Everything that starts with H ...

...not have been here, and everything I have experienced is worth it for having her with me.

3 Actors
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Clint Eastwood
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Brought up on spaghetti weterns and then the Dirty Harry films, I've liked just about all the films I've seen him in, not saying that he's a golden ne'er do wrong in public kind a guy, but I can't recall ever thinking to myself. "Oh what an idiot - ...
...liked him in Firefox, which alot of people hated.
Not really much to say about his personal life, but I do remember watching Magnum Force one day at a mate's house and we agreed that it's one guy we wouldn't really want to mess with if he was a doorman stood outside a nightclub. Not that we were the kind to cause trouble, but unless you are accompanied by your girlfriends, it can sometimes be awkward for lads to get into clubs with some bouncers ... more

Heroes
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I don't mean about the Marvel comic book kind, heck if Marvel were real, there would be more superheroes than normal people I think.

No I just mean those people who may be friends or relatives or people in the public eye that I admire, they may inspire, interest, or increase my understanding of the world or my outlook in life in general..
I don't think they will be in any particular order, just the way it tumbles out of my head. sorry for the haphazard way in advance then.

Barry Sheene
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OK, may be a little predictable if you have seen my interests, but I was brought up in Bridlington and from my house near the Spa Theatre, you could hear the motorbike engines as they tore around the race track at Carnaby. I think I was only about 5 or 6 when my Dad took me there one day, with my sister (who was about 14). I remember sitting on my Dads shoulders and watching riders like Roger Marshall, Mick Grant, and Ron Haslam tear past. My sister screaming and laughing at herself if anyone went by on the back wheel.

Maybe that started me on my biking way of life, but who knows. 1976 -77 when all this was happening and at that age I guess your character is starting to properly develop as you become really aware that the universe isnt a 3 storey guest house near the sea front where friendly starngers have their holidays. It's a bigger place, and there are other countries and people . . .

We'd follow racing on the telly, Barry Sheene and James Hunt were the British guys whooping it up on the racetrack. I still have my Marlboro McLaren Ford formula 1 model car, and I think my brother still has his Niki Lauda JPS (Lotus??)

But as I grew older it was Barry who got the attention, with his quick wit and friendly atitude, even when he had the few awful accidents - he always seemed ready to talk to the media from the hospital bed, and married to a gorgeous model.. Of course he moved to Australia, but still came on TV now and again. When I was old enough to buy a bike, I also started reading bike magazines, and the mag I used to buy for mysellf every momth was the new glossy "Fast Bikes" . The early issues had writers who most people may have heard of, but I don't think that this was publicised so much.
Other than Barry Sheene, were others such as Damon Hill (he was a motorcycle racer before formula 1), Graham Wilke (The skier).
Now older and able to understand the politics of racing and the media circus surrounding it, I was able to comprehend the points Barry made in his column. Alot of the the words he wrote rang true, coming from someone who had experienced the business first hand.
Biking had seemed to die off for a while, perhaps to do with the lack of air time for races on TV, but aound the late 80's and early 90's biking started making it back onto the box again. With the coverage of British Superbikes, names like Steve Spray and Trevor Nation (riding the British Norton) started to spark off interest in bikes again. Ron Haslam was still around. As more modern machines started to hit the shops, a snowball effect occured, more interest, more coverage, more sponsorship, more racers. The bikes you saw in the race being based on the machines sold in the showrooms.
Barry, with his commenting career appeared more on the TV, and still had that same old banter going. Taking the mick out of a young Jamie Whitham, cheering on Carl Fogarty . .

Finally I did manage to see Barry race in a bike Grand prix. Admittedly it was on classic 500 GP machines, but still a recognised race nontheless. Even though Barry was a guest rider, and wasnt really expected to do so well, he had a good result in the first race, and won the second. The crowd at Donington shouting and cheering for the veteran rider as he rode past lap after lap. He managed to win the event overall and is the only time I've ever heard the national anthem played for a British rider at our home Grand Prix. (Just a matter of note, there has never been a home winner of the British motorcycle Grand Prix to this day. You can mention legends such as John Surtees, Barry Sheene, Niall MacKenzie, Geoff Duke, Steve Parrish. no one has ever pulled that 500 cc win)
I can remember I had actually taken a large Union Jack to Donington that year (the first time I ever had taken a flag to wave).
I stood at the Dunlop Bridge as he came around on his parade lap and could see him waving to the fans. so I got as close to the fence as I could and went slightly mental. I was the only one around with the Union Jack, and as Barry rode past, he must have caught sight, as he slowed right down, pointed at me, gave me a big thumbs up, grinned through his visor and waved.
Then he was moving again down to the Esses. Wow what a buzz that was. I even told my girlfriend when I got back home
"Barry Sheene won AND WAVED AT ME"

Not long after Barry was diagnosed with throat cancer, he reconciled with his wife, after the had split not long before, but he passed away a few months later. I cant remember how long between hearing he had the disease to his death was. But I remember it hitting me like a hammer in the chest when they announced his passing on the news.
"Whats wrong ?" my girlfriend asked as she came in a few moments after the itme finished.
"Barry Sheens gone" I replied with tears in my eyes "Oh God, I can't believe he's gone"
She hugged me, said she was sorry to hear it, and what a full life he must have had, and all the peoples lives he had touched.

I miss Barry Sheene. but there is one thing that I will always remember. - I waved at Barry Sheene and he waved back - and I felt like that young boy again at Carnaby Raceway

Jason
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The oldest friend I have. It must have been at infants school in Bridlington when we first met, somewhere between the ages of 5 and 8. We were in seperate classes and I don't remember the time when we actually said to each other "Hey lets be friends"
You hear stories of kids in other classes in the same year as you and even if you dont know them too well, you get to know them by sight as they get pointed out in the playground..
"Is that John, Simon, Rachel, Fleur (Heck Fleur . . I think she may have been the first girl I ever had a crush on when I was 6 or 7 years old)"
"Yeah over there, doing a handstand" or "playing marbles" or "Sat on the grass"
So Jason probably heard things like this about me
The ffirst time I remeber speaking to Jason was during a knockabout of football during lunch. I was in goal and Jason was on the other side. Jason already had a reputation for a being a hard hitting scorer at football and belted the bal at goal. Stupidly I saved it and broke my little finger in the process.
"Argh ahh ahh I cant' believe I've broke my finger"
"I'm really sorry Alan. I can;t believe you've saved my shot"
So we were going to become friends weren't we?

Even at secondary school, we were friends but not really close friends. We were still in seperate classes at school. But enjoying the same stuff, we would end up on the same trips out, such as the semi-annual trip to Scarborough on the train. This was at a weekend in hot weather, where a group of kids at school would organise a day to go to Water Scene. (If you have even been to Scarborough - Its the open air Swimming Pool on the North side with the two long blue water slides snaking down the hillside - you can see them all the way down the marine drive to the castle).

Blasting down the water slides, Jason was a bit of a nutter, and we got into a slight amount of trouble for turning round and shotting down head first. but nothing ever really serious.
So we grew up though school and entered the sixth form. By coincidence we chose most of the same subjects (Physics, Chemistry and Biology) so now we were in the same class, got to know each other even better and became best mates.

We were such good mates I never even asked his sister, Tanya, out who was only a year or so younger and whom I thought very nice, but her brother was my best mate so bit of a taboo. Maybe something missed there cos I remeber a few flirty comments from his sister if I ever stayed over at their house.
Being one of the oldest in the year, his birthday was in September and mine in March, when we turned 17, Jason beat me by a good few months to getting his drivers licence, and passing his test. He got a second hand white Ford Escort MkI.
Customised it with rally add ons, and then fell asleep at the wheel driving home. Not injured and woke up by the local village cop, who had found his overturned car in a ditch, Jason had killed the ngine, turned the petrol off, got out of the car and fell asleep next to it. He has no recollection of diong any of this however - just the falling asleep while driving and getting woken by the policeman.

A levels, and I think Jason went on his chosen couse. I couldn't get a place and so decided to get a part time job, which became full time. In summer Jason used to help run the rides on the seafront, and was his usualy self giving the comments out over the speakers. As two girls walked past he made a comment over the speakers to them - got a date with one, and is still married to her . . oh well.

When I split up with my first serious girlfriend after 7 years I was heartbroken. still in a bit of a daze Jason was the first person I called to just pour it out to. I have had lots of useful advice from Jason,, and rarely some advice ending up getting me injuerd in some way or another, (but not seriously) like being run over in a go kart. I don't think he's ever needed advice off me though, he may have done and I would have given it, but I honestly can't remember

He lost his stepdad to cancer a short time back, and I know he was very close to him. I know I liked his stepdad alot and it was a shock to hear he was ill, and another to hear he had passed away. We don't really talk about it that much though. I think we both know how we feel about it.
Jason has a good job, which involves alot of commuting around, This, I think, suits him down to the ground as he is as much, if not more of a petrol head than me. Jeremy Clarkson always reminded me a bit of him anyway.
He also helps to raise money for the charity that helped his Dad in his final weeks. We still keep in touch and he lives near my Dad. but probably don't get to see each as much as we would both like to. We both have families and jobs and our local friends. But I still think we will be good friends for life.

Chuck Yeager
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I first heard about Chuck Yeager when I read a book at school about the sound barrier. I also remember seeing the film "The Right Stuff" as a bou, and became hooked on jet aircraft.
Chuck reminds me of the typical all American Hero, like the ones that you might read as a kid in comic books. Im older now and a bit cynical when it comes to recent US policy, but as for the ex fighter pilot Yeager I don't carry this across.
I remember I wanted to be a test pilot and longed to join the RAF, and took qualifications at school that would help me on my way. Also joing the school CCF. This included some flying, stays at RAF bases around the UK and I passed my basic glider training while at School.
It was not to be though, my hopes were dashed at Biggin Hill for the officer and aircrew selection. After getting good marks on the computerised aptitude tests, I failed the medical due to having astigmatism in my left eye. Damn damn and triple damn.
Oh well, life goes on no matter if you get the failures along the way. Those different paths you take may give totally different outcomes and I always think that if things had gone differently, then my daughter may not have been here, and everything I have experienced is worth it for having her with me.

3 Actors
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Clint Eastwood
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Brought up on spaghetti weterns and then the Dirty Harry films, I've liked just about all the films I've seen him in, not saying that he's a golden ne'er do wrong in public kind a guy, but I can't recall ever thinking to myself. "Oh what an idiot - now look what he's done" . I even liked him in Firefox, which alot of people hated.
Not really much to say about his personal life, but I do remember watching Magnum Force one day at a mate's house and we agreed that it's one guy we wouldn't really want to mess with if he was a doorman stood outside a nightclub. Not that we were the kind to cause trouble, but unless you are accompanied by your girlfriends, it can sometimes be awkward for lads to get into clubs with some bouncers stopping you, just for the fact your are lads.
I haven't been stopped by any doorman yet who I havent questioned on the spot their right to bar my entry simply for looking the way I do when I conform to the dress code. Most of the time I usually would get in anyway, the odd few occasiosn the doorman would stand fiirm, and short of starting trouble - that would be it.
Clint Eastwood in his Dirty Harry guise though, would only need to growl something like
"Not tonight guys"
and I would probably just reply
"OK - felt like an early night anyway night sir" and shamble off quietly, and my mate agrees..

Jodie Foster
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Again, I've liked most of the films she's been in, she doesn't seem to be much of a prima donna compared to most movie stars, and although isn't absolutely drop dead gorgeous glamour model magazine stuff, I have always had a soft spot for her looks.
Someone asked a question a while back to name any actor (or actress) that you would go to see a movie purely because they were in it. Not to knock any stars down, but most of the answers were for male actors. Names like Mel Gibson, Tom Cruise, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Gene Hackman, Robert De Niro kept coming up. Even myself I strained to think of any actress that I would check out a movie, not knowing what that movie was about, but simply because she was in it. Jodie Foster is the only one I can think of. Thats not to say I havent enjoyed films with other actresses in, but its the film I have gone to see - not the actress.
Jodie stars in films that always seem interesting, even if you wouldnt expect the storyline to lend itself to that. Wether it be as wide ranging as Silence of the Lambs, Little Man Tate, Meverick, Flightplan, Bugsy Malone, Contact, the list goes on, and just from those films you can see what a wide range of styles she has acted in.
Jodie - I think you're terrific.

Keanu Reeves
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Alot of people say Keanu is wooden, maybe he is, maybe its the roles he gets typecast into. but I have enjoyed all the films I've seen him in. I think a problem with most critics here is that someone called Keanu wooden, and then other critics jump on the bandwagon to knock points off an actor by saying the same thing - and soon it becomes commonplace. Hey its the stiif-as-a-plank Keanu Reeves, aren't I funny? Well no not really, I think you're insecure goon trying to get stand on the shoulders of giants.
I have alot of respect for a guy who is in that line of work, compared to so many others who go completely off the rails and get so full of themselves for just little things.
First losing his child, then tragically his girlfriend when she committed suicide, could push anyone over the edge of sanity. And to keep both his feet on the ground takes some guts He just gets on with his career and life so credit to the guy - definately.

David Beckham
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Yes really, a footballer - when I can't really get on with the game.
Its not just the way he plays football, but it's his general atitude and being slagged off by most of the press for being thick when he certainly isn't. OK so the guy isn't professor of Physics at Leeds University. but that doesnt mean to say he isn't intelligent and thoughtful.
I found myself breaking off work to listen to his interview on the Chris Moyles show on radio 1, and also watching various fly on the wall documentaries on TV.
Maybe the guy is a little vain, but he's got the looks for it.
He's made a fortune from his football skills and charisma, so there has got to be something about the guy.
He would be well justified in some cases to knock someone's head back for the way his family are hasselled. (The argument that you live by the sword and die by the sword doesn't cut it with me - if you pardon the pun - everyone is entitled to their privacy)
If I had a car sat outside my house all hours of the day simply to follow my kids to take pictures of them, I would lose my rag - big style. but the media can get away with it. Why is this? ? ?
It would be so easy for him to go the way of George Best, or even Paul Gasgoine. but he hasn't. so good on him I say, well done for getting where you are. and good luck for the future.

Patrick Moore
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My parents bought me a Patrick Moore book on astronomy when I was about 7 or 8 years old. I think I must have read it about 50 times until it started to fall apart. and if "The Sky at Night" was on on school holidays or Friday or Saturday nights, I would be allowed to watch it.
If you have ever seen The Sky at Night then you will know how passionate he is about all things "stellar". His quirky fast-forward talking style and monocle adding to his friendly character.
Patrick makes me want to be able to blast off in a spacecraft and visit far flung parts of the galaxy just to see other stars and planets. To fly through nebulas and witness the birth and death of whole solar systems. Its a pity it's not possible, not at the moment anyway. I don't know if something like this would ever be possible. but it's nice to be able to dream that one day, it might be.
It was this feeling that made my jump on my bike and tear off down to the south coast with my girlfriend to see the Solar Eclipse, which was a bit of a mad dash, but it was eerie to stand there while the darkness moved towards us along the coast like some great shape out of Independance Day. If it wasn't for Patrick Moore, I may not have even bothered about it.
When I come home from work on an evening if its dark clear night, I find myself getting off my motorbike, or out of the car and just standing in the garden and gazing at the night sky, picking out constellations that I remember from my old book, watching for shooting stars and nearby (relatively) planets and the moon.
 

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