at the age of 86 - for me, he defined the definitive footballer of his time, for he was the most famous and most associated player of his era.

Over the past few years, it seemed to be a regular occurrence to hear in the news, (probably a couple of times a year at least), to hear about former veterans of the 1966 England squad passing away. On receipt of Charlton's passing, there is just one surviving former player from Saturday 30th July 1966; Geoff Hurst is indeed the last one still with us. When new housing was built in Nottingham in the 1960s, a lot of new streets had names were named after players in the 1966 squad as well as cricketers, and even Jimmy Greaves got a tribute there, although ironically, Charlton, who was a bigger name than Greaves, was not one of them; he was denied a name because Charlton was too similar to a existing street name!

I wonder whether the actor and writer (not to mention one of the very first "Nancies" on That's Life!) George Layton had paid tribute to the man himself, for I remember reading Layton's short story The Fib where Charlton gets an honorary mention. The story was about the protagonist having to play football for the school on Monday morning; travelling on a coach to a nearby playing field in the cold pre-Christmas weather, and the protagonist ended up in goal, letting 15 of them in. They went into the "temporary" changing room, the "Fib" itself was. "My uncle is Bobby Charlton", the young lad proclaimed, spitting on his left hand. Later on was the Christmas lights switch on, and the boy went with some friends to see it, and the celebrity who was to switch the lights on. It was announced that it was "Mr Bobby Charlton", and the protagonist and his mates get to meet him. "Aren't you going to say hello to your Uncle Bobby?", he asked in the short story, for in those days, "uncle" didn't have to mean one's father's brother or relation, but someone affectionate to another male person. After having tea in the Lord Mayor's parlour, he was late home and his Mother was frantic. "It's all right, Mum - I have been having tea in the Lord Mayor's parlour with Bobby Charlton", the lad explained with truth, and his Mum gave him such a good wrack across his head even though he had been telling her the truth. I recommend Layton's terrific "The Fib and Other Stories" if you had not already read it many years ago when you were younger at school.

Other things associated with Charlton was that advertisement from the early 1990s where the Spanish or Mexican man had kept talking in his native language, but "Bobby Charlton" could be interjected while he talked as it was a joke at the time that football is a universal language and player's names can crossover from one language into another. I cannot remember what it was advertising, (perhaps anyone out there could tell me or even post a clip of the aforementioned advert?), but it was the one which had the Scottish (Edinburgh?) man asking: "is there a telephone here? Telephone...". he went, gesturing talking into a telephone receiver. Also, I assume that Jim Davidson's "good-old Charlton-Nil" catchphrase which he used on his Generation Game gambits was probably a reference to Charlton Athletic Football Club and not to Sir Bobby or Sir Jack Charlton.

Another one of Charlton's legacies was that certain hairstyle in which Lorraine Kelly tried to banish into Room 101 during her episode, referring to it as "pedal-bin hair", and of course Robert Robinson was famous for when he did Ask the Family and Call My Bluff - the combover. Never mind Wogan or Brucie's excess hair; so many men who just happened to be bald or going bald in the centre but still had plenty of hair on either side to make up for it, quite often spread it around to "level it up" as they say in Westminster, and the combover is still referred to as being in a "Bobby Charlton"-style. I also refer to the 1979 episode of Coronation Street where Fred Gee tries on a wig in the Rovers and gets some stark comments from the regulars, almost putting them off their beer - Charlton got an "honorary mention" there as well as Robinson. Think on.

Although he was the penultimate member of the 1966 England squad to pass away, in many ways, it almost feels as if it is the end of an era and it feels as if he was the last due to his prominence as a player in later years. I hope that Sir Geoff Hurst will live long into the future so that a living link can still exist to that final weekend in July 1966.

Charlton had made his mark in English football.

Ad_Forums-Top

Announcement