Welsh writer of ‘Kicking’, ‘St Cuthbert’s Corpse’ and now ‘Black Rood': “Excellent... pure detective work" @HistoryScotland; “Totally compelling" @UndisScot.
Joined October 2009
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354 Photos and videos
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Jun 4
In 2002, I went to the World Cup in Japan, partly to watch the football but mainly to write a book of reportage about the relationship between ethnicity, national identity and partying, and to do some fans' eye reporting for @thetimes
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I don't check my Amazon reviews very often (no really) but it was a joy to find this for 'St Cuthbert's Corpse' @SacristyPress, a book that was published 13 years ago
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Jun 15
The St Margaret pilgrimage yesterday in Dunfermline, featuring a shoulder-bone relic of the C11 Queen of Scots which was hidden during the Reformation, expatriated and returned to Scotland in 1862.
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Jun 12
This weekend, my first pilgrimage. Following a Saint’s bodily relics in formal procession to their shrine. Guess who. I have written a lot about pilgrims but this will be my first experience.
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Jun 12
#OTD 2002 England v Nigeria in Osaka. “Unlike Sapporo, the police don’t bother to pretend they are just here to keep the roads open; their riot buses aren't hidden. They are doing nothing but waiting for trouble. 'Your country conquered Argentina,' says one, 'like Falklands.'"
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David Willem retweeted
Jun 12
Interesting mines rescue service commemorative plate. Equipment, notable disasters. Tankersley station onwards.
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Jun 10
"He was strapping, his skull all bone, muscle and skin, but he dropped his head and hunched his shoulders, and though he could never be unobtrusive, he made himself as small as he could. It was an action that wasn't, but could in time become, something like an apologetic bow."
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Jun 10
The failed blags during the 2002 World Cup were v entertaining. Even the toughest looking England supporters submitted to officialdom and adopted the aspects of Japanese politeness they could mimic. This was a fan apologising to a Shinkansen guard for travelling without a ticket.
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Jun 9
Crowd scenes before and after England beat Argentina in Sapporo. My photography, insisted on by the publisher, was described by one reviewer as "worthless", fairly I think.
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Jun 8
Signs in a bar during the 2002 World Cup in Japan.
"I am sorry, hooligans isn't to come in."
"For cash, for the sake or promptness, summing up your orders as group is recommended (for short no Dutch treat)."
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Jun 8
“How can anything happen now? They’ve been so friendly, you just couldn’t do it.” One of my favourite quotes from the 2002 tournament because for me it explains something about the nature of English hooliganism. My report in @thetimes on the party after beating Argentina.
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David Willem retweeted
Jun 8
‘Never before has such a terror appeared in Britain as we have now suffered from a pagan people... Behold the Church of St Cuthbert splattered with blood of the priests of God, despoiled of all its ornaments.’ The Viking attack on Lindisfarne took place #OTD in 793.
ALT The ninth-century grave marker found at Lindisfarne, known as the Viking Domesday stone, carved on one side with seven men brandishing weapons.
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Jun 7
7 Jun 2022
20 years ago today at the Sapporo Dome, Michael Owen collects an adidas Fevernova inside the Argentina box, gets tripped over by an outstretched Mauricio Pochettino leg, and Pierluigi Collina points at the spot.
Penalty. Beckham. Goal. Tears.
Redemption.
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Jun 7
The photographer Stewart Weir @EsquireUK and I independently capture the same moment in Odori Park before England v Argentina. "A man strips naked and mounts the mound of pansies in the middle of the park to cheers. The schoolgirls cannot believe what is happening..."
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Jun 7
"...and show their excitement by jumping up and down with their fists clenched. A policeman steps over. There is a moment when we all wonder what will happen, but he stops him with just a smile and an apologetic shake of the head. The stripper's clothes go back on."
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Jun 7
“Exposed upper bodies may cause offence,” the Foreign Office "plea to fans", quoted in @thetimes, February 3rd 2002
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Jun 6
“Body space is important. Eye contact is very threatening for Japanese. If fans get drunk and start hugging and looking them in the eye, people will feel very threatened.” The Japanese Embassy quoted in @thetimes December 12th 2001.
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Jun 6
As the train comes into Sapporo, the undulations of the track make the stadium seem like a vast drop of mercury gliding slowly round the edge of the city. This is where England will play Argentina, June 7th 2002.
Jun 3
Sapporo Dome, a new 42,000-seat football and baseball venue, opens in Sapporo, Japan.
The dome features a retractable roof, which is extremely advanced technology.
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Jun 6
#OTD 2002, in the far north of Honshu, the first time in Japan with no police. "Usually the cleaners will bow together as the train pulls in, but they cannot stop themselves from staring at us with gaping mouths. They will certainly never have seen so many gaijin in their lives."
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Jun 6
"...Part of their shock will be the realisation of the consequent enormity of their task: Japanese people take their rubbish with them when they leave a train; the English use the train as a place to leave their rubbish.”
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Jun 5
"I heard rumours they'd prepared extra hospital beds for the amount of women who would be raped and become pregnant - they really thought it would happen." Fatboy Slim on Japanese preparations for England hooligans prior to the 2002 World Cup (@EsquireUK, photos Stewart Weir)
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