LOONS AND TOFFEES

I am writing about Charles Lyell because he was born on March 27th (my birthday) a tad before me, in 1939. He died on January 10th this year. The other reason that his obituary grabbed my attention is that he was a great fan of the "national game".  Born to the 2nd Baron Lyell, he was privileged no doubt and went to Eton and inevitably Oxford University. Privileged or not, his father was a war hero who served in the Scots Guards and was killed in action in Tunisia, earning a posthumous VC. Charles did his national service too, in peacetime of course.

At 21 he took his seat in the House of Lords and at his death was the third longest parliamentary peer. Unmarried the barony died with him!

Enough of that let's get to the point; his great passion was Forfar Athletic and he was a regular visitor to Station Park. I presume he would have overseen a Forfar 4 East Fife 5 result at some time in his life. This did happen in January 1964 but the other way round! (James Alexander Gordon was almost overwhelmed. I hope you know what I mean?).

Charles became a club patron, always sponsored the final game  of the season and made his political colleagues aware of "The Loons". A loon is a north Scottish word for a "young man".

His hero was Archie Knox, a local lad in Angus, who played nearly 300 games in two stints for The Loons. Knox later became assistant manager to Walter Smith at Everton. Lyell became a shareholder at Goodison and in 2009 took The Toffees to play against The Loons to mark the Scots' clubs' 125th anniversary. His ashes were scattered at both grounds.

He had a wicked sense of humour which once manifested itself in St Tropez when concerned about the amount of nude bathing going on, he asked the local gendarmerie to visit the beach and gather up all the clothes and leave them in a pile at his beach side house. Lyell then stood by as various embarrrassed bathers attempted to regain their dignity by collecting their kit! Lyell was known to be a good swimmer and he represented the Lords v the Commons in the annual swimming gala. By all accounts he lost his trunks in one event. Not surprised that he never married!