Don't know why there's no sun up in the sky
Stormy weather - - 

Recorded by Bing 30 November 1965.

Carmela, thank you for asking.
The worst storm to hit these islands in ten years apparently, but most of the damage was in  the south east - London and points east and south of it and along the south coast coming off worst.

For myself, I'm further north. The rain here was exceptionally heavy but did not last for long, and whilst it was windy, it was not exceptional here in what we call the West Midlands. No more than a heavy leaf fall.

I know several people who live along the path of the storm, but have not heard directly from anyone of anything worse, so far, than travel problems caused by road and rail links blocked by falling trees.

Until eleven years ago I live in the area affected. A 15 year old schoolgirl killed yesterday lived only five miles down the road from my former home, and attended a school that was at one time attended by daughters of work colleagues.


 

I'm fine, thanks Carmela. I am further north from Richard and I live near Manchester. We had a lot of rain and no real damage of any kind.

I like Manchester United and Manchester City to do well but I suppose United is of more interest to me. I'm not a rabid fan like so many others in this area. Bing was photographed with the United team when they visited Hollywood in the 50s.

48blonde wrote:

Malcolm, I never knew that Bing was photographed with the United Team. I think Bing was photographed with almost everybody from his lifetime!

Malcolm has provided the photo. Here it is - 




Matt Busby, the Manager of the time, is on the right, next to Bing

 

We started about weather and ended up with football and the photo of Bing with the Manchester United football squad. 

Let's bring the weather and football at least together, because weather played a key part in what later happened to the Man U team. Football fans will know that there is a sorry end to this.

The playing squad at the time the photo was taken, in 1952, would probably have included the following- 

Allenby Chilton,  Roger Byrne,  Jeff Whitefoot,  Johnny Berry,  Jack Rowley,  Tommy Taylor, Bill Foulkes,  Dennis Viollet, Jackie Blanchflower,  Ray Wood,  Duncan Edwards, Henry Cockburn, Jack Crompton, John Aston,  Stan Pearson,  Harry McShane,  David Pegg,  Don Gibson, Eddie Lewis, Tommy McNulty,  Noel McFarlane,  Billy Redman and Colin Webster.

Six years later, on February 6, 1958, the team were returning from Munich, in Germany, when the plane, attempting to take off in poor weather, crashed at the end of the runway.  

20 people were killed including, of the above, Roger Byrne, Tommy Taylor, Duncan Edwards, and David Pegg,

Duncan Edwards actually survived the crash, but died in hospital 15 days later.

Several others were injured, including Jackie Blanchflower, Johnny Berry, Bill Foulkes, Dennis Viollet and Ray Wood.

Of these, Jackie Blanchflower and Johnny Berry never played again

I cannot positively identify players in the photo, but believe Jackie Blanchflower is bottom left. 

It's interesting that a high proportion of the 1952 team were still there in 1958.

The manager, Matt Busby, was also very badly injured but pulled through and managed the team through a remarkable come-back period.

The team had been dubbed "The Busby Babes" or "Busby's Babes"

The German authorities initially blamed the pilot, Captain Thain, for the accident, claiming that he had attempted take off with ice on the wings, but it was later shown that this was incorrect and that the airport authority had been remiss in not clearing accumulated snow slush from the runway.
 

Thanks Richard for that story! Very sad. I'm a big football[USA football] fan[Steelers and Giants] but I always like to know what is going on in other sports and other countries. Soccer is a great sport. I like watching the World Cup and Olympic Soccer games.