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BBC News
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Sir David Amess and Jimmy Greaves feature in new biography book
The lives of prominent Essex people - including MP Sir David Amess, footballer Jimmy Greaves and Labour politician Stan Newens - are to be detailed in a long-running reference book of noteworthy British Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (ODNB) is updated each year to reflect the lives of historical figures who have died in a certain who died in 2021 and whose biographies are to be featured also include Prince Philip, actress Helen McCrory, drummer Charlie Watts and charity fundraiser Captain Sir Tom ODNB started in 2004, but the original Dictionary of National Biography was first published in 1885 and featured thousands of notable people. Other Essex names among the 238 being added are writer, actress and former model Clare Dunkel and Conservative MP James Brokenshire, who was born in total, more than 5,000 people with Essex connections feature in the David, who was fatally stabbed at his constituency surgery in Leigh-on-Sea in October 2021, was the the Conservative MP for Basildon from 1983 to 1997 and Southend West from 1997 until his who still holds the record for the most goals scored in top-flight English football, played as a striker for Chelsea, AC Milan, Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham over the course of his later became a newspaper columnist and television personality and died at his home in Little Baddow, Essex, in September of the Essex figures, Stan Newens, was the Labour MP for Epping from 1964 to 1970 and later served as an family moved to Epping when he was a child following the outbreak of World War Dunkel, who used the pen name Mo Hayder for her numerous successful crime and thriller novels, starred in Are You Being Served? in her younger years and grew up in latest edition of the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography includes biographies of more than 63,000 individuals. Follow Essex news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
Sunday World
04-05-2025
- Sport
- Sunday World
John Aldridge: Why Rory McIlroy and Liverpool now face the same challenge
It was hard not to get caught up in the emotion of McIlroy's Masters win last month, as he finally achieved his ultimate goal in the most dramatic fashion imaginable. Now McIlroy has to find a way to get himself fired up to go again and start a new era of winning. He has another major title to aim for in a couple of weeks' time and should be looking to set new records in his sport and aim for more. The Open Championship is being played on home soil at Portrush again this summer, so I can't imagine he needs any motivation to go again. I can only speak from personal experience and I never had a problem with setting myself new targets in my career. I scored 474 goals and my desire never waned until I hung up my boots when I was nearly 40. That number is more goals than the great Jimmy Greaves and all the legendary goal scorers from the pre-Premier League, but I'm a Scouser who played for Ireland and because I don't tick the English box, and they don't seem to mention my name when the debate over great goal scorers comes up. Much to the annoyance of all players who played before the Premier League era, records in football now all seem to be focused on the this relatively new league, but I am the leading living league goal scorer in the history of the English game and it is a record to be proud of. Rory McIlroy dons the green jacket. Photo: Getty McIlroy also secured his place in sporting folklore after completing the golfing Grand Slam at Augusta, but he should want another green jacket next year and a couple more majors before that if possible. The same desire needs to be rippling through the veins of the Liverpool players after they celebrated winning the Premier League title amid memorable scenes at Anfield last weekend. Arne Slot and his players cannot see this as the end of their story and instead, they should be looking at this as the start of a run of title wins that will continue for years to come. The true winners draw inspiration from days like last Sunday and want more and more of it. We've seen it with Manchester City in recent years, as they have dominated the Premier League with a mix of brilliant management, great players and a massive pile of money. Alex Ferguson did something similar during his time at Manchester United, as he won again and again and ensured that he got rid of players who were not willing to join him on that journey. We need to see something similar at Liverpool over the next few years, as Slot has earned the right to sign some top players to add to the squad he inherited form Jurgen Klopp and I am hoping to see four top players added to the squad this summer. Ferguson was brilliant at signing great players when his United teams were on top and that's what Liverpool need to do now as the mood around the club is so positive. I was at Anfield last weekend for what was a fantastic occasion as the Premier League title was clinched in style with a performance we have waited a few weeks for. Liverpool have been poor in their recent matches, with the lead at the top of the table taking some of the sting out of their game and the strikers, in particular, went off the boil. Well, they all bounced back into form for the big day at Anfield and the 5-1 win against Tottenham was one of those moments that you wanted to last forever. I could see people in the stands not wanting to leave as they had waited so long to see Liverpool clinch the title in front of The Kop and the moment was everything they had hoped for. Now we can say definitively that Liverpool are undisputed as the greatest team in English football, as they are level with Manchester United on 20 league titles and they have four more European Cups in the trophy cabinet, but that can't be the end. Slot should be telling his players to enjoy this title win and the belief they should get from it has to stand them in good stead as they start next season as champions. I won't be alone in enjoying watching Chelsea players give Slot's side a guard of honour at Stamford Bridge today, as this club has been one of the less than friendly rivals for Liverpool this century, with the battles against Jose Mourinho's Blues leaving plenty of scars. Some Chelsea fans have been pretty vile with the chants they have directed at Liverpool fans down the years and it will be satisfying to see them applauding the Liverpool team as they step onto the pitch at Stamford Bridge this afternoon. With the Premier League now won, today's match means a lot more to Chelsea than it does to Slot and his players as their job is done for this season, but they should get their minds back on the job and finish this season in style. Liverpool have lost some of the momentum they built up over the last few weeks and that contributed to the Champions League exit against Paris Saint-Germain and the Carabao Cup final defeat against Newcastle. Champions have an aura that should give them an edge over their rivals, but it also means you are a team that can be shot at and everyone will want to beat Liverpool next season. So Slot and his players have to put a marker down to confirm they are already looking ahead to next season and continuing their winning form in the final few games. They need to finish off this memorable season in style and that means setting a few mini-targets like getting over the 90-point barrier and banishing any nonsense that they only won the title because all their rivals lost their way. MAN CITY COLLAPSE HARD TO UNDERSTAND LIVERPOOL have finally knocked Manchester City off their perch, but there have to be big question marks over what has gone wrong for Pep Guardiola's side this season. While Liverpool have clearly been the best team in the league this season, City should not be as far behind them as they are and questions should be asked of the manager and his players. They enjoyed all the plaudits when they were collecting the trophies, so what has happened to Pep Guardiola and his team for them to lose their way so badly? You might say they lost the appetite to keep winning after so much success in recent years, but that should only take a few percentage points off your performance. They have been out of the title race for many months now, so that lack of motivation theory isn't a valid excuse. The long-term injury to Rodri was a blow, but great teams cannot fall apart when they lose one key player. City are now pushing to secure a Champions League finish and win the FA Cup, Guardiola will justifiably claim they have salvaged a pretty average season. I would suggest there are bigger problems at City than the absence of one key midfielder and they will be under pressure to bounce back next season.
New York Times
14-03-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Chelsea fan survey: Favourite player, best manager and most disappointing signing
There is nothing like an anniversary to look back and reflect on some of the things you enjoyed the most and perhaps even some of those you didn't appreciate quite as much. It certainly applies to the life of being a football fan and Chelsea supporters have experienced a lot of highs and lows since the club formed 120 years ago this week. Advertisement Part of the experience is not just debating with your Chelsea mates what is going right or wrong with their current team, but to compare and contrast the club of today with the old times, to argue over topics involving former players, managers/head coaches and games in the past. As part of The Athletic's tribute this week to Chelsea reaching their special landmark, we have put some of these key subjects to the vote and many of you have responded, wanting to have your say. Of all the questions that get people talking the most, asking fans to choose the one player who stands out over all the others is always going to get a variety of responses. Chelsea have had a string of greats over the years. Just some of those that spring to mind are Jimmy Greaves, Peter Osgood, Kerry Dixon, Gianfranco Zola, Didier Drogba, John Terry, Frank Lampard and Eden Hazard. Now, to pick just one as your favourite is no easy task. Indeed, some of those readers who took part supplied more than one name in their ballot, which unfortunately meant they had to be discounted. Lampard ended up being a pretty clear winner, with nearly a quarter of the votes, and it is not a huge surprise. The former England international is the club's record scorer with 211 goals and what makes the feat all the more remarkable is that he did it from midfield. He won 11 major trophies during his time at Stamford Bridge between 2001-14, including three Premier League titles. He was also captain when Chelsea won the Champions League for the first time in their history in 2012, due to Terry being suspended for the final. Lampard was not just good at finding the net, though: his ability with the ball at his feet was hugely underestimated. Just look at the passes he made in the build-up to Chelsea's opening goals in both legs against Barcelona in the 2012 Champions League semi-final. Hazard, the dribbler supreme, finished as Lampard's closest challenger. The Belgian was not just admired at Chelsea during his tenure between 2012-19. Lots of people loved tuning in to see what he might do next. Drogba, who topped a poll by Chelsea's official magazine in 2012 as the club's greatest player, came third on this occasion, with another great entertainer, Zola, just behind him. In truth, there was quite a split between the votes cast. You cannot say the same when it comes to who Chelsea's following regard as the stand-out manager/head coach in their history. Jose Mourinho has been backed by a massive 62 per cent, even though he went on to manage Premier League rivals Manchester United and Tottenham. Clearly, he has been forgiven. And why not? He won three Premier Leagues across two spells at Stamford Bridge (2004-07, 2013-15). plus three Carabao Cups and an FA Cup. Granted, he benefited from the quality of squad owner Roman Abramovich's huge wealth provided, but he turned Chelsea from nearly-men into serial winners and a team nobody wanted to play against, including mighty Barcelona. Advertisement Carlo Ancelotti (11 per cent) is the runner-up, having taken Chelsea to the only league and FA Cup double in their history (2010), with Thomas Tuchel (10 per cent) acknowledged for his Champions League final triumph in 2021. After being jeered by Chelsea fans during a game at Stamford Bridge as Manchester United head coach, Mourinho said afterwards: 'Until the moment (Chelsea) have a manager that wins four Premier Leagues for them, I'm the No 1. When they have somebody who wins four Premier Leagues for them, I'll be No 2. For this moment, 'Judas' is No 1.' That seems to be a view Chelsea supporters agree with. OK, that's enough upbeat stuff for a minute, let's focus on the polar opposites to Lampard and Mourinho, the individual Chelsea fans would prefer to forget were ever a part of their club's story. First up, the 'Most disappointing signing' award. There are lots of candidates here. Like every other club, Chelsea have had their fair share of misses in the transfer market to balance out the greatest hits. The Abramovich era is, rightly, highly regarded for all its success, but it also dominates the list of flops. Chief among them is Romelu Lukaku, the striker who didn't underwhelm just once, but twice, after joining Chelsea. The dubious honour of sitting on top of the pile will be mainly due to his second spell. He cost a then club-record £97.5million from Inter and was supposed to be the final ingredient to take the 2020-21 Champions League-winning side to the Premier League title. However, his one season back in a Chelsea shirt is most remembered for giving an unauthorised interview to Sky Italia where he moaned about Tuchel's tactics and spoke of his dream to return to Inter. Lukaku was loaned back to Inter for the season in 2022 and then to Roma for a further year before being sold for good to Napoli last summer. Nobody at Chelsea was sorry to see him go. When you include his £18million arrival from Anderlecht in 2011 (15 appearances, no goals), he cost the club nearly £120m in fees plus a fortune in wages and repaid them with eight Premier League goals. Nice work if you can get it. Advertisement Other expensive strikers who did not work out also made the shortlist. Fernando Torres may have famously made Gary Neville shout 'Ohhhhhhhh' while commentating on his late goal against Barcelona in that 2012 Champions League semi-final but that moment was a rare highlight following his £50million move from Liverpool the previous year (he scored only 20 league goals for the club). Andriy Shevchenko went from being the greatest striker in Europe at Milan to the invisible man in a Chelsea shirt. He scored only nine league goals after joining in a £30.8m deal in 2006. Now it's time for the manager/head coach Chelsea fans were underwhelmed by the most. This is where Andre Villas-Boas emerges as the not-so-special-one. He may have been lured from Porto in 2011 just like Mourinho was seven years earlier and also boasts a Portuguese passport like his esteemed predecessor, but the similarities end there. Chelsea paid Porto £13.3million in compensation to get Villas-Boas, who was part of Mourinho's backroom staff during his first time in charge of the club. Villas-Boas tried and failed to sideline some of the senior players in the dressing room, including Lampard and Drogba. He lasted just nine months before being sacked. His failure was highlighted even more by his replacement — his assistant coach Roberto Di Matteo — who led the club to win the FA Cup and Champions League finals within a few months. Graham Potter, the first hire made by the Todd Boehly-Clearlake consortium, runs him pretty close. Potter lasted just seven months after the popular Tuchel was sacked in September 2022. Potter found the step up from doing a good job managing Brighton too much and was overwhelmed by dealing with a very bloated squad. Notably, current head coach Enzo Maresca is among those who Chelsea fans do not think of too fondly, albeit with a mere four per cent of the votes, even though his team are fourth in the Premier League. The categories above were the four main issues we decided to focus on but there were others that deserve a mention, starting with the fact 38 per cent of respondents regard the victory over Bayern Munich on penalties in their own stadium 13 years ago to lift the European Cup for the first time as their most favourite match. The 1-0 win over Manchester City in their second Champions League final triumph four years ago was a distant second. Advertisement Zola won a very tight race for number-one cult hero, with other names not mentioned so far in Branislav Ivanovic, Ramires, David Luiz, Diego Costa and Cesar Azpilicueta among those running him close. You may have noticed that the vast majority of mentions so far are those involved with Chelsea over the past 30 years. Recency bias is always a factor when it comes to such things. But the older generation is represented by the fact the 1970 home kit, the year the club won the FA Cup for the first time, is regarded higher than any other, whereas this season's effort is disliked the most. So there you have it. Chelsea will obviously hope more names come into contention for the more positive categories in future, although one suspects Lampard and Mourinho will prove as difficult to beat as they were when working together to make the club champions of England. (Top photos: Getty Images)
