i was born on the 17th may 1966. it was a tuesday which, if the traditional poem is correct, means that i am full of grace.
unfortunately, my birth coincided with the only year that the england football team won the world cup.
since then, every time i have to tell somebody – for whatever reason – in what year i was born, that same person tells me that it was that year that england won the world cup. annoyingly, they tell me as though i would never have known this nor that anybody else would have told me previously.
1966 is a recurrent curse. birthdays and christmas’ usually include at least one reminder of 1966’s finest: videos, dvds, books, souvenirs, original newspapers…the list goes on. even baddiel and skinner reminded me of it with ‘three lions’ (the original) and ‘three lions’ (the remix). likewise, every four years when england either does or does not reach the world cup finals, the entire nation reflects upon whether we can ever repeat the achievements of 1966.
despite this, i was born in 1966. and yes, i was full of grace.
