Cod Almighty | Article
by Janusz Przeniczny
1 June 2020
Copies of two wartime newspapers given to Janusz on the VE day anniversary had some interesting echoes
In this in-between season atmosphere of no football at all, I can see how hard it is to conjure up some interesting footy-ish news, never mind Grimsby Town footy news. However, I've studied the Cod Almighty method of reverse précis article-writing and I'm giving it a go.
During the VE-day celebrations (Yes, we had a "street party") I was given some old newspapers. One was the Sunday Express, 19 January 1943, and the other a part Evening Telegraph (4 sides front and back) from 3 September 1939.
A 54-year-old Home Guard private was charged with public mischief. He had told his mates that instead of the usual all-night guarding a coal heap, he had acted as a rear gunner in a Lancaster bomber raid over Berlin. He was prosecuted for making his life sound more glamorous than it was.
Of the Sunday Express, three things struck me: good and bad news of the conflict in the UK, the rest of Europe and the Far East; the optimism and forward-looking towards the end of the war; and the sheer day-to-day nonsense by authority and ordinary folk. On one page, U-Boats sinking ships are reported, so fewer supplies were coming in, but police were handing out summonses for riding a bike without lights; the magistrates were fining the unfortunates £1 10s (£30 today) but to be fair were also asking for the government to release more batteries to shops. To be fined while doing war work on a winter's night, and not be able to buy batteries must have hurt. At the same time, miners were balloting to go on strike.
On the lighter side, Ralph Fraser a 54-year-old Home Guard private, was charged at Bow Street Court with public mischief. He had told his mates that instead of the usual all-night guarding a coal heap, he had acted as a rear gunner in a Lancaster bomber raid over Berlin. Not only did his "mates" shop him, but he was also prosecuted for making his life sound more glamorous than it was.
The Evening Telegraph on Sunday, 3 September 1939 proves to be an interesting read if only for the fact that in the 80 years since precious little has changed: we were about to fight our new foe Germany and we had to wear masks, rationing was on the horizon and anti-hoarding legislation was about to be brought in. Quite apt for those of you who have pallets of loo rolls in the garage and get the shakes every time you pass a closed McDonalds.
In football, Grimsby Town had lost their opening match at home against Manchester United. The match against Preston North End on Saturday 2 September was a 2-0 win for Town, but we nearly threw that away: we missed a penalty, and a poor back pass nearly beat our keeper, George Tweedy. A certain William Shankly played that day. I wonder whatever happened to him? The Telegraph got in on the act by saying that the attendance was only 3,000 but printing the scores table with an attendance of 6,000; it's not like the Telegraph to get anything wrong.
One last thing: Town Reserves played Scunthorpe United of the Midland League and beat them 2-1 at the Old Showground. In the report, Scunny were referred to as the "Nuts": a nickname bestowed on them by the Reverend Cryspin T Rust apparently, after they had won the Frodingham Charity Cup, because they were "tough nuts to crack". I spent my formative years in Scunthorpe and by then they were always the "Iron", so "the nuts" must have dropped from use not long after the war.