"What I actually said was that George Best was "the originator of the pisshead, womanising, money-squandering, shallow, cult-of-celebrity lifestyle which has swamped the modern game" - and nothing you've said disabuses me of this notion."

I find 'pisshead' an abusive term. Each to their own though.

No, the cult of in yer face footballers started comparatively recently, and it stemmed from a society which has been deeply dumbed down and one that had already adopted a similar attitude itself. Footballers today are paid millions and millions of pounds, in a seemingly never ending uphill staircase of wage rises. With that has come the lad and ladette culture of footballers and er..footballers wives, which has been vastly helped along by the media in general and, imo, trash such as 'Hello Magazine.' Jimmy Hill pushed and pushed for footballers to get paid more, back in the 1960s, but it took a long time to reach where it is now. I wonder if he now regrets that. Perhaps you should blame Jimmy. Or, the dumbed down society itself which now surrounds us all. That isn't George's fault either. That has happened because of apathy and a deliberate dumbing down by the media in particular, who for far too long have glorified the likes of crude comedians, pop shows such as The X Factor and Pop Idol, Big Brother and I'm A Celebrity...etc...etc...etc...

Football is only *part* of the problem.   It has become fashionable to appear thick, to be oikist, loutish and yobbish, to speak as if everyone comes from Sarf Larnden, like, know wha I mean, mate?


George was no angel, but he was no demon either.

And he was the most brilliant footballer I've ever seen.

Yes, he became an icon of his time, along with people such as The Beatles, The Stones etc...he was as much a part of the 60s as they were. Did he ask for that? I don't think so. He was merely a charming young Irish lad from a council estate who was thrust into the spotlight because of his incredible skill at football. The fact he had filmstar looks and Irish charm to match, made him easy prey for an ever hungry media. But there wasn't the 'cult' back then around 'celebrities' as now exists today. The paparazzi were far fewer back then and celebrity magazines didn't even exist. George was held up as an icon because he was so damned good at what he did. There has never been anyone to touch him, as a football player, nor has there been since.

And then, when the media lost Princess Diana, they 'discovered' David Beckham and good ol' Posh, who took her place on their front pages..and the Footballer's Wife was born, along with the TV series and the never-ending photos in all the latest fashion magazines..etc.etc..etc. Posh and Becks became the new 'Royal Family' of the UK. Nowt to do with George.

Football now is about greed and little else, with many clubs standing on the brink of disaster. It lost its magic a long time back.



"Ypou mean like the ones saying that punk, dissent, class politics and football culture are not particularly valuable or valid aspects of English culture?"

I said that football and punks were not the be all and end all of English culture. To that I will also add 'class politics' for I loathe the whole class issue. It divides people up and sets them against one another, and it has been used to do that very thing in ever increasing amounts these past decades. There is far, far more to English culture, far more.

"I find it hard to believe it's something you'd celebrate if you truly understood its contents."

Oh well, you know me, I understand nuzzink, ignorant person that I am, as you've told me over and over.


"I mean, you work in the National Trust shop, for heaven's sake - purveyor of all that is twee, nostalgic and sentimental about England. Surely if all these class-war yobs were genuinely trying to stop you, or anyone else, from being English any other way than "their" way, they'd be attacking all the NT and Past Times shops in the land..."

Well, that is, of course, a sort of 'attack' on the National Trust itself. Past Times is nowt to do with me, ask them.

The National Trust, for your information, sells many wonderful things to do with England. Perhaps, when Derek came in earlier this year, to purchase the Sidmouth Calendar, you weren't able to look around long enough.

Nostalgic items? And what's is wrong with that? Are you saying that people aren't allowed to be nostalgic? They're not allowed to look back, only forward, in blinkers? That's ridiculous, because again, if people aren't allowed to look back, then they will never know the heritage, the history of this land.

We sell beautiful things connected with England. We sell things that our customers love, because many of them grew up with those things. Nowt wrong there.

We sell some *incredible* books about England, along with jams, honey, (although that's in very short supply now) cakes, calendars, perfumes, cards, photos, prints, garden items, wildlife items, plants and trees (in our Houses) writing things. There are books on how to keep chickens, how to live off wild food, how to grow vegetables, how to grow fruit, how to get back to the land, how to take care of so many things in this country, how to have your own allotment, how to cook what grows on that allotment, how to cook almost anything under the sun, including English cooking too, There's music, jigsaws, outdoor pursuit things, rugs, picnic sets, walking sticks, maps, Kendal mint cake, survival guides, canoeing guids, books on country walks and coastal walks, pub crawls and tea shop walks..We sell local produce, from apple juice to soaps. We sell rose and lavender, and flowers and jewellery, hats and scarves and mugs and jugs.

Sidmouth is one of their most successful shops, often outselling city shops such as York and Bath.

And the reason we sell all of the above and far, far more, is firstly because our customers love it, secondly it brings generations together as grandparents buy many of the games, stories, practical books etc they played, or read, or skills they discovered as children, to share with their grandchildren..it passes the memories down..from how to play cribbage to how to grow a cabbage.

Then, all profits raised from those sales is ploughed into The National Trust itself, where it finds its way into the very footpaths that thousands walk each year, through meadows, fields, parks, or along a Coastal Path, more often than not all owned by The National Trust, or to a beach which is also owned and cared for by The National Trust. Or to a Stately Home which you can enjoy to your heart's content, wandering around its beautiful gardens, all owned and cared for by The National Trust, and part paid for by those very goods within our shops, which you talk of so disparagingly.

When you eat at a National Trust property, the food is locally grown, locally sourced, always fresh, very often organic. It's not just the farmers you're helping, but the industries which surround him, from the bakers and butchers, to the greengrocers and wine producers. When you buy the local products in all our shops, you are helping to keep alive the thousands of cottage industries in this land, who, without the support of The National Trust would go under.

The National Trust owns and cares for thousands of miles of coastline, conserving it all. They do the same with the Stately Homes of Britain, woodlands, fields, footpaths, stone walls, farms, rivers. They teach people of all ages, all colours, all religions, how to restore and conserve all of the above. They teach people the old skills in how to make most of the above, ensuring our heritage and traditional ways and skills continue. They are passionate about everything.

They have approximately 5,000 paid staff and approximately 40,000 volunteers. We have so many volunteers because we have so many thousands of people who love The National Trust and all it stands for, and they love helping to tell people about their heritage, be it from a castle, to a farm, to a workhouse or where John Lennon grew up.

The National Trust's properties are visited by hundreds of thousands of people each year, probably millions, and they come from all over the world to visit us.

'Forever, for Everyone' is their motto, their reason to be.

And they ensure that as much land as possible is opened up for us all to enjoy, forever...for everyone.

I am **immensely** proud to work for them and with them, because a harder working, more committed, intensely passionate and proud band of people, you'd be hard pushed to find, and they are pleased to work their butts off for The National Trust, because they all believe in the wonderful work it's doing.

Our shop, I think, as do many of our customers, is one of the most beautiful shops in Sidmouth, and one of the NT's most lovely shops in the country, or so we've been told many times over. Sometimes, we have people who just sit down on the chair and say to us, as one elderly lady did just recently "I hope you don't mind, but I'm just sitting here taking it all in, my dear, as it's so beautiful in here, so much to look at." I told her she was welcome to sit there as long as she wanted.

Our shops are now so popular that all the shops throughout the land are being updated, slowly but surely, after the success of Sidmouth's 'makeover'

We have people who buy their entire list of Christmas presents with us, because our range is so unusual and so varied, so they are able to find something for almost everyone. We are getting younger and younger customers in all the time, too, from teenagers to guys with amazing dreadlocks, like the young man who was in on Saturday. His hair went below his waist, and I smiled and told him how lovely it looked. He grinned at me from ear to ear, then went back to looking at all the products in our 'Recycle and Reduce' section, from energy saving kettles, kitchen compost bins, books on how to recycle almost anything, or how to save water, to wind up torches, radios and lanterns...

Yup, probably the most glorious shop in Sidmouth, and heck, are we loved!

The National Trust

Join The National Trust from the USA

The Royal Oak Organisation (USA)

Sidmouth - National Trust Land