RIP Gordon Banks, England’s 1966 World Cup-winning goalkeeper, who died yesterday. Arguably the greatest keeper this country has ever produced, he was one of those rare people for whom nobody had a bad word. Banks is best remembered for the “Save of the Century” against Brazil in 1970 (1:15 on this clip), when England had a great chance of winning the World Cup again. Then Banks was struck down by a very mysterious stomach bug. The team were allowed one beer the night before the quarter-final, and it’ll always be suspected that Banks’s drink was spiked. Too ill to play the following day against West Germany, he was replaced by Peter Bonetti. Bonetti was no Banks, England lost 3-2 and didn’t play another World Cup game for twelve years. But June 1970, Gordon Banks was indisputably England’s No.1. Not just as a goalkeeper but, with this at No.1 in the charts, as a pop star.
The original Banksy.

- Sixty years o...25th Sep 2015
- Happy Birthda...24th Sep 2015
- Kelis has bro...23rd Sep 2015
- Now I know ho...20th Sep 2015
- From Our own ...18th Sep 2015
- Elton John an...16th Sep 2015
- Happy Birthda...15th Sep 2015
- The day the m...14th Sep 2015
- Jeremy Corbyn...13th Sep 2015
- An extraordin...12th Sep 2015
- Bye Bye, Botn...8th Sep 2015
- And talking o...6th Sep 2015
- Blow, Mr. Ric...5th Sep 2015
- Peter Kay as ...4th Sep 2015
- I'm not sayin...3rd Sep 2015 prev next