Peanuts.

Fascinating documentary about skinheads on BBC Four last night. Skinheads were all around me as a child because Burnt Oak, just up the Edgware Road, was Skinhead Central. Though when they first appeared, my dad insisted they were called “Peanuts” because a shaven-headed youth from Burnt Oak who was working with him on a building site had told him so. Obviously I dismissed this as the ramblings of a silly old fool. Until last night. A veteran skin asserted to camera that they were originally called “Peanuts” but the media dubbed them “Skinheads”. Practically all the Burnt Oak contingent were fearsome and fanatical Arsenal fans. I remember being awed by the sight of about 200 of them setting off for Highbury from Burnt Oak tube. Oddly enough, I’m going to see Arsenal today. But I can guarantee that at the swish, expensive Emirates, there won’t be a peanut in sight.