Flanagan's Running Club – Issue 10

Introduction

The first rule of Flanagan's Running Club is everyone should talk about Flanagan's Running Club! Feel free to forward on to anyone you want, tell people about it the works, just get them to sign up.

Can I ask you all a favour, please can you review my book on Inkitt, and the link is below. Even if you don’t take time to read it properly, please flick through a few chapters, give it ratings and a review and vote for it please. It may help me get it published. https://www.inkitt.com/stories/thriller/201530

2018 Pub Crawl – The Fleet on Foot

The pub crawl route has been finalised and the date is set for Saturday 28th July. The theme is to follow the route of the River Fleet, all of which is now underground in sewer tunnels, from its exit out into the Thames, all the way back upstream to the ponds of Hampstead Heath where its western tributary originated. Starting at The Blackfriar, it’s a nice easy venue to get to, as it is just outside the north bank entrance to Blackfriars Station, easily reachable from all points south. Finishing in Hampstead Heath, it’s only a five minute cab ride to West Hampstead Thameslink station where the last train back through East Croydon and as far as Three Bridges is well after midnight.

No Pub Time The Blackfriar 12:00 1 174 Queen Victoria Street. EC4V 4EG The Albion 12:45 2 2-3 New Bridge Street. EC4V 6AA Sir John Oldcastle 13:30 3 29-35 Farringdon Street. EC1M 3JF The Green 14:15 4 29 Clerkenwell Green. EC1R 0DU Belgo 15:00 5 1 King's Cross Road. WC1X 9HX Meat Liquor 15:45 6 6 St Chad's Place. WC1X 9HH The Prince Albert 17:15 7 163 Royal College Street. NW1 0SG Quinns 18:00 8 65 Kentish Town Road. NW1 8NY Camden Town Brewery 19:00 9 55-59 Wilkin Street Mews. NW5 3NN Sir Robert Peel 20:00 10 108 Malden Road. NW5 4DA The Stag 21:00 11 67 Fleet Road. NW3 2QU The Garden Gate 21:45 12 14 South End Road. NW3 2QE Paradise 22:30 Food 49 South End Road. NW3 2QB

On This Day – 9th July

1540 – King Henry VIII of England annuls his marriage to his fourth wife, Anne of Cleves. 1776 – George Washington orders the Declaration of Independence to be read out to members of the Continental Army in Manhattan, while thousands of British troops on Staten Island prepare for the Battle of Long Island. 1877 – The inaugural Wimbledon Championships begins. 1986 – The New Zealand Parliament passes the Homosexual Law Reform Act legalising homosexuality in New Zealand.

It’s Day of the Employees of the Diplomatic Service in Azerbaijan

Mapping The London Year

1877 – The first lawn tennis tournament at Wimbledon is held at the All England Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club. There was initially only a men’s singles championship, the rain-delayed final of which was held on Thursday 19 July and watched by 200 people, each of whom had paid a shilling to enter. The winner, Spencer Gore from Wandsworth, won 12 guineas and a silver challenge cup valued at 25 guineas. Analysis afterwards altered the size of the court to its current dimensions.

Chuck D Presents This Day In Rap And Hip-Hop History

1981 – 20/20 airs a story on hip-hop titled “Rappin’ to the beat”. 20/20’s story on the musical genre was the first in-depth national TV spotlight on hip-hop. The story, which explored the growing “overnight phenomenon” of hip-hop featured artists such as The Sugarhill Gang, Kurtis Blow, and Blondie, whose chart-topping 1981 single “Rapture” featured lead singer Debbie Harry rapping. The story investigated the phenomenon of break-dancing and described hip-hop as an “all beat and all talk” genre that “tells you a story and makes you want to dance.” Unlike much of hip-hop’s earliest press coverage, the 20/20 piece suggested that the music might have long-term longevity. “Rap is likely to influence popular music for years to come,” the show proclaimed. “It has tremendous staying power because it lets ordinary people express ideas they care about in language they can relate to put to music they can dance to.”

365 – Great Stories From History For Every Day Of The Year

1737 For thirteen years Gian Gastone de’ Medici had ruled as Grand Duke of Tuscany, but his few well-intentioned efforts to rebuild his state were washed away by his laziness, his alcoholism and his taste for bright young boys. Florence was now a bankrupt backwater, with only the jewels of its buildings and art treasures to remind the world of its vanished greatness, and Gian Gastone himself was the only reminder of the great Medici family that had been so vital in creating that greatness. Since Cosimo the Elder had first dominated Florence in 1434, the Medici family had produced a vast array of illustrious and prominent people. The most famous was undoubtedly Lorenzo the Magnificent, Cosimo’s grandson, the greatest art patron the world has known. Lorenzo’s son Giovanni became Pope Leo X, the first of the Medici popes. Later came Clement VII, the illegitimate grandson of Lorenzo’s father, and finally Leo XI, Lorenzo’s great-grandson. Other illustrious Medici include Alessandro, Duke of Florence (the illegitimate son of the illegitimate Pope Clement VII), and two queens of France, first Catherine de’ Medici (Lorenzo’s great-granddaughter) and then Marie, a distant cousin. By 1569 the Medici were so powerful that another Cosimo, descended from Cosimo the Elder’s brother, became the Duke of Tuscany. He was followed by five more Grand Dukes, of which the last one was Gian Gastone. In 1737 Gian Gastone was a tired 65. Given his predilection for boys, it is not surprising that he was childless. He spent most of his days in bed, beard straggling and body unwashed. Thus it was almost expected when death came to him on 9 July. And so the great Medici family came to an end after 303 years of pre-eminence.

Births

1916 – Edward Heath 1945 – Dean Koontz 1947 – O. J. Simpson 1964 – Courtney Love 1975 – Jack White

Deaths

2002 – Rod Steiger

Number 1’s

Number 1 single in 1987 - Pet Shop Boys - It's A Sin Number 1 album in 1968 - The Small Faces - Ogden's Nut Gone Flake Number 1 compilation album in 1995 - Dance Zone Level 5

Random Results

1967 - San Francisco Giants 3 - Chicago Cubs 4 2017 - Lancashire Lightning 173 - Leicestershire Foxes 178-7

Drabble

A drabble is a complete story that is exactly one hundred words long.

Billy In The Rain

Billy sat watching the rain falling, it had been raining for ages now, and he’d got soaked. He could see people huddled in the bus shelter, trying to keep out of the rain.

He noticed that the drains were struggling to disperse the water and puddles were appearing, and he knew what he had to do.

He jumped into his car, drove up the road before turning around, and heading back past the bus stop as quickly as he could.

Billy smiled as the water from the puddles flew up and soaked those people in the bus shelter as well.

Joke

A precious little girl walks into a pet shop and asks in the sweetest little lisp between two missing teeth, “Excuthe me mithter, so you keep widdle wabbits?” As the shopkeeper’s heart melts he gets down on his knees so that he’s on her level and asks, “Do you want a widdle white wabbit, or a thoft and fuwwy, bwack wabbit, or maybe one like that cute widdle bwown wabbit over there?” She, in turn, blushes, rocks on her heels, puts her hands on her knees, leans forward and says in a tiny voice. “I don’t think my python weally gives a thit!”

Random Items

Fact

The very first bomb dropped by the Allies on Berlin during World War II killed the only elephant in the Berlin Zoo.

Firsts

1850 – First Jeans Produced 1852 – First Cardigan made 1865 – First Wellington Boots put on the market 1886 – First Dinner Jacket made 1942 – T-Shirts introduced by the US Navy 1946 – First Bikini made.

Thought

Why are they called apartments, when they're all stuck together?

Forgotten English

Goles Vulgar evasions of profane oaths, all including the sacred name, combined with some other words which it might not be very difficult to conjecture.

Ambrose Bierce’s Demon’s Dictionary

POLITICS The conduct of public affairs for private advantage.

Words You Should Know

Desultory Half-hearted, unmethodical, without really paying attention. Not generally used to describe a person, this is found in expressions such as in a desultory manner or, memorably in a 1940s detective novel by Georgette Heyer, the flirtation was a desultory affair, because one of the participants was worrying about the murder rather than paying attention to the girl who was attempting to flirt with him.

Popular Expressions – What They Mean And Where We Got Them

To give short shrift To treat someone peremptorily and unsympathetically, without heeding any mitigating arguments, or simply to make short work of something. Shrift is defined as a confession to a priest. 'Short shrift' originally referred to the limited amount of time given to a convict between condemnation, confession and absolution, and then finally execution.

Rappers of the Nineties Trumps

Quote(s)

Snobby receptionist in Durham. “You don’t want to go across the river there, there is nothing to see, it’s just charity shops and places like Nando’s”

Going Underground

Royal Albert

In 1875 an Act of Parliament was obtained to construct the Royal Albert Docks, which were completed by 1880. They were opened by the then Duke of Connaught and were name in honour of Prince Albert (1819-1861) the Prince Consort of Queen Victoria.

The station was opened on 28 March 1994. Top Ten

The first 10 countries to put astronauts or cosmonauts into space No Country Date 1 USSR 12/04/1961 2 USA 20/02/1962 3 Czechoslovakia 02/03/1978 4 Poland 27/06/1978 5 East Germany 26/08/1978 6 Bulgaria 10/04/1979 7 Hungary 26/05/1980 8 Vietnam 23/07/1980 9 Cuba 18/09/1980 10 Mongolia 22/03/1981

Cathedral Fact Files

Cathedral Gloucester Cathedral Dedicated To Holy Trinity (Formerly St Peter) Type Medieval Architecture Norman Religion COE Tower / Spire 1 Tower Site Founded 681 Height (External) 225ft Church Founded 1089 Height (Internal) 86ft Bishopric Founded 490 Length 425ft Current Bishopric Founded 1541 Width 154ft

Thirty-Three And One Third Revolutions Per Minute

The Killers – Hot Fuss

Hot Fuss was the debut studio album The Killers. It was released on June 7, 2004 in the United Kingdom and on June 15, 2004 in the United States. The album is mostly influenced by new wave music and post-punk. Hot Fuss produced several commercially and critically successful singles: "Mr. Brightside", "Somebody Told Me", "All These Things That I've Done" and "Smile Like You Mean It". The album reached number seven on the Billboard 200 chart and number one on the UK Albums Chart. As of December 2012, Hot Fuss had sold more than seven million copies worldwide, including more than three million in the United States and more than two million in the UK, where it has been certified seven-times platinum. It has also been certified platinum or multi-platinum in Australia, Canada, Ireland, and New Zealand. The album and its first three singles went on to garner five Grammy Award nominations. Rolling Stone ranked Hot Fuss the 43rd of its "100 Best Albums of the Decade", and it is one of the five most recent recordings listed among the 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. Gigwise readers voted it the number-one "Best Debut Album of All Time" in 2013 and Rolling Stone ranked it the 33rd of its list of "The 100 Greatest Debut Albums of All Time". The album was recorded at various points throughout 2003 with Jeff Saltzman in Berkeley, California, with the exception of "Everything Will Be Alright" which was recorded in guitarist Dave Keuning's apartment and engineered by Corlene Byrd. Many of the tracks were originally recorded as demos, which the band decided to keep for their spontaneity. The album was mixed by Mark Needham at Cornerstone Studios, Los Angeles and Alan Moulder at Eden Studios in London. The album includes the second and third parts of the so-called Murder Trilogy, "Midnight Show" and "Jenny Was a Friend of Mine". The first part, "Leave the Bourbon on the Shelf", appears on The Killers' B-sides and rarities compilation, Sawdust. It was reissued as a box of eleven 7" vinyl discs, with an album track on each A-side and non-album tracks on the B- sides. It was the 26th best-selling album of the decade in the United Kingdom. It is among the top 25 longest charting albums in the history of the UK Albums Chart, with 249 weeks, more than four-and-a-half years. It is also the longest- charting post-2000 release on the same chart. Side one is in my opinion one of the greatest side ones of all time. Track listing 1. - "Jenny Was a Friend of Mine" - Brandon Flowers, Mark Stoermer - 4:04. 2. - "Mr. Brightside" - Flowers, Dave Keuning - 3:43. Released as the first single without much success, but then re- released after the success of second single "Somebody Told Me". The re-release had a new video starting Lily Cole and Eric Roberts. It has been murdered many times over the years by me on karaoke, and probably will be for many more years to come. Has spent more weeks in the UK top 200 than any other single, breaking the record held by New Order's "Blue Monday" for most consecutive weeks, and Snow Patrol's "Chasing Cars" for total weeks. Is still in the top 200 today. 3. - "Smile Like You Mean It" - Flowers, Stoermer - 3:54. Fourth and final single released from the album. 4. - "Somebody Told Me" - Flowers, Keuning, Stoermer, Ronnie Vannucci, Jr. - 3:17. The single that broke The Killers in the UK, reaching the top twenty and helping catapult the album to the top spot in the Album Charts. Used by Weird Al Yankovic in his song "Polkarama" 5. - "All These Things That I've Done" - Flowers - 5:01. Third single released from the album. Interpolated in the Young Soul Rebels "I Got Soul", a top ten hit in 2009. Has been used in numerous adverts to this day. 6. - "Andy, You're a Star" - Flowers - 3:14. 7. - "On Top" - Flowers, Keuning, Stoermer, Vannucci - 4:18. 8. - "Change Your Mind" - Flowers, Keuning - 3:11. 9. - "Believe Me Natalie" - Flowers, Vannucci - 5:05. 10. - "Midnight Show" - Flowers, Stoermer - 4:02. 11. - "Everything Will Be Alright" - Flowers - 5:45. The whole album was covered as a tribute, by the Vitamin String Quartet. Personnel The Killers Brandon Flowers – lead vocals, keyboards, piano, and production Dave Keuning – guitars, backing vocals, production Mark Stoermer – bass, backing vocals, production Ronnie Vannucci – drums, percussion, backing vocals (on Andy You're a Star), production Technical Sweet Inspirations – gospel choir (tracks 5 and 6) Jeff Saltzman – production, engineering (tracks 1–10) Corlene Byrd – engineering (track 11) Jake – additional instrumentation (track 1-10) Alan Moulder – mixing (tracks 1, 4–7 and 10) Mark Needham – mixing (tracks 2, 3, 8, 9 and 11) Charts Australian Albums – 1, Austrian Albums – 60, Belgian Albums – 66, Canadian Albums – 4, Dutch Albums – 46, European Albums – 6, Finnish Albums – 15, French Albums – 8, German Albums – 75, Irish Albums – 1, Italian Albums – 36, New Zealand Albums – 5, Spanish Albums – 35, Swiss Albums – 48, UK Albums – 1, US Billboard 200 - 7 Certifications Argentina – Gold, Australia - 4× Platinum, Belgium - Gold, Canada - 3× Platinum, France – Gold, Germany – Gold, New Zealand - 2× Platinum, United Kingdom - 7× Platinum, United States - 3× Platinum

Club Fact File

Chelsea Founded 1905 Turned Professional 1905 Admitted to the League 1905 Ground Stamford Bridge Capacity 41,631 Previous Ground(s) None Previous Names None Nickname(s) The Blues, The Pensioners Trophies 1954-55, 2004-05, 2005-06, 2009-10, 2014- League Champions 15, 2016-17 Division 2 Winners 1854-85, 1988-89 FA Cup Winners 1970, 1997, 2000, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2012 League Cup Winners 1965, 1998, 2005, 2007, 2015 Full Members Cup 1986, 1990 Charity Shield 1955, 2000, 2005, 2009 and shared in 1997 Champions League 2012 European Cup-Winners’ Cup 1971, 1998 UEFA Cup 2013 European Super Cup 1998 League Seasons Seasons in Premier League (Top 83 Flight) Seasons in Championship (Tier 2) 19 Seasons in League 1 (Tier 3) 0 Seasons in League 2 (Tier 4) 0

Story Time

The Orange Tracksuit

I saw it all. I happened to be in the right spot to see the event unfold as it happened. I know the police will want to speak to me. A key witness is what they’ll call me. I could give them the details they need. Well, apart from the name of the man who did it? That would be a bit much.

Do I want to speak to the police though? I know what they’ll think about me. They’ll take one look at my appearance, they’ll hear the accent, and they’ll assume that I’m trash. Just a local scally with nothing better to do than sit outside the pub. With my rollies and a glass of the cheapest ale. Looking down their noses at me, whilst all the time trying not to breathe through them. In case I emit a less than pleasant odour. I don’t; my clothes may be old, but they are clean. As am I, I shower every day. I have a job too. It may be a zero-hours' contract, but I work at least three days a week in a warehouse. Keeps me fit and pulls in enough money to get by. I can afford to get baccy and papers, and the occasional pint. When I’m not working I like to watch the world go by.

Two policemen are moving up the street to where I sit. They’re stopping at each of the shops. They’ll be asking if anybody has seen anything. They’ll get to me in time. Will they even bother to stop and speak to me? Do I look like a reliable witness in their eyes? Only time will tell. I roll myself another rollie. I use a small amount of baccy from the pouch. I retrieve the butt from my last rollie taking the small filter from it to use again. No point in wasting them, they’re usually good for three or four rollies. I lick the edge of the paper to complete the rollie. It’s the only part I don’t like. I take a sip of my ale to remove the taste of the gum from my mouth.

Besides the policemen working their way up the road, there’s little movement out on the pavement. Not a lot of people tend to walk down this road. Or if they do, they’re only walking from where they’ve left their car to get to whatever shop they need to visit. People live in the flats over the shops. I see glimpses of them in their windows overlooking the road. Not many of them walk down this road though. They enter their flats through the ginnel to the rear of the buildings. Climb up the grey concrete steps to the grey concrete walkway that provides access to the flats.

I’ve been up there inside a couple of the flats. They look a lot better on the inside that they do from down here. They’re fitted out and decorated more in the manner of the new posh blocks of flats over in Castlefield. Only they’re a lot cheaper to rent or own down here. You can’t charge the same kind of prices as you would in Castlefield in a run down, crime-ridden part of the city like this. It can be dangerous around here. If you’re not switched on you could easily get turned over. Mugged in the street, or your flat robbed whilst you’re out at work. It’s not a neighbourhood watch scheme area around here. More a case of watch out in this neighbourhood.

It’s exactly that kind of thing I saw this afternoon. That’s why the police are here. That’s why they are moving up the road asking questions. They’ve now got to the shop next to the pub and gone inside. It’s one of those mobile phone shops. You know the ones. The ones that promise they can unlock any phone. The ones with thousands of phone cases, for every model of phone. Apart from the one you have obviously. They also have second hand phones for sale. They’ll buy them off you with no questions asked. There isn’t a hope in hell they’ll tell the police anything. They’ll want them out of the shop as quickly as possible. They don’t want the police poking around asking questions about where they got their stock from. If asked, whoever’s working in there today will be saying, ‘sorry, no, haven’t seen a thing. I’ve just been sat at the counter watching the shop.’ They’ll tell the police that the CCTV isn’t working; the camera is just for show as a deterrent. They’ll do anything short of physically pushing the policemen out of the door to get rid of them as soon as possible.

See, what did I tell you? The two of them are out of there already, and here they come. The first of the two policemen glances at me and just walks past to go inside the pub. He’s about to push the door when the second of them stops to speak to me.

The second officer is a lot younger that his partner. He can only be in his mid-twenties. He isn’t as world weary as his older partner. He isn’t as cynical and beaten down. He doesn’t see me as someone to ignore. He’s that little bit more enthusiastic. He may look at me and think I’m a scally, but he doesn’t dismiss me as not worth speaking to. I hear a deep sigh from his partner as the younger officer starts to speak.

“Hello sir, have you been sat here for long this afternoon?”

I smile inwardly at being called sir. I tell myself to keep things as simple as possible, no need to say more than is necessary.

“Yeah, a while.”

“We’re investigating an incident that happened down the road about an hour ago. Were you here then?”

“Yeah.”

“Have you noticed anything unusual?”

“Such as?”

“Anything out of the ordinary. Someone acting suspiciously? Someone running up the road possibly?”

“Is it something to do with the offie on the corner down the road?”

“What makes you say that?”

“Well, that’s where you started when you got here. I’ve watched you making your way up here since then.”

“Well sir, there has been an incident at Boozerama, but we can’t divulge any details at this point in time.”

“As it happens I did see something unusual, not long before you pair turned up.”

“Would you care to tell us what that was sir?”

Here it was the crux of the situation. Should I tell them it all in one go, or let them ask me specific questions and give one-word answers to them?

“Yeah, I don’t see why not. I was sat here with a fresh pint watching the world go by. I like to sit and watch the world go by.

I heard the older policeman sigh deeply again, and was sure if I looked at him I’d have seen him rolling his eyes. The younger officer just nodded letting me carry on.

“I saw this bloke coming down the road over there, looking like he’d come down from Barney’s Tip. He turned and walked down to the offie and went it. There was no missing the bloke. He’d got the brightest orange tracksuit on. The kind you could see from space. Couldn’t take my eyes off it. No sooner had he walked in the offie then the bloke who runs the place literally came flying out of the door head first. He crashes into the lamppost and ends up in a heap on the floor. The bloke in the orange tracksuit comes out a couple of minutes later carrying half a dozen bags and does a funny little trot-like run down the road towards Red Bank.”

“Could you describe the man anymore? Height, build, ethnicity, hair colour?”

“Difficult to say, the bright orange tracksuit is the thing that sticks in the mind. He had a plain black cap on, so couldn’t really see any hair. He was white I think, or if not very light-skinned. Don’t know about height or build. He looked kind of normal. Probably about the same as me I suppose.”

The younger officer was writing in his notebook, and as he did the older officer spoke for the first time.

“Would you be willing to make a formal statement to that effect?”

“Yeah.”

“Could you come back to the station with us now?”

“Not really, I’m starting work soon, how about tomorrow?”

The older officer’s eyes narrowed a bit at this, but the younger one had finished scribbling and took over again.

“Yes sir that would be fine. Just make your way up to the main station on Northampton Street, and someone will take your formal statement. Can we take your name and address please?”

“Billy Maguire, 37a Kenyon Lane.”

They didn’t even check the address. They thanked me and made their way into the pub. Good luck getting any information in there. They left a few minutes later and carried on up the road. I finished my drink, left the pub and headed round the back of the shops.

I let myself into the back yard of the abandoned butcher’s. It’d been empty for years, but the council bins were still there. I opened the nearest one and pulled out the bags I’d put there earlier. Two big holdalls full of bottles of spirits, cigarettes, scratch cards and cash.

I looked at the carrier bag with my orange tracksuit in it. I couldn’t wear that again. I tipped some brandy on it and lit it up. It’d burn in the metal bin. I heaved the bags over my shoulders and headed off.

I’d need to find a new pub to watch the world go by from. Poor old Billy would get a shock when the police chased up the statement, though not as much as one as the police would get. Or even as much as the one the insolent sod from the offie got. I’d told him he shouldn’t mess with me.

Puzzle Corner

Quiz

Answers from Issue 9 The four World Cup finals opening matches to have African participants were 1934 – Hungary 4 – Egypt 2 (all last sixteen games kicked off at the same time on the first day of the tournament.) 1990 – Argentina 0 – Cameroon 1 2002 – France 0 – Senegal 1 2010 – South Africa 1 – Mexico 1

This Issue’s quiz. Name all the non-Anglican Cathedrals in England.

Crossword

Banbury

Sudoku Issue 9’s Solution

8 3 5 6 7 1 2 4 9 1 7 6 9 4 2 3 5 8 4 9 2 3 8 5 1 6 7 7 5 1 8 9 4 6 3 2 9 6 4 5 2 3 7 8 1 3 2 8 7 1 6 5 9 4 2 1 3 4 6 9 8 7 5 5 8 9 1 3 7 4 2 6 6 4 7 2 5 8 9 1 3

This issue’s puzzle

8 7 1 9 1 2 6 8 9 3 7 6 8 3 3 4 2 1 2 4 3 9 6 3 5 4 7 8 6 9 3 6

Dilbert

Epilogue

If you want to catch up on old issues, Drabbles I’ve had published, or the random scribbling from a bored mind on my blog then they are all available at http://www.onetruekev.co.uk/ Sign up to the mailing list on the home page there. E-mail any ideas or suggestions to [email protected]