Nice One Cyril

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In Greg Wood and Chris Cook you have two of the best racing journalists around, so why can’t we have the racecards? There are far fewer Cyrils (or Cyrilles) playing in England’s top-flight of football today than there were in the 1970s. In another example I was particularly annoyed by the Virgin East Coast line train manager last week, who decided it was really funny to announce that the train was stopping at various “holes in the hedge” on the way to London, and that “unfortunately” we would be stopping at Doncaster. I knew Capita were in trouble ( Capita shares plunge amid fears over ‘new Carillion’, 1 February) a few years ago when they wrote to me as District Nurse David Simpson.

Tottenham Hotspur quartet in a defensive wall – L-R: Steve Perryman, Cyril Knowles, Phil Beal and Roger Morgan – at White Hart Lane in 1972. However, as an academic I feel bound to say that the chant was originally for Cyril Knowles of Spurs.Due to the popularity of the TV slogan and the song, "Nice one Cyril" became a popular catchphrase in the 1970s used to praise someone. In Cockney rhyming slang it was adopted to mean "squirrel", [12] and it was the title of the autobiography of Cyril Fletcher. Given that my name isn’t Cyril, the reference might appear baffling to Millennials and Generations Zers but, at one time, it was a phrase used in common parlance as a way to express praise for someone.

Photograph: Popperfoto/Getty Images View image in fullscreen Tottenham Hotspur quartet in a defensive wall – L-R: Steve Perryman, Cyril Knowles, Phil Beal and Roger Morgan – at White Hart Lane in 1972.As a Coventry City supporter, I too sang “Nice one Cyrille” back in the days ( Tears and tributes for trailblazer Cyrille Regis, 31 January).