The history of football doping: soccer’s biggest drugs cheats

THE news that England players took caffeine pills before their match against Poland – and then sleeping pills after the game was called off – have prompted predictable jokes about performance-reducing drugs. But this innocuous incident takes place at a time when questions are being asked about the prevalence of doping in sport. Football has usually been regarded as a “clean”, on the grounds that drugs can’t improve your game. But while it’s true that most failed tests involve recreational drugs which are anything but performance-enhancing, this has tended to overshadow the ways in which the medical advisors to top teams have pushed the boundaries in order to steal a march, or even a match.

Anorak

Posted: 20th, October 2012 | In: Flashback, Key Posts, Sports | Comment

So. You got this Jimmy Savile tattoo

JIMMY Savile’s legacy: The tattoo can be fixed with long socks and garters. (A few tweaks and it’s Lady Gaga puffing a spliff.)

Jimmy Savile sends ripples through cement industry
The Jimmy Savile doll on sale in Butlins?
Jimmy Savile in FHM: ‘Lock up your daughters’

Jimmy Savile legacy: Cannock’s Gym’ll Fix It health clubs
Jimmy Savile auction – string vests, Shag Wagons and gold up for sale
Jimmy Savile auction – string vests, Shag Wagons and gold up for sale
Jimmy Savile: Margaret Thatcher, miners and a themed Range Rover
Dear Jimmy Savile, thanks for the Michael Jackson tickets
Jimmy Savile’s ‘Benjamin Rabbit and the Stranger Danger – What a child needs to know about strangers’
Jimmy Savile: The soap on a rope, a board game and tickets to take children all over the country
Buy Jimmy Savile’s Jim I’ll Fix It chair for £15,000

Anorak

Posted: 20th, October 2012 | In: Celebrities, Key Posts | Comment

This leaked BBC e-mail exposes Newsnight’s decision to spike Jimmy Savile story

WHY did the BBC’s Newsnight show cancel its investigation into Jimmy Savile? Newsnight, the BBC’s in-depth late-night news show, at first ignored the story that every other news organisation was leading with. On Newsnight for days there was no word on the Peado King who had attacked underage girls in his BBC Top of The Pops studio and beyond, as is alleged. When Newsnight fianlly featured the story, BBC Radio 4 DJ Eddie Mair was drafted in to host a chat. We were told that Newsnight did not run the item for “editorial reasons“. What reasons? Dunno. The  show that likes to unleash Jeremy Paxman on politicians, to skewer them with hard questioning, sardony and heckling, left it that that. Newnight then produced the greatest line uttered on TV this year:

“The BBC declined to appear in his live discussion.”

Anorak

Posted: 19th, October 2012 | In: Celebrities, Key Posts | Comment (1)

Nick Griffin tweets home address of victimised gay couple: a twitter hunt follows

MICHAEL Black, 64, and his partner John Morgan, 59, are £3,600 better off (£1,800 each). When Christian Susanne Wilkinson refused to let them stay in a double bed at the Swiss Bed and Breakfast in Cookham, Berkshire, she was breaking the law.

She said she was sticking up for her religious beliefs.

The couple had a reservation and paid a deposit. That was March 2010.

Anorak

Posted: 18th, October 2012 | In: Key Posts, Politicians | Comments (6)

Who stole the body of Mexican drug baron Heriberto Lazcano? (Photos)

TO Mexico, where head of the Zetas drugs cartel Heriberto Lazcano is dead. Maybe. The Mexican Nazy says it killed Lazcano outside a baseball stadium. But when asked to show the body, they said it has been lost, stolen by unknown armed men from a funeral home.

The State wants to exhume Lazcano’s mother and father, take DNA and prove that they really did kill Lazcano. The Navy took fingerprints of their quarry. So. If the DNA matches, what more proof does anyone need that Lazcano is dead and the State is winning the war on drugs?

Anorak

Posted: 18th, October 2012 | In: Key Posts, Reviews | Comment

Lancashire police looking for samurai sword Taser blind man carrying a white stick

STILL think the police should be routinely armed? Colin Farmer is blind. He’s 61. He’s survived two strokes. The police thought his white stick was sword.

The police had fielded reports of a man walking around Chorley, Lancashire, wielding a samurai sword.

Anorak

Posted: 17th, October 2012 | In: Key Posts, Reviews | Comments (6)

Jimmy Savile’s ‘Mrs Fix-it’ Janet Cope reveals the callous laughing man she knew

IN “MY 32 YEARS WITH SAVILE”, the Daily Mirror looks to have a scoop. Did Sir James Savile have a lover? Did he fancy older women and underage girls and boys? Dunno. All we get is Janet Cope, 70, Jimmy Savile’s former PA. Jimmy Savile gave her away at her wedding. She’d asked him to. She said of the big day:

“It was a super day, absolutely lovely. Jim always had to be the centre of attention, but I was happy to let him enjoy it. I thought it was funny.”

Janet Cope spoke with the Daily Mail in 2011. The paper says Cope and Savile worked together for 28 years, a relationship began in 1971. Highlights are:

Janet Cope: “I’m a better person because of Jimmy. He taught me so much about how to fight for what you believe in, because that’s what he always did. He helped so many people in his life, and I’m proud to have been part of that.”

Anorak

Posted: 17th, October 2012 | In: Celebrities, Key Posts | Comments (6)

Amanda Todd: Suicide becomes a whodunnit?

AMANDA Todd has died. The 15-year-old is thought to have killed herself. You might have seen the Candian’s video. In it, she holds up handwritten notes to tell her story of bullying. She says a stranger seduced her to show her breasts on camera online. The stranger took a picture and posted it online.  The stranger created a Facebook page and added Todd’s friends to it. That happened when Amanda Todd was 12.

Anorak

Posted: 14th, October 2012 | In: Key Posts, Reviews, Technology | Comments (2)

Jimmy Savile: Claire McAlpine, George Carman QC and police collusion

JIMMY SAVILE is on two front page this Sunday:

Daily Telegraph: “SAVILE: The police blunders.”

Blunder is kind. Why not collusion?

The Sun: News that as many as 60 girls may have a case against Savile.

Such a shame, isn’t it, that the Sun never had access to Savile’s mobile phone. We might then have found out who aided and abetted Savile. All we have now are the victims and news about who failed to protect them. But we want names, don’t we. We wants to know who knew; who helped; who joined in.

Anorak

Posted: 14th, October 2012 | In: Celebrities, Key Posts | Comment

Jimmy Savile: If only he’d swung his axe like Jimmy Page at Lori Maddox

THE media is great, isn’t it. The very people who say ‘how dare the tabloids not go after a breathing Jimmy Savile’ are the ones who say the tabloids should not publish half truths and be subject to strict guidelines and even stricter libel laws. ‘Jimmy Savile must never happen again,’ they say. ‘Journalists should be licensed,’ they say.

The big problem with journalism is when the writers are fans. Take Jimmy Page, the Led Zepellin guitarist who “dated” a 14-year old child when he was an adult. And look at Michael Hann’s piece in the Guardian on Celebration Day, a film about the band:

Led Zeppelin: ‘There was a swagger – we knew we were good’ – The film Celebration Day captures Led Zeppelin onstage in all their glory in 2007. The band discuss their musical legacy, reputation for excess – and why they will never reunite again.

Anorak

Posted: 12th, October 2012 | In: Celebrities, Key Posts | Comments (6)

Laughing woman beater Justin Lee Collins escaped jail because he never tweeted his abuse

THEY say no publicity is bad. So. Give it up for TV presenter and comic Justin Lee Collins. The Times has a photo of Collins laughing minutes after a judge sentenced him to 140 hours of “humbling” community work. He must also pay the prosecution costs of £3,500. (The photo on the left is of him leaving court after the verdict.)

His crime? Well, his ex-lover, one Anna Larke, told St Albans Crown Court that Collins made her sleep facing him, spat at her, made her list every sexual encounter she had ever had. Collins said Ms Larke was a liar. Collins said he hit Larke to stop her from self-harming.

How did they meet? Collins had been having an extra-martial affair with Larke. They broke up. But after his marriage failed, Collins and Larke hooked up again. Their relationship went badly.

He was recorded telling her:

“You fucked up at the pub. When you’re fucking  with me, you look at the fucking ground, you look at a tree, you look at a bench, you look at any fucking inanimate object, you do not look at any other fucking human being, you slag, do you understand?”

Anorak

Posted: 10th, October 2012 | In: Celebrities, Key Posts | Comments (5)

Fainting QVC presenter makes Top 10 TV Faints

HAVE you heard of Cassie Slane? She’s going viral after she fainted during a segment on QVC (not the first time she’s had ‘health issues’ on-screen). She slurred her words while selling a tablet for children (the electronic kind, not some medicine) and keeled over while her co-host gamely continued to ignore her and try in a bid to carry on pitching at viewers.

Slane has written on Facebook: “Thanks to everyone for your kind words. I am feeling alot better today!”

Mof Gimmers

Posted: 9th, October 2012 | In: Key Posts, TV & Radio | Comment

The top ten dubious songs of the Jimmy Savile era

NOW that the dam has burst, and Sir Jimmy Savile stands exposed, the revelations about him and his fellow DJs confirm what many have known for years: that the pop music business of the fifties, sixties and seventies was a world in which middle-aged men surrounded themselves with young girls and boys and indulged themselves with impunity.

And the musical clues weren’t always subtle either. So as our contribution to the great debate, ladies and gentlemen/guys and gals, we present the top ten dubious songs of the Savile era…

Good Morning Little Schoolgirl – Sonny Boy Williamson (1937)

First recorded before the war, covered later by the legendary electric bluesmen, then later still by the bands of the mid-sixties British “blues boom” of the mid-sixties. This would be the template for all that followed.

Little Child – The Beatles (1963)

“Baby” and “child” were part of the rock’n’roll lexicon from the get-go, but this title nevertheless remains uniquely peculiar.

Young Girl – Gary Puckett & The Union Gap (1968)

This chart-topping Top of the Pops favourite is highly unusual, in that it actually questions the idea of “going too far”, and concludes that it might not be such a great idea after all…

Stray Cat Blues – The Rolling Stones (1968)

The 15-year-old subject of this sordid tail would later be adjusted to 16 for live performances

Vagabond Virgin – Traffic (1968)

“You were barely thirteen, so fresh on the scene…”

Born Late ’58 – Mott the Hoople (1974)

“Detonator, jail-baiter,” proclaims Overend Watts. Take the title and the release date and “do the math”.

Sick Again – Led Zeppelin (1975)

Jimmy Page’s 14-year-old girlfriend was referenced in “New Style” by the Beastie Boys (If I played guitar I’d be Jimmy page/the girls I like are underage) but Zep’s paean to juvenile groupies said it all years earlier…

Jailbait – Ted Nugent (1981)

“Jailbait’ was a popular phrase of the time, and several artists released tracks with that title, including Wishbone Ash, Nils Lofgren and Motorhead. This is Ted Nugent’s typically unsubtle take on the subject. (Well I don’t care if you’re just thirteen/You look too good to be true/ I just know that you’re probably clean
There’s one lil’ thing I got do to you.)

Lemon Incest – Serge & Charlotte Gainsbourg (1985)

The most inappropriate father-and-daughter duet since Frank and Nancy’s “Something Stupid”. Charlotte later described the single, recorded when she was 12, as a “provocation”. It is the 630th best-selling single of all time in France…

Playground Bang-a-round – Rye Spangle (2001)

OK, this is actually a Chris Morris spoof, but a gold disc would surely have awaited this glam classic back in 1973…

Anorak

Posted: 8th, October 2012 | In: Key Posts, Music | Comments (3)

Stupid Matthew Wood sentenced by stupid court for stupid April Jones joke

MATTHEW Wood has appeared at Chorley Magistrates’ Court. He wrote something on Facebook about April Jones and Madeleine McCann that social media narks and police didn’t like. A “vigilante mob” of censorious troll-hunters arrived at Mr Wood’s home. Wood was arrested.

Matthew Wood is a dickhead. But to make him a criminal is wrong. In court, he admitted making wrongheaded comments that caused offence. (What couldn’t offend someone?). He says he was inspired to say something horrible by Sickipedia – a website that “trades in sick jokes”.

Martina Jay, prosecuting, told the court:

“When interviewed by police he fully admitted he posted messages about the two missing children. He started this idea when he was at a friend’s house when drinking, saw a joke on Sickipedia and changed it slightly. He said he did it in a bid to make people think his account had been hacked. He said it got out of hand and he was drunk while doing it.”

Anorak

Posted: 8th, October 2012 | In: Key Posts, Reviews, Technology | Comments (69)

April Jones: Kay Burley makes them weep as troll-faced Amanda Platell spots paedos everywhere

APRIL Jones: The five-year-old went missing from the Bryn Y Gog estate in Machynlleth, Wales. The news round-up:

Daily Mail (front page): “April’s family release poignant new photos as hope for her fades”

Daily Mirror (front page): I saw April driven off”

“Witness says he was the last to see her alive”

Armchair detectives know that the last person to see anyone live is a suspect in that person’s unexplained demise. But April Jones might be alive. We don’t know.

AN OAP saw a car speed away from the spot where April Jones vanished. The distraught 70-year-old said moments earlier he had seen her playing with pals but she suddenly disappeared. As the hunt for April, five, became a murder inquiry yesterday, he added: “I’m kicking myself that I did not raise the alarm.”

Anorak

Posted: 6th, October 2012 | In: Key Posts, Madeleine McCann, Reviews | Comments (10)

Bollywood Jaws: the most spectacular end to a film ever (video)

BOLLYWOOD Jaws features the greatest, most dramatic, ending to a film ever:

Spotter: Neatorama

Anorak

Posted: 5th, October 2012 | In: Film, Key Posts | Comment

Daily Mail hates paedophiles: loves underage Chloe Moretz

THE Daily Mail is gunning for the BBC in light of allegation that Jimmy Savile sexually abused young girls on the corporation’s premises. Bebe Robert claims Savile abused her when she was 15. One woman claims Savile raped her when she was 15. She was working at the BBC.

All hideous. And all brought to you by the Daily Mail, which frowns on perving at young girls, like 15-year-old Chloe Moretz.

Anorak

Posted: 5th, October 2012 | In: Celebrities, Key Posts | Comments (6)

Sky’s Kay Burley tells April Jones’ loved ones that it’s a murder investigation (video)

APRIL Jones is missing from her home in Machynlleth. The police have opened a murder investigation. Sky News’ Kay Burley breaks the news to local people who knows the five-year-old child that she might be dead. She asks them how they “feel”. Nice scoop, Kay. Perhaps if a body is found, the police can hold off telling April’s parents and let dear Kay break the news on camera.

Note: the people approached Kay Burley. She zoomed in for the mourn porn:

Anorak

Posted: 5th, October 2012 | In: Key Posts, Reviews | Comments (3)

Heart transplant girl lives her dream by killing a 335-pound bear

HERE’S something to think about. To Stetsonville, Wisconsin, survivalist Kaitlynn Bessette, 11, has killed /murdered a 335-pound bear. Kaitlynn Bessette says:

“I felt thankful, like really thankful I shot a bear.”

What a little nutter, eh?

Anorak

Posted: 5th, October 2012 | In: Key Posts, Reviews | Comments (7)

Famous women replaced by Ikea catalogue items (photos)

AFTER Ikea Saudi Arabia banned women, I(KEA) got 99 problems but a bitch ain’t one! got to erasing women from other walks of life, replacing the hidden sex with objects from the shop’s catalogue. Here are some of the best:

ikea-saudi-arabia-women-monroe

Image 1 of 12

Anorak

Posted: 4th, October 2012 | In: Key Posts, The Consumer | Comment

Flashback: US Presidential election dirty tricks

CONTROVERSIAL film director Joel Gilbert – a longstanding critic of Barak Obama – complained recently that his ‘alternative biography’ of the President, ‘Dreams From My Real Father’, had been deliberately ignored by the mainstream media (see video below).

Anorak

Posted: 3rd, October 2012 | In: Flashback, Key Posts, Politicians | Comment (1)

April Jones: What we know about Mark Bridger

APRIL Jones, 5, is missing from the mid-Wales town of Machynlleth. Police have arrested 46-year-old Mark Bridger, Sky News reports. What do we know about him?

UPDATE: Mark Bridger has been charged with the murder of April Jones.

Well, right now the entire British media is searching Facebook for him. You pity all people named Mark Bridger.

He lives near to the missing girl.

He was born in Surrey.

He was arrested while walking along the side of the road a couple of miles outside the mid-Wales town of Machynlleth.

Police say he has a vehicle similar to the one described by witnesses who saw April’s abduction. Police have the vehicle.

Is he known to the missing child’s family? Says Detective Superintendent Reg Bevan, from Dyfed Powys Police:

“It’s very early stages. He is clearly a local man, it’s a small community, I wouldn’t like to speculate further, but I may have some more information later on.”

Don’t want to speculate. Sky News named him. The BBC passed it on as fact. Speculation will be rife.

Update: Police have confirmed that the arrested man is called Mark Leonard Bridger.

Anorak

Posted: 2nd, October 2012 | In: Key Posts, Reviews | Comments (116)

April Jones is missing in Machynlleth: news round-up

APRIL Jones is missing. The five-year-old was abducted last night while out playing on her bike near the Brynygog estats in Machynlleth, Wales. Dyfed-Powys Police are searching for her. The media is excited.

UPDATE: A 46-year-old man has been arrested.

Update 2: He’s called Mark Bridger.

Detective Superintendent Reg Bevan, from Dyfed Powys Police, says:

 “We were pursuing a number of inquiries, some of those were searching addresses. We were looking for this individual, so we knew who we were looking for and as a result we have had a number of patrols in the area and we have come across this individual.”

Voices says he knew the girl’s family.

A police spokeswoman says:

“While the details of what happened are vague at the current time, it appears the suspect left the scene and drove off with April. At the time of her disappearance, April was wearing a purple knee-length coat with grey fur around the hood, her school white polo top and black trousers.”

Anorak

Posted: 2nd, October 2012 | In: Key Posts, Reviews | Comments (2)

Everyone knew someone raped by Jimmy Savile

JIMMY Savile sets the news agenda: the Star (“SAVILE QUIZZED BY COPS FIVES YEARS AGO”); the Daily Mail, which leads with the photographs of two women and the the headline: “WE WERE VICTIMS Of JIMMY SAVILE”; the Sun goes with “Jimmy Savile Molested Me When I was 14.”

The Mail’s women are:

Katrina Rose, 51, says she was attacked in Savile’s flat when she was 14. The BBC DJ had met Katrina’s mother through his work at Broadmore hospital. He asked if her daughter would like to see how Top of the Pops was made. He told the girl to come alone. She says:

“When he invited me to watch him record the show, I jumped at the chance as I went to stage school and wanted to be an actress. He asked that I come alone because he could only do tours for ‘special people’, so my parents gave me permission to get the train from Surrey where we lived. I walked with him from his flat in Belgravia to the BBC studios and he wore a balaclava as he said he would be mobbed by fans without it. I wasn’t worried as he was a family friend and my mother trusted him…I was sitting on a chair and he came in with the tea and sat on the sofa. He asked he if I’d had a good day.”

Anorak

Posted: 2nd, October 2012 | In: Celebrities, Key Posts | Comment

That video of Jimmy Savile ‘all over’ 14-year-old Coleen Nolan

COLEEN Nolan, youngest of the Nolan Sisters, says that when she was 14, Tops of The Pops host Jimmy Savile was “all over me”.

Forward to 3 minutes 20 for the testimony:

Anorak

Posted: 1st, October 2012 | In: Celebrities, Key Posts | Comments (10)