From Fritz the cat : On British unhinged celebration
Hi Myles.
The maddest example of a wild English celebration that I remember, one that beats Man U’s ’99 Champions League victory (which was only of interest to its supporters, after all), was when England beat Germany 5 – 1.
It was like the raving you see near a stage at a concert, but spread throughout the whole town.
I don’t know how many times people hugged me, and I remember seeing a group of people with step ladders painting a huge “5 – 1” over the whole front of a house.
Of the other celebrations I have experienced, only Italy winning the World Cup in 1982 was in the same league.
The Rugby World Cup of 2003 was also pretty mental.
Myles says :
Con-man Sven’s best result was in a friendly but I loved it, as everyone did.
I know that Martin Tyler really loved saying… “Germany 1 England 5″
Being a friendly, that game could not go to penalties.
Personally, I love big events and a journalist lives a lot of his life though events. But while I always enjoyed being with a big crowd, I don’t really react the same as everybody else. My enjoyment is more personal, more internalised.
In ’66 I didn’t go down to Trafalgar Square and dance in the fountain.
Doing that just did not occur to me.