Swans are complete thickos, I’ve seen them fly into Wroxham Bridge, saw 30 of the stupid buggers land on the M1 only to be defended by that madman Bill Oddie who said “They made a slight error of judgment, mistaking 6 lanes of tarmac as a river”… wtf?. To top it all one of the Silly Billy’s decided to snaffle my dead mackerel and head towards Horning , within seconds hundreds of people appeared from nowhere… Oh shit! what def hook shall I do?, luckily, after about five minutes (it felt like 5 hours) a fellow pike angler came along in his boat and unhooked the Swan,…. The crowd disbursed, some actually started feeding them, but even the thick Swans turn their beaks up at Roy’s of Wroxham cheap bread.
8 February 2017
GOK WAN ACOLYTE
Are we discussing in this entry “that swan” from LUYMB, or will it have its own entry in the A to Z? (If so, I suppose it should have been before “The Swan”)
Anyway, “The Swan” is the 6th most popular pub name in the UK, according to some CAMRA (q.v.) related website.
That’s the one John. First building on Holme Lane, after which the estate where Mr. B grew up was named.
Unusual in that it seems that a Hugh Swan was the proprietor in the C19, named the pub after himself and then quite a famous road – Swan Hill was named after the pub. Swan Hill later incorporated into Woodchurch Road. The pub was rebuilt at some point obviously – would have been not much more than a cottage originally.
Meanwhile another pub that was set up nearby in the 19th century, The Queen’s, was not named after its original proprietor, but the adjacent Hughes Lane was. Small world, cos if you look at your ‘Achtung Bono’ CD art, Hughes Lane is the residence of a certain fictional character, who in turn was named after another nearby estate, the Ford….
8 February 2017
BOBBY Svarc
The White Swan at Stoke Golding and The Swan at Newbold Verdon, only about 5 miles apart and both known as “The Swan”
8 February 2017
dr desperate
Good point, @GWA: there’s a ‘that swan’ and a ‘The Swan’ (but not a ‘This Swan’, unless you count the one that’s For Now).
8 February 2017
jodrell banksy
According to the wikipedia article for Newbold Verdon, theirs was formerly the Old White Swan, so you wouldn’t have been able to differentiate on hue, even.
‘I left my swan in Newbold Verdon,’ should’ve been a Morrissey Peel session ad lib.
8 February 2017
BOBBY SVARC
Turned into an Everards eatery, god knows when. When they banned smoking I suppose, it used to be a bikers haunt back in the day.
8 February 2017
CHARLES EXFORD
I notice from that page that only 2 things have ever happened in Newbold Verdon, and one of them was 530 years late, seeing Tricky Dicky retrace his route from Bosworth field. Steve’s Morrissey reference (and the fact that perhaps only royals can really say ‘my swan’) now has that song stuck in my head with the idea of his royal Mozztrosity starring in some sort of camp Richard III musical, with “Is it Really So Strange?” only needing a couple of tiny tweaks, and a bit more repetition about the horse.
8 February 2017
Huddersfield’s very own… Steve malkmus
For another variation on Swan pubs, there’s “The Swan With Two Necks”- there’s one on Westgate in Wakefield and apparently several others. The inn signs in pretty much all cases depict what I’d sooner describe as a swan with two heads. They do also have two necks, but why would one focus on that? The only way that name would make sense would be if the two necks fused back together at the base of just the one skull- and that would be ridiculous.
8 February 2017
BOBBY SVARC
Colin Pitchfork was born and lived there.
8 February 2017
CHARLES EXFORD
There was a Swan with 2 Necks pub just down the road here in Leeds, recently converted to flats like so many, and in this case no loss whatsoever to anyone. When you google the story you hear about the pun of the ‘2 nicks’ on its beak meaning it had been ‘upped’ by the Honourable Company of Vitners, i.e. a kind of pun saying there’ll be good booze served here, and I think it could have originated in a riddle.
As an angler and a terrible romantic I do love seeing them do the heart thing with their necks and beaks, which they do all the time.
8 February 2017
BOBBY Svarc
What do Swans and British Gas have in common?…They can both stick their bills up their arse.
8 February 2017
GIpton teenager
@Exxo. The pub sign of that particular establishment had two Chevrons in the top corner (two nicks?). It was just up the road from the Ace Of Clubs, which I believe was the first home of the F club, but I could be wrong (I usually am on most things).
9 February 2017
jODRELL BANKSY
@Exxo: “I got confused, I killed a horse / Oooh, my kingdom for a pantomime horse!” Hm, nearly writes itself, yes yes..
9 February 2017
hendrix-tattoo
The name of the last pub to close in my area,There are no pubs now, All of them closed down. I believe now it is a knocking shop.
9 February 2017
gipton teenager
@H-Tat What, no pubs at all? If I knew how to do it I’d make a sad face emoticon for you.
9 February 2017
CHARLES EXFORD
Wowee Tony, cheers, I had no idea that Joy Division played 3 times on Woodhouse Street, a place I pass most days, in a since-demolished former cinema, that before that I had equally no idea was considered the most glamorous and sophisticated nightspot in town, when it used to host Frankie Vaughan, Dickie Valentine, Tessie O’Shea, Sid and Eddie, etc. (with drinks served by bunny girls)
The F-Club, promoted as you are well aware by the very same fella who promoted the gig we attended on Monday: “In the summer of 1977 I was promoting, along with Graham Cardy, a weekly punk night at Leeds Poly called Stars of Today, in the common room. In a short space of time I managed to book The Slits, The Police, XTC, The Vibrators, Slaughter & The Dogs, Ed Banger & The Nosebleeds, Wayne County, Spitfire Boys and many others. The young punks had their own energy, everyone was creative, friendly and enthusiastic, having one thing in common…a passion for live music.
“When the new term started the student administration asked us all to leave to make way for the student input. In order to keep everyone together I decided the solution was to form a club with discounts for regular members. The F-Club was born. It basically stood for ‘F*** the Poly, we’ll go somewhere else!’ On the membership application on the last night at the Poly I wrote ‘Let’s get the ‘F’ out of here!’ The most suitable venue was The Ace Of Clubs on Woodhouse Street. It was a fading cabaret club and they were glad of the custom. Graham didn’t want to be involved so I took on all the duties myself; Claire, our regular DJ, came along and the club was up and ready by October 1977. Between then and Christmas the bands who played included: The Rezillos, The Gang Of Four, the Mekons, Penetration, Wilko Johnson, Siouxsie & The Banshees, The Yachts, The Killjoys, X-Ray Spex and more…
“After the New Year there was a suspicious fire and the club closed down, never to reopen. In February I moved the club to Roots, a West Indian club leased by a friend, Carl Wilson, in Francis Street, Chapeltown. From February until the autumn of 1978 I put on early gigs with Magazine, Joy Division, The Adverts, Suicide, Wayne County, Matumbi, Black Slate etc… It was a time when the NF and SWP were recruiting for their various political motives. After a few confrontations I banned the distribution of propaganda within the club. Even so, an extreme left-wing rag suggested the ‘F’ stood for ‘Fascist’ (promoting punk and reggae acts in a West Indian club??). I changed the name to The Fan Club and moved to a basement club, Brannigans on Call Lane (underneath The Top Rank and opposite The New Penny, Leeds’ first openly gay pub) in October 1978, where it ran until April 1981.
“For me, that time was the Golden Age of music; it had progressed from punk and exploded in all directions; some great acts came out of the Brannigans era: B52s, U2, Joy Division, Human League, Adam & The Ants, Toyah, Bauhaus, Killing Joke, Generation X, Echo & The Bunnymen, Teardrop Explodes, Wah!, Cabaret Voltaire, Pere Ubu, The Cramps, Crass, Throbbing Gristle, The Raincoats, Kleenex, The Cure, John Cooper Clarke, Robert Fripp, Spizz Energi, The Fall, Penetration, 999, Split Enz, The Specials, Madness, The Selecter, Altered Images, Sisters Of Mercy, Bad Manners, Prince Far I, Pure Hell, Aswad etc etc…It made it possible for me to promote the Futurama festivals, which are still being written about today…”
9 February 2017
CHARLES EXFORD
OK, got over-excited seems like Joy Division played the F-club 3 times but not on Woodhouse St.
9 February 2017
hendrix-tattoo
Tony, I live less than a mile from the N.Q. So there are still plenty of pubs and bars I could go. But all the pubs I grew up with, In Collyhurst have all gone, The Swan being the last one shut six months ago. My favourite pub Billy Green’s was demolished in december.
9 February 2017
GIpton teenager
@H-Tat. Sorry Tony if I’m being a bit dim, but I don’t know what the N.Q. is. Actually I was in Liverpool’s last year and visited several decent pubs and one remarkable one – The Philharmonic Dining Rooms. It wasn’t actually open when we arrived, but the barmaid said “no, come in and have a look around until we open” which we did ,particularly the gents, then a couple of pints before the train home. (Long bloody walk with a weekend bag.
10 February 2017
GIpton teenager
Just thought, we went to a great Francis Bacon exhibition last year while in Liverpool and there’s another one in Hull this year. Does this mean that, as I’m in Leeds, I’m in the middle of a year-long Bacon sandwich?
10 February 2017
CHARLES EXFORD
I’ll step into the middle of this potential inter-Tonine Transpennine diplomatic incident before its too late. Others may be confused too, so I’ll assume nothing, other than the consumption of single malt.
Tony Teenager – you’re from Leeds. Tony Tattoo – is from Manchester, where the Northern Quarter is the ‘NQ’. Full of trendy bars. Me – from Merseyside (but live in Leeds).
10 February 2017
GIpton teenager
Thanks for clearing that up @CE. What was I thinking?- drinking tea tonight
10 February 2017
THE WARDEN HODGES
Re GT- Been saying it for years, the toilets in the Phil are just the nicest toilets ever. Said it.
10 February 2017
GIpton teenager
@TWH Only the Gents though. A reminder of inequalities past. I took pictures (many people do).
10 February 2017
WARDEN HODGES
I can only comment on the gents of course but yep proud to pee in there.
10 February 2017
WARDEN HODGES
Decided to knock the The off – Buzzcocks style.
10 February 2017
dickhead in quicksand
Parsifal shot one, what a fool.
11 February 2017
Third Rate Les
There’s a swan on the Devizes-Westminster kayak race so vicious that many of us portage our boats around his territory rather than risk a confrontation – when you’re in a racing kayak, you’re below head height to swans and they’re scary as hell.
Legend has it he’s called “Saddam”, although there are several such legends, and in reality, any male swan in the springtime is likely to react in a hostile way to encroachment. This one is a particularly vicious one though.
20 February 2017
ChARLES EXFORD
Surely when it comes to Swans, if someone calls him Saddam he’s called Saddam? I doubt he is officially registered with the Nest Club with a special daft long posh Nest Name like Sandon Ndanga Aloysius Umbongo O’Maddam or anything. Or if they say he is then that might be the legend.
20 February 2017
CHARLES EXFORD
Careful now that Swan could break your arm: http://swans.pair.com/PRESS/int_sec.html (see particularly the “physical violence question” about two thirds of the way down).
(I get the feeling there might be a “the Swan” and a “swans” entry, and they’re both full of the other one…)
7 December 2021
dr desperate
To bring the two together, today being the seventh day of Christmas in most countings: “A large crowd saw a swan, which apparently thought it was fighting a rival, meet its death in a prolonged and vicious attack on the painted sign of The Swan Hotel, Rickmansworth, today.” (Coventry Evening Telegraph – Tuesday 06 July 1937)
31 December 2022
BOBBY SVARC
I accidentally hooked a swan at the front of The Kings Head in Wroxham. I was pike fishing and thicko swan took my sardine and hooked itself, it was a classic Jaws moment, my mate Harry said “It’s taking a helluva lot of line” I was screaming “Wet the reel, wet the reel”. It was about half four in the afternoon, freezing cold and not a soul about, until now!. Some bloke, who was with a big party who were just leaving the Kings Head saw what was happening, “This bloke’s got a massive pike on” he yarps, yeah right, I wish. Within seconds I had an audience to see me land this pike, we had to tell them the truth, the atmosphere changed immediately, it was now hostile. Kids and women were crying, one of the few times in my life I hadn’t a clue what to do, I couldn’t cut the line, by now it had taken about 50 yards of it, I was fooked to say the least. Then from under the bridge I heard an outboard motor, luckily it was our mate Richard Furlong (RIP) who, with very little fuss unhooked ‘Swanny’ to a round of applause, it swam off uninjured. Richard gave it plenty of “I don’t know, Leicester thugs coming down here to catch swans” and a few “cruel bastards” came from the pub patrons. All in all a good ending. Of course, word in Broadland spreads like wildfire, every bugger knew about it, in the pub/hotel that night the gaffer, Darren had chalked up ‘Swan Special’ and Swan Delight’ on the menu board. Happy days.
BOBBY Svarc
Swans are complete thickos, I’ve seen them fly into Wroxham Bridge, saw 30 of the stupid buggers land on the M1 only to be defended by that madman Bill Oddie who said “They made a slight error of judgment, mistaking 6 lanes of tarmac as a river”… wtf?. To top it all one of the Silly Billy’s decided to snaffle my dead mackerel and head towards Horning , within seconds hundreds of people appeared from nowhere… Oh shit! what def hook shall I do?, luckily, after about five minutes (it felt like 5 hours) a fellow pike angler came along in his boat and unhooked the Swan,…. The crowd disbursed, some actually started feeding them, but even the thick Swans turn their beaks up at Roy’s of Wroxham cheap bread.
8 February 2017
GOK WAN ACOLYTE
Are we discussing in this entry “that swan” from LUYMB, or will it have its own entry in the A to Z? (If so, I suppose it should have been before “The Swan”)
Anyway, “The Swan” is the 6th most popular pub name in the UK, according to some CAMRA (q.v.) related website.
8 February 2017
dr desperate
The picture above is of The Swan in Stratford St Mary, Essex.
This is The Swan on Woodchurch Rd in Prenton (possibly not quite as inviting).
https://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/05/4a/d8/0d/the-swan.jpg
8 February 2017
CHARLES EXFORD
That’s the one John. First building on Holme Lane, after which the estate where Mr. B grew up was named.
Unusual in that it seems that a Hugh Swan was the proprietor in the C19, named the pub after himself and then quite a famous road – Swan Hill was named after the pub. Swan Hill later incorporated into Woodchurch Road. The pub was rebuilt at some point obviously – would have been not much more than a cottage originally.
Meanwhile another pub that was set up nearby in the 19th century, The Queen’s, was not named after its original proprietor, but the adjacent Hughes Lane was. Small world, cos if you look at your ‘Achtung Bono’ CD art, Hughes Lane is the residence of a certain fictional character, who in turn was named after another nearby estate, the Ford….
8 February 2017
BOBBY Svarc
The White Swan at Stoke Golding and The Swan at Newbold Verdon, only about 5 miles apart and both known as “The Swan”
8 February 2017
dr desperate
Good point, @GWA: there’s a ‘that swan’ and a ‘The Swan’ (but not a ‘This Swan’, unless you count the one that’s For Now).
8 February 2017
jodrell banksy
According to the wikipedia article for Newbold Verdon, theirs was formerly the Old White Swan, so you wouldn’t have been able to differentiate on hue, even.
‘I left my swan in Newbold Verdon,’ should’ve been a Morrissey Peel session ad lib.
8 February 2017
BOBBY SVARC
Turned into an Everards eatery, god knows when. When they banned smoking I suppose, it used to be a bikers haunt back in the day.
8 February 2017
CHARLES EXFORD
I notice from that page that only 2 things have ever happened in Newbold Verdon, and one of them was 530 years late, seeing Tricky Dicky retrace his route from Bosworth field.
Steve’s Morrissey reference (and the fact that perhaps only royals can really say ‘my swan’) now has that song stuck in my head with the idea of his royal Mozztrosity starring in some sort of camp Richard III musical, with “Is it Really So Strange?” only needing a couple of tiny tweaks, and a bit more repetition about the horse.
8 February 2017
Huddersfield’s very own… Steve malkmus
For another variation on Swan pubs, there’s “The Swan With Two Necks”- there’s one on Westgate in Wakefield and apparently several others. The inn signs in pretty much all cases depict what I’d sooner describe as a swan with two heads. They do also have two necks, but why would one focus on that? The only way that name would make sense would be if the two necks fused back together at the base of just the one skull- and that would be ridiculous.
8 February 2017
BOBBY SVARC
Colin Pitchfork was born and lived there.
8 February 2017
CHARLES EXFORD
There was a Swan with 2 Necks pub just down the road here in Leeds, recently converted to flats like so many, and in this case no loss whatsoever to anyone. When you google the story you hear about the pun of the ‘2 nicks’ on its beak meaning it had been ‘upped’ by the Honourable Company of Vitners, i.e. a kind of pun saying there’ll be good booze served here, and I think it could have originated in a riddle.
As an angler and a terrible romantic I do love seeing them do the heart thing with their necks and beaks, which they do all the time.
8 February 2017
BOBBY Svarc
What do Swans and British Gas have in common?…They can both stick their bills up their arse.
8 February 2017
GIpton teenager
@Exxo. The pub sign of that particular establishment had two Chevrons in the top corner (two nicks?). It was just up the road from the Ace Of Clubs, which I believe was the first home of the F club, but I could be wrong (I usually am on most things).
9 February 2017
jODRELL BANKSY
@Exxo: “I got confused, I killed a horse / Oooh, my kingdom for a pantomime horse!” Hm, nearly writes itself, yes yes..
9 February 2017
hendrix-tattoo
The name of the last pub to close in my area,There are no pubs now, All of them closed down.
I believe now it is a knocking shop.
9 February 2017
gipton teenager
@H-Tat What, no pubs at all? If I knew how to do it I’d make a sad face emoticon for you.
9 February 2017
CHARLES EXFORD
Wowee Tony, cheers, I had no idea that Joy Division played 3 times on Woodhouse Street, a place I pass most days, in a since-demolished former cinema, that before that I had equally no idea was considered the most glamorous and sophisticated nightspot in town, when it used to host Frankie Vaughan, Dickie Valentine, Tessie O’Shea, Sid and Eddie, etc. (with drinks served by bunny girls)
Ace of Clubs: http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/nightclub-boss-teddy-joyce-dies-1-2168225
The F-Club, promoted as you are well aware by the very same fella who promoted the gig we attended on Monday:
“In the summer of 1977 I was promoting, along with Graham Cardy, a weekly punk night at Leeds Poly called Stars of Today, in the common room. In a short space of time I managed to book The Slits, The Police, XTC, The Vibrators, Slaughter & The Dogs, Ed Banger & The Nosebleeds, Wayne County, Spitfire Boys and many others. The young punks had their own energy, everyone was creative, friendly and enthusiastic, having one thing in common…a passion for live music.
“When the new term started the student administration asked us all to leave to make way for the student input. In order to keep everyone together I decided the solution was to form a club with discounts for regular members. The F-Club was born. It basically stood for ‘F*** the Poly, we’ll go somewhere else!’ On the membership application on the last night at the Poly I wrote ‘Let’s get the ‘F’ out of here!’ The most suitable venue was The Ace Of Clubs on Woodhouse Street. It was a fading cabaret club and they were glad of the custom. Graham didn’t want to be involved so I took on all the duties myself; Claire, our regular DJ, came along and the club was up and ready by October 1977. Between then and Christmas the bands who played included: The Rezillos, The Gang Of Four, the Mekons, Penetration, Wilko Johnson, Siouxsie & The Banshees, The Yachts, The Killjoys, X-Ray Spex and more…
“After the New Year there was a suspicious fire and the club closed down, never to reopen. In February I moved the club to Roots, a West Indian club leased by a friend, Carl Wilson, in Francis Street, Chapeltown. From February until the autumn of 1978 I put on early gigs with Magazine, Joy Division, The Adverts, Suicide, Wayne County, Matumbi, Black Slate etc… It was a time when the NF and SWP were recruiting for their various political motives. After a few confrontations I banned the distribution of propaganda within the club. Even so, an extreme left-wing rag suggested the ‘F’ stood for ‘Fascist’ (promoting punk and reggae acts in a West Indian club??). I changed the name to The Fan Club and moved to a basement club, Brannigans on Call Lane (underneath The Top Rank and opposite The New Penny, Leeds’ first openly gay pub) in October 1978, where it ran until April 1981.
“For me, that time was the Golden Age of music; it had progressed from punk and exploded in all directions; some great acts came out of the Brannigans era: B52s, U2, Joy Division, Human League, Adam & The Ants, Toyah, Bauhaus, Killing Joke, Generation X, Echo & The Bunnymen, Teardrop Explodes, Wah!, Cabaret Voltaire, Pere Ubu, The Cramps, Crass, Throbbing Gristle, The Raincoats, Kleenex, The Cure, John Cooper Clarke, Robert Fripp, Spizz Energi, The Fall, Penetration, 999, Split Enz, The Specials, Madness, The Selecter, Altered Images, Sisters Of Mercy, Bad Manners, Prince Far I, Pure Hell, Aswad etc etc…It made it possible for me to promote the Futurama festivals, which are still being written about today…”
9 February 2017
CHARLES EXFORD
OK, got over-excited seems like Joy Division played the F-club 3 times but not on Woodhouse St.
9 February 2017
hendrix-tattoo
Tony, I live less than a mile from the N.Q.
So there are still plenty of pubs and bars I could go.
But all the pubs I grew up with, In Collyhurst have all gone, The Swan being the last one shut six months ago.
My favourite pub Billy Green’s was demolished in december.
9 February 2017
GIpton teenager
@H-Tat. Sorry Tony if I’m being a bit dim, but I don’t know what the N.Q. is. Actually I was in Liverpool’s last year and visited several decent pubs and one remarkable one – The Philharmonic Dining Rooms. It wasn’t actually open when we arrived, but the barmaid said “no, come in and have a look around until we open” which we did ,particularly the gents, then a couple of pints before the train home. (Long bloody walk with a weekend bag.
10 February 2017
GIpton teenager
Just thought, we went to a great Francis Bacon exhibition last year while in Liverpool and there’s another one in Hull this year. Does this mean that, as I’m in Leeds, I’m in the middle of a year-long Bacon sandwich?
10 February 2017
CHARLES EXFORD
I’ll step into the middle of this potential inter-Tonine Transpennine diplomatic incident before its too late. Others may be confused too, so I’ll assume nothing, other than the consumption of single malt.
Tony Teenager – you’re from Leeds.
Tony Tattoo – is from Manchester, where the Northern Quarter is the ‘NQ’. Full of trendy bars.
Me – from Merseyside (but live in Leeds).
10 February 2017
GIpton teenager
Thanks for clearing that up @CE. What was I thinking?- drinking tea tonight
10 February 2017
THE WARDEN HODGES
Re GT- Been saying it for years, the toilets in the Phil are just the nicest toilets ever. Said it.
10 February 2017
GIpton teenager
@TWH Only the Gents though. A reminder of inequalities past. I took pictures (many people do).
10 February 2017
WARDEN HODGES
I can only comment on the gents of course but yep proud to pee in there.
10 February 2017
WARDEN HODGES
Decided to knock the The off – Buzzcocks style.
10 February 2017
dickhead in quicksand
Parsifal shot one, what a fool.
11 February 2017
Third Rate Les
There’s a swan on the Devizes-Westminster kayak race so vicious that many of us portage our boats around his territory rather than risk a confrontation – when you’re in a racing kayak, you’re below head height to swans and they’re scary as hell.
Legend has it he’s called “Saddam”, although there are several such legends, and in reality, any male swan in the springtime is likely to react in a hostile way to encroachment. This one is a particularly vicious one though.
20 February 2017
ChARLES EXFORD
Surely when it comes to Swans, if someone calls him Saddam he’s called Saddam? I doubt he is officially registered with the Nest Club with a special daft long posh Nest Name like Sandon Ndanga Aloysius Umbongo O’Maddam or anything. Or if they say he is then that might be the legend.
20 February 2017
CHARLES EXFORD
Careful now that Swan could break your arm: http://swans.pair.com/PRESS/int_sec.html
(see particularly the “physical violence question” about two thirds of the way down).
Or that Swan could present you with a severed finger:
http://swans.pair.com/PRESS/art_CMJ.html
22 February 2017
Eric T’viking
Plucky pensioner in near-miss with dive-bombing swan:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-55707197
18 January 2021
ALICE van der meer
Careful now, that swan could put a jab in your arm!
https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/19766917.lost-swan-found-queuing-covid-jab-witney/
(I get the feeling there might be a “the Swan” and a “swans” entry, and they’re both full of the other one…)
7 December 2021
dr desperate
To bring the two together, today being the seventh day of Christmas in most countings:
“A large crowd saw a swan, which apparently thought it was fighting a rival, meet its death in a prolonged and vicious attack on the painted sign of The Swan Hotel, Rickmansworth, today.”
(Coventry Evening Telegraph – Tuesday 06 July 1937)
31 December 2022
BOBBY SVARC
I accidentally hooked a swan at the front of The Kings Head in Wroxham. I was pike fishing and thicko swan took my sardine and hooked itself, it was a classic Jaws moment, my mate Harry said “It’s taking a helluva lot of line” I was screaming “Wet the reel, wet the reel”. It was about half four in the afternoon, freezing cold and not a soul about, until now!. Some bloke, who was with a big party who were just leaving the Kings Head saw what was happening, “This bloke’s got a massive pike on” he yarps, yeah right, I wish. Within seconds I had an audience to see me land this pike, we had to tell them the truth, the atmosphere changed immediately, it was now hostile. Kids and women were crying, one of the few times in my life I hadn’t a clue what to do, I couldn’t cut the line, by now it had taken about 50 yards of it, I was fooked to say the least. Then from under the bridge I heard an outboard motor, luckily it was our mate Richard Furlong (RIP) who, with very little fuss unhooked ‘Swanny’ to a round of applause, it swam off uninjured. Richard gave it plenty of “I don’t know, Leicester thugs coming down here to catch swans” and a few “cruel bastards” came from the pub patrons. All in all a good ending. Of course, word in Broadland spreads like wildfire, every bugger knew about it, in the pub/hotel that night the gaffer, Darren had chalked up ‘Swan Special’ and Swan Delight’ on the menu board. Happy days.
31 December 2022
dr desperate
Careful now, that Theremin can break your arm.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSzTPGlNa5U
19 February 2023