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The Voice of Soccer - 1946 book







Psychobilly freakout

Psychobilly freakout

HellBilly
Feb 23, 2009
23,104
Brighton factually.....
Dick Swiveller said:
I must tell you an incident prior to the match starting. "Dr. Brighton" made his appearance as usual, with his attendants, arrayed in a suit of blue and white stripes, complete with blue and white top hat, and proceeded to parade around the ground to the tremendous cheering and laughter from 40,000 odd spectators.

I refer to another occasion, as it brings in my old friends Brighton and Portsmouth again. Following a Cup-tie which we played and won at Fratton Park, we adjourned to the Corner House at Portsmouth for tea. This large restaurant was crowded on both floors, and a full orchestra was merrily playing. All of a sudden, there was a considerable commotion and loud laughter below. We rose from our tables to ascertain what it was all about. It was only the formal entrance of "Dr. Brighton" who was loudly proclaiming the superiority of Brighton over Portsmouth, and, in fact, over every side in the Cup! He then ascended the platform, stopped the band and insisted on them playing "Sussex by the Sea" to which tune everyone was commanded to sing, whilst he conducted in the most professional manner. I shall not forget how the Naval boys entered into the fun, and Brighton's old battle tune rang out in the Portsmouth streets. Large crowds collected outside, until the Law had to intervene, but not, however, before Harry had reproduced one more chorus and presented his famous cake-walk dance. Unfortunately, with his dear old friend Sir Harry Preston, he has passed on, and I fear we shall not in the troubled days that lie ahead, see their like.]
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That is so cool, Dr Brighton.....

Read it and weep John Portsmouth football club Westwood, you bloody copy cat...
Albion lead the way again.

:)
 


Dick Swiveller

Dick Swiveller

Well-known member
Sep 9, 2011
9,165
Psychobilly freakout said:
That is so cool, Dr Brighton.....

Read it and weep John Portsmouth football club Westwood, you bloody copy cat...
Albion lead the way again.

:)
Click to expand...

My thoughts exactly - probably less homophobic as well, despite that game being in 1930.
 


M

MattBackHome

Well-known member
Jul 7, 2003
11,735
Dick Swiveller said:
I refer to another occasion, as it brings in my old friends Brighton and Portsmouth again. Following a Cup-tie which we played and won at Fratton Park, we adjourned to the Corner House at Portsmouth for tea. This large restaurant was crowded on both floors, and a full orchestra was merrily playing. All of a sudden, there was a considerable commotion and loud laughter below. We rose from our tables to ascertain what it was all about. It was only the formal entrance of "Dr. Brighton" who was loudly proclaiming the superiority of Brighton over Portsmouth, and, in fact, over every side in the Cup! He then ascended the platform, stopped the band and insisted on them playing "Sussex by the Sea" to which tune everyone was commanded to sing, whilst he conducted in the most professional manner. I shall not forget how the Naval boys entered into the fun, and Brighton's old battle tune rang out in the Portsmouth streets. Large crowds collected outside, until the Law had to intervene, but not, however, before Harry had reproduced one more chorus and presented his famous cake-walk dance. Unfortunately, with his dear old friend Sir Harry Preston, he has passed on, and I fear we shall not in the troubled days that lie ahead, see their like.
Click to expand...

I want to know everything about this bloke.

I know Sake Dean Mahomed was referred to by that name (as I presume was Ricard Russell, first of all) but this bloke sounds amazing.
 


Psychobilly freakout

Psychobilly freakout

HellBilly
Feb 23, 2009
23,104
Brighton factually.....
Dick Swiveller said:
My thoughts exactly - probably less homophobic as well, despite that game being in 1930.
Click to expand...

Hold your horses, the famous cake walk dance got my attention and I just googled it

"The cakewalk was a pre-Civil War dance originally performed by slaves on plantation grounds. The uniquely American dance was first known as the "prize walk"; the prize was an elaborately decorated cake. Hence, "prize walk" is the original source for the phrases "takes the cake" and "cakewalk"


Probably they just did it because it was popular in the American movies shown back then over here, and probably best left alone now.

https://youtu.be/yD3Ybme_cdc
 




Dick Swiveller

Dick Swiveller

Well-known member
Sep 9, 2011
9,165
MattBackHome said:
I want to know everything about this bloke.

I know Sake Dean Mahomed was referred to by that name (as I presume was Ricard Russell, first of all) but this bloke sounds amazing.
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There is another tiny mention of him.

Now to come to the Brighton team when I first knew it intimately. I soon began to know the management and the individual players personally, which makes my notes on the players authentic. I used to travel a good deal with the team, and dropped in at Harry Taylor's Star & Garter Hotel on Saturday evenings to have a couple of beers with them and discuss the afternoon's match. They had little informal entertainments run by Harry, and some of the boys could have made their name on the stage. They had good voices, and some were musicians - I have referred to this in my reminiscences on "Dr. Brighton".
 




Dick Swiveller

Dick Swiveller

Well-known member
Sep 9, 2011
9,165
Dick Knights Mumm said:
First time I’ve seen this. Cheers. Really takes me back.
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I got that from the vast influx of notifications I just got! :smile: Glad you like it. Good for Alec but sadly for us, still quite a while until these books go out of copyright so the only way to get them is to buy an inflated price copy. But I think I have covered most of the decent Brighton related stuff. And my OCD is happy now I have the set. Nice little set of quirky books - especially as he wrote them to pay for the West Stand or raise money for charity.
 




M

MattBackHome

Well-known member
Jul 7, 2003
11,735
Is there any more info anywhere about this Harry Taylor chap? Seems an interesting character.

I looked up the Pompey cup game in Tim Carder's book - Jan 25 1930 - and he mentions the GOSBTS sounds reverberating around Fratton (but sadly nothing in there about Dr Brighton)

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P

Pint of Ale and a Burger

New member
May 5, 2020
1,525
Sussex
MattBackHome said:
Is there any more info anywhere about this Harry Taylor chap? Seems an interesting character.

I looked up the Pompey cup game in Tim Carder's book - Jan 25 1930 - and he mentions the GOSBTS sounds reverberating around Fratton (but sadly nothing in there about Dr Brighton)

Sent from my SM-A715F using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

It's all fascinating but I also was interested in"Dr Brighton".
I've had a quick look and so far all I have is,
His aforementioned Friend sir Harry Preston used to be a member of the eccentric club in st James Street and the pelican pub and "NSC"(I don't know what NSC is or was on at James Street,maybe early North stand chat) obviously the "eccentric"club caught my attention for a possible link to Harry Taylor judging by his exploits at Pompey but so far I haven't found his name linked to the club.
Also I have discovered that in 1951 a "John Taylor"from the star And garter hotel(Harry Taylor's aforementioned hotel)gave a donation of free meals to the Brighton blind society.
That's it at the moment but lots of potential to at least find a picture of the fellow in question.
Also whilst looking for Dr Brighton,I didn't realise quite how big an impact sir Harry Preston had on Brighton's history, really interesting and also seemed a bit of a character too.
 


Hiney

Hiney

Super Moderator
Helpful Moderator
Jul 5, 2003
19,396
Penrose, Cornwall
GT49er said:
"Invalid Attachment specified. If you followed a valid link, please notify the administrator".....

Never mind - thanks anyway.
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Strange.

Here's another go

Page 10-11 (1).jpg
 




M

MattBackHome

Well-known member
Jul 7, 2003
11,735
Pint of Ale and a Burger said:
It's all fascinating but I also was interested in"Dr Brighton".
I've had a quick look and so far all I have is,
His aforementioned Friend sir Harry Preston used to be a member of the eccentric club in st James Street and the pelican pub and "NSC"(I don't know what NSC is or was on at James Street,maybe early North stand chat) obviously the "eccentric"club caught my attention for a possible link to Harry Taylor judging by his exploits at Pompey but so far I haven't found his name linked to the club.
Also I have discovered that in 1951 a "John Taylor"from the star And garter hotel(Harry Taylor's aforementioned hotel)gave a donation of free meals to the Brighton blind society.
That's it at the moment but lots of potential to at least find a picture of the fellow in question.
Also whilst looking for Dr Brighton,I didn't realise quite how big an impact sir Harry Preston had on Brighton's history, really interesting and also seemed a bit of a character too.
Click to expand...

https://sirharrypreston.co.uk/

Loads on there, all completely new to me.
 




P

Pint of Ale and a Burger

New member
May 5, 2020
1,525
Sussex
MattBackHome said:
https://sirharrypreston.co.uk/

Loads on there, all completely new to me.
Click to expand...

Thanks,I had a good read of this.
But sadly despite having more interesting stuff about sir Harry Preston ,I couldn't see anything of our man Harry"Dr Brighton"Taylor.
I'm hoping to see a photo of"Harry Preston with his friend Harry Taylor"but nothing yet.
What is interesting is I have found a quote from Tim carders book"the encyclopedia of Brighton",where he mentions Harry Taylor's hotel.
He said the star and Garter has been known as"Dr Brightons"since the 19century,so was it named after Harry Taylor?or was Harry Taylor given the nickname because he owned it?.
I also didn't realise Dr Brightons was still going until 2018,when despite being popular the owners could not afford the rising rents the closed it(I'm not sure if it has reopened since but doesn't look like it).I think it may have officially changed name from the star and Garter to Dr Brightons in the 70s but not sure.
It's interesting that tim carder references the mass sing up at Pompey in one book and mentions the star and Garter hotel or "Dr Brightons"as it was known in another,so I'm wondering if he is aware of Harry Taylor as the owner of the hotel and the instigator of the Pompey shenanigans and made the link?but I should add I have only read the passage regarding the star and Garter hotel,I haven't got access to the whole book yet.
I think the OP may well have uncovered an interesting and forgotten piece of Brighton's history with his books,in the form of Harry Taylor.
I will keep looking anyway and I have found a few research places to email and maybe they can help.
Maybe Tim carder will read this and get on the case or reveal something he already knows.
I would love to see a photo of Harry"Dr Brightons"Taylor, who definetly sounds like a Brighton legend.
 




M

MattBackHome

Well-known member
Jul 7, 2003
11,735
[MENTION=831]The History Man[/MENTION] please please please can you tell us all about this Dr Brighton?

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