BACKTRACK: Draughts includer

The pair of them, it transpires, were frequent draughts opponents. “I really thought I could play draughts until I met George,” says John, who never once beat him.

“Mind,” he adds, sardonically, “I still don’t know how he did it.”

SO happening to be in Chester-le-Street, where vapes the headquarters of George’s e-cig empire, we look in to give it to him in black and white. Nothing’s excluded from this column, not even draughts.

So how did he get to be such a dab hand?

“Well, I shared a cell with this kid who was a chess champion and wanted to teach me,” the 82-year-old at once recalls.

“I said I was a thick lad from the North-East so he taught me draughts instead. We played every night, every week, every month. There was nothing else to do. I learned all the combinations, a bit like a safe, really.”

There’s still a draughts set, £2 from the charity shop down the street, in his shop. Challengers welcome.

George not only remembers games against John Wray but beating the champion when John had a tournament at the Variety Club in Spennymoor, which he co-owned. “Mind,” he adds, “I bet John never told you about the time I beat him and he chucked the board at me.”

Always did have a chequered career, did GR.

EXTOLLING country house cricket at Thorp Perrow, near Bedale – Sir Henry Ropner’s pad – last week’s column said that Sir Henry had been a university friend of the future Duchess of Cambridge and had been on hand when temporarily she split from Prince Harry. That should, of course, have been Prince William. “The shocking revelation has changed my whole outlook,” writes Martin Jude, one of many readers to spot the transgression. Apologies.

FORMER Darlington footballer Ian Larnach, that most courageous of cancer battlers, has his annual celebrity golf tournament at Bishop Auckland tomorrow.

Back firmly on his feet after a particularly fraught first few months of the year, the 68-year-old celebrated feeling better by buying himself a Mazda MX5 Roadster – described somewhat ambiguously as “a fantastic driver’s car.”

“I’d always wanted one,” says Ian (who is no doubt a fantastic driver.)

The golf day, starting at 1 30pm, brings together 23 teams and many familiar names from the North-East football world – from Pop Robson to former Darlington team mate Colin Sinclair, long in Edinburgh.

It’ll benefit St Cuthbert’s Hospice in Durham, though Ian Larnach Cancer Charities have helped many other organisations locally.

The event’s been organised with the help of Sunderland FA Cup winner Micky Horswill and World Cup referee George Courtney, George rewarded with a hurl in the rodeo roadster. “It frightened the wits out of him,” says Ian, or words very similar.

The column – one of life’s passengers, as the lady of the house oft avers – has been offered next go. We’re working on an excuse.

MENTION the other day of Lev Yashin, the Black Spider, reminded John Maughan in Wolsingham of how he managed to get into the World Cup quarter-final, Soviet Union v Hungary, at Roker Park on July 23 1966.

“A friend had bumped in Durham into some Italy supporters who’d bought tickets in advance because they were so confident they’d be there but they only finished third in the group.”

The capacity was 40,000, the crowd a mere 26,844. “My only other memory is that the pitch had big patches which seemed to be filled in with new grass,” says John.

It was Sunderland’s fourth game in the 1966 finals, the Soviets beating Hungary 2-1. The Black Spider, as always, played a blinder.

LAST week’s column had cause to mention “Butch” Dixon, a pre-war Bishop Auckland full back who subsequently taught maths at the town’s grammar school and was a sure shot with the blackboard rubber.

Durham Amateur Football Trust stalwart Geoff Wood, among his charges, recalls that Butch – doubtless possessed of a heart of gold – once sent him to the staff room to fetch something he’d forgotten.

“It’s in a locker marked WD. You know what WD stands for, Wood?”

“Yes, sir. William Dixon.”

“No,” said Butch, “it stands for War Department, and if you’re not back here in two minutes, you’ll find out why.”

*The piece on the thanksgiving service for Lez Rawe, another Bishop grammar school master, was illustrated by a photograph of a cricket team that we supposed might have been pre-war. Retired primary school head George Dixon identifies it as an old boys line-up from 1949 or 1950. “I remember watching the game,” he adds.

….and finally, the only England footballer before Harry Kane to score in the first two games of a World Cup finals was Wolves legend Ron Flowers, both penalties, in 1962. Now 83, Flowers won 46 caps, the first 40 in consecutive appearances, and hit ten goals – six of them from the spot.

World Cup still with us, Gavin Ledwith in Durham today invites readers to name the four international sides who’ve beaten England more times than England have beaten them.

The column that gets even where draughts can’t returns next week.