Growing up on the edges of London’s East End, the Underground, or Tube as we indigenes would refer to it, was like a magic carpet for teenagers across the capital and those who lived in the SE boroughs where the supporters of Charlton and Millwall lurk were the unlucky ones as they were forced to rely upon what was then still British Rail and TfL was still a twinkle in the eye of the miscreant who later created it.

It felt like the whole world was at our fingertips, especially for a 16-year-old such as myself who used the Tube to see so many fantastic bands at the Marquee Club on Wardour Street, and it brought many a sporting venue into the “easy to get to” category. 

During my A-level years I pushed the boundaries to enter the truly fascinating world of Test Match Cricket, my mate Nick and I seeing both India in ’74 and the Aussies in ’75 at Lords. Memories of these days are sketchy but we got to see the likes of John Edrich at the end of his career, Keith Fletcher at the beginning of his, and appearances from a quintessential quintet of Pom-despising Aussies in the shape of Chappells Ian and Greg, Dennis Lillee, Jeff Thomson and wicketkeeper/batsman Rod Marsh.
This test lingers in the memories of stats fans because Australia enforced the follow-on only for England to bat throughout the month of June, making 528 in their second innings to earn the face-saving draw that everybody outside Tony Greig’s dressing room thought was im...