“Ah regain it for me Rodney”
– Paradise Lost (You’re The Reason Why)
So… what do we know about Rodney?
The A to Z of HMHB
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The A to Z of HMHB
“Ah regain it for me Rodney”
– Paradise Lost (You’re The Reason Why)
So… what do we know about Rodney?
There are 14 Half Man Half Biscuit albums, plus two roundup compilations, as well as 4 EPs and a handful of one-off songs. No 'Greatest Hits'. Indulge yourself by starting here.
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GOK WAN ACOLYTE
Rodney U. Plonker is a character in the sitcom “Lovable Cockney Criminals”
Rodney Marsh was both a leading professional footballer and a test match cricketer in the 1970s
Rodney Bewes was a Likely Lad and Basil Brush presenter
Rodney Street in Liverpool is known as the “Harley Street of the North”
Rod Hull (q.v) was apparently a Rodney, as was Rod Laver
They all like to queue and want to win the cup, an situation The Stranglers found difficult to countenance.
1 September 2016
this leaden paul
Further to the above…
George, Baron Rodney : Controversial 18th century admiral; captured Martinique (q.v.) and then sold it back to the French; has a street (see above) in Liverpool named after him, full of dingy orthodontic practices and disused brothels.
Rodney Bewes : Once did a one-man version of Rollerball, about a dystopian future society in thrall to overpriced biros.
Rodney Lee Cool : Scientist who established the existence of the quark by going to the cheese aisle in Waitrose.
Rodney Dangerfield : Respected in his field, but less so on golf courses. Rejected for membership of the Motion Picture Academy by Roddy McDowall (q.v.).
Rodney Fern : Good, but no Svarc (q.v.).
Rodney Hogg : Milkman.
Rodney King : Drove while black.
Rodney Marsh : Deaf in one ear; thought Tony Book was fucking useless (which history has, indeed, borne out); was hoping to be pulled off at half-time, but only got an orange slice; was sacked by Sly Sports for making a perfectly reasonable joke about David Beckham, and not for being crap at his job for more than a decade. Not the Australian
Rodney Matthews : Album sleeve designer for such as The Scorpions, Asia and Tygers Of Pan Tang (q.v.); definite Roger Dean (q.v.) influences.
Rodney Parade : The ‘Maracana of Newport’.
Prince Rodney : Boxer. Not actually a prince, per se.
1 September 2016
Peter mcornithologist
Rodney Bewes and James Bolam had a domestic in the 70’s and have ignored one another ever since. 2 old men with a gob on. Gravel not involved .
1 September 2016
POP-TART MARK
And the Rodneys are queuing up
God forbid
2 September 2016
IdrisdachisEller
Rodney Bingenheimer. Not quite as fine as Matthew Kaplan, according to Helen Love, ‘also cool’ status notwithstanding.
2 September 2016
Cygnus
My parents were both from Wales (mum from The Valleys, dad from mid-Wales) and would always call the last train home to anywhere ‘The Rodney’ (I occasionally use this term myself). A Rodney in South Wales parlance is/was a drunken ruffian often predisposed to violence; as the last train home from Cardiff would likely have a disproportionately high number of Rodneys on board so the train acquired this nickname. (I’m talking 1930s here). I’ve tried Googling this but really only get Rodney Parade (Newport’s rugby ground) so maybe it is just a family thing. Any Welsh readers ever come across this term?
2 September 2016
KITTYMCDERMOTT
That’s fascinating! In the 80’s in Manchester, we used to call that, “having a benny”. A “Barney” I think was more common parlance in the media. But in North Manchester we preferred “having a benny” . “Having a benny” meant to freak out, kick off, intimidate people … There must be something in this. Why are all these euphemisms men’s names that end in ‘y’? If I was 21 year old lexicographer, I’d be looking that way…
2 September 2016
Bobby SVARC
Rodney Fern scored one of the greatest goals I ever saw at Filbert Street. Given nicknames of “Rod the nod” and “Marty”. Rod was a much better player than me.
2 September 2016
Huddersfield’s very own… Steve malkmus
Rodney Marsh shaved his head for charity after tipping Bradford for relegation, something they narrowly avoided. Ian Holloway made a similar prediction this season about Huddersfield Town, but as a follically-challenged individual the only way any good causes could be helped if that prediction turns out to be inaccurate will be if he scalps himself.
I thought it was a “joke” making a bad pun about Newcastle fans and a tidal wave that ended Marsh’s “promising” television career…
2 September 2016
dickhead in quicksand
The Hornblowerish admiral George Rodney was with the Western Squadron in the 1740s, a service which may or may not have inspired the shanty verse:
Forty days and forty nights,
We sailed the broad Atlantic,
Never to pass
A piece of arse:
It drove us nearly frantic.
3 September 2016
Huddersfield’s very own… Steve malkmus
A “Benny” was definitely used to mean a tantrum in early-1990s Huddersfield, as was “eppy”. Rodney doesn’t particularly strike me as a name to strike fear into the hearts of late-night train guards.
Rodney Rowe came through Huddersfield’s YTS system in the early 1990s, played a fair few games spread over three seasons then became something of a journeyman in the lower leagues, spending time at both Halifax and Guiseley.
3 September 2016
Cygnus
Rodney Marsh, grrrr!
The cause of my first (but most certainly not the last) season of disappointment in supporting The Baggies. League Cup Final 1967, first League Cup Final to be played at Wembley Stadium. We’d won the thing the previous season and as a first division side (old money) playing QPR from the third we were firm favourites to lift the trophy again. We couldn’t afford to go and it wasn’t televised but there were regular updates on Grandstand. Halftime arrives with Albion winning 2 – 0, job done I thought and went out to kick a ball around and pretend to be Jeff Astle. Came back for my tea to find Rodney had inspired the Rangers to a 3 – 2 victory; gutted!
Skip forward many years to Albion’s first season in The Premiership under Gary Megson; we weren’t very good to put it mildly. Rodney called us ‘pigs in lipstick’ on TV which inspired this chant when he later was having relationship difficulties:
Where’s your wife gone, where’s your wife gone
Where’s your wife gone Rodney Marsh?
We’re the pigs in fucking lipstick
And we’re having such a laugh!
3 September 2016
Shan gadge
A digression, I know, but when society crumbles and the ants take over this may be all they know of which mens’ names we used as slang for tantrum. We must all at some point have thrown a paddy rag (or radge).
4 September 2016
Eric olthwaite
Benny meant the same thing in Birmingham. It also had an alternative usage as an insult to a person of supposed limited intelligence, referring to the character from Crossroads (qv).
4 September 2016
Phil Clayton
Rodney’s Pillar, named after the Admiral, stands atop Breidden Hill just inside Wales north east of Welshpool. This was fitting for it was the oaks sold by the gentlemen of Montgomeryshire and floated down the Severn to Bristol which were built into Rodney’s fleet. The pillar was erected in 1781 and the oaks were evidently successful for he won a great battle over the French in the West Indies the following year. Rodney had no personal connection with the area, never visited it and had nothing to do with the building of the pillar honouring him but the local landowners were obviously big fans and presumably had made a decent profit from the Admiralty.
4 September 2016
Peter mcornithologist
Rodney. Mississippi. Ghost town of ?
4 September 2016
dr desperate
@Cygnus TalkTidy website (‘the online home of Wenglish’) claims that Rodneys were also on the last train home from Newport, so it’s probably a reference to Rodney Parade.
http://talktidy.com/r.html
6 September 2016
Cygnus
Thanks for finding that Dr D, I’m really made up. I like the word Rodney and want to use it more often in conversation. My bitter half does not share my Welsh heritage so I try not to overdo it; Stacey and Nessa used many words and phrases familiar to me but which she found simply annoying so they prove useful to me when on a wind-up mission. Anyway for the record I usually manage to catch the Rodney from Brum after a Bilston gig but missed it by a wide margin after the most recent show. If you’re going to Lincoln Dr D let me know – I feel your research skills merit a pint at least.
6 September 2016
dr desperate
If? Lincoln is practically a hometown gig for me, living up the road in Brigg. Look out for a subtly elegant King of Hi-Vis jacket.
6 September 2016
Jodrell banksy
Rodney Bewes no longer a likely lad; what percentage of the “Rodney” season ticket did he hold?
21 November 2017
Peter Mcornithologist
@ Bobby Svarc . Sorry to hear that Rodney Fern died. He was a player who always brought a smile to my face. Wallowing in the Filbert Street mud with his mad, mad sideys.
23 January 2018
BOBBY SVARC
@PeterMc: Rodney was local lad done good, scored some spectacular goals, overhead v Birmingham City is still talked about by many. He was the original owner of the song “he’s here, he’s there, he’s every f**k- ing-where” which was sung with such gusto by the Kop, Alan Young and Steve Walsh were the other two recipients. Rodney died of that terrible illness that has been affecting footballers recently. His didn’t receive a minutes applause at evey match like Cyrille did last Saturday but I’m sure that fans of a certain age of Luton, Rotherham and Chesterfield joined us in applauding a little bit louder. RIP Rodney, a true Leicester legend.
25 January 2018
Jeff
In reply to Cygnus – I concur with what you wrote but it was not just a one-family thing! My grandparents always referred to the Rodneys in exactly the same scenario you suggest i.e. the folk on the last train home, in their case to Mountain Ash from Cardiff.
27 August 2019