Established 2006 – 100+ NEW posts every year: Movie Locations, B-Grade Sights, Cycling Trips, Travel, Films, Railways, Foxes, Star Wars, J-League, Dining Out, Sport, LCFC…….
It’s very rare that I visit any movie locations beyond the nations capital when I’m back in Britain but earlier this year I went to the Great Central Railway in Loughborough which has been used for countless TV and film productions. One of the movies to have been shot there was ‘Cemetery Junction‘ (2010); the coming-of-age comedy-drama about three lads written and directed by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant. Both of those guys do appear in the film but their parts are mere cameo roles.
WARNING: May contain spoilers!
Set in a small town in 1973, Freddie, Bruce and Snork are the three main characters and all of different stock and character. The latter is the loveable loser who has a habit of saying the wrong thing and he works at Cemetery Junction railway station which in reality is the restored heritage railway in Loughborough. It first appears on 37 minutes with a brief shot (below) of the stations exterior.
That is then followed by a sweeping shot (below) of the far end of the platform.
Next, we see Freddie (Christian Cooke) and Bruce (Tom Hughes) descending the steps of the station and walking along platform 2 (below) where they pop in to see Snork (Jack Doolan) and engage in some rude banter over the public address system.
The Great Central Railway appears again towards the end of the movie between 81-89 minutes. At the far end of the platform under the sign (changed accordingly for filming) on the bench (below) is where Snork and Louise (a girl who has feelings for him that works at a café he frequents) form a relationship.
Soon after that, Freddie arrives at “Cemetery Junction” station expecting to begin his travels with his two mates but finds himself alone after Snork has changed his mind and is ready for work. He later announces over the public address system that Bruce also won’t be accompanying Freddie.
Filming took place mostly on Platform 2 (below) and as I saw this film after my visit I didn’t know which angles I needed for match up shots! My shot of the platform were sadly taken from the other end to that seen in the movie.
You can read ‘Trainspotting On The Great Central Railway: Loughborough’here
You can read ‘Trainspotting On The Great Central Railway: Rothley’here
I was recently teaching a group of 8 year old Japanese kids the fascinating art of giving your telephone number in British English. A redundant feature of the modern world but the powers-that-be think they need to know that oh is said rather than zero and that numbers are broken down into small groups or pairs with use of the word double when necessary.
A decade of teaching this kind of function can be a pretty dull activity when it appears in the text so to amuse myself I call out famous numbers from TV and radio such as the old ‘Live & Kicking‘ Saturday morning kids TV number and the kids write the number out on the whiteboard. One day I came out with a number that really took me back to my childhood and brought memories flooding back of a British football information service from yesteryear.
What young children are looking at on their computers is a prime concern for parents these days but back in the late 80’s they were more worried about what phone numbers their kids were dialling up without permission. Yes, I’m talking 0898 numbers but nothing sexual here. In fact what you’d hear on the other end of 0898 12-11-85 couldn’t have been any further from being a turn-on (even on the best of days!) for this was the Leicester City Clubcall number.
Back in 1986 this telephone news service was launched and the numbers for each club were all advertised in ‘Match‘ and ‘Shoot‘ magazines. Some football fans even rang the number of more than one club! This was in an era long before the blanket coverage seen and heard on the likes of Sky, 5 Live, internet and mobile phones, and it enabled us City fans to “find out” what was going on at our club. I use the term loosely as I don’t remember hearing that much news. It was probably of similar note to that other service of the time; the now defunct teletext service.
In the days of having Bryan Hamilton and David Pleat at the helm, Clubcall was the only source for getting information at an expensive premium rate. People of a certain age may remember the number and it will almost certainly send a shiver down the spine of any parent who recalls being asked (if they were indeed asked at all!!) if they could dial up this number and listen to an automated male voice speak slowly amid an annoying buzzing noise in the background. I can remember my mum hovering over me with a close eye on the clock making sure that I didn’t go over my allotted one minute as at this service was not cheap. More money was probably spent on Clubcall than season tickets by some fans I expect.
The announcer used to thank you for calling Clubcall, explain the service, describe the pitch conditions before informing us (finally) of some vague news relating to the likes of Alan Paris, Simon Morgan, Jimmy Quinn and co or if we were really lucky there would be news of a signing on the horizon which inevitably resulted in never hearing much of that story ever again.
BT sold Clubcall to Ladbrokes in 1991 and believe it or not the company is actually still operating though of course its evolved to become a sports website and international mobile content provider. The idea of a telephone football information service seems crazy in this day and age where its easy to access information at all times as we receive wall-to-wall coverage of the beautiful game in its modern form but back then it played an important role in keeping us informed.
When this Richard Curtis-written film came out in 1994 I had no interest in seeing it whatsoever as I was really sick of hearing the Wet Wet Wet cover of ‘Love Is All Around‘ which was the soundtrack song that dominated the UK Top 40 chart spending a ridiculous 15 weeks at number one.
Many, many years later though and having been won round by Hugh Grant’s performances in ‘Notting Hill‘ (1999), ‘About A Boy‘ (2002) and ‘Love Actually‘ (2004) I finally got round to watching this one and enjoyed it enough to bother seeking out some of the London movie locations from it….not that that kind of thing usually stops me!!
22 Highbury Terrace (below) in North London first appears on 33 minutes as Charles (Hugh Grant) leaves his place in a rush to make it to the second wedding. This is the only time when we see the outside of the house from afar as when it appears at the climax of the film on 106 minutes we only see the door up close and the street and its neighbouring houses. Drayton Park is the nearest station and Holloway Road or Arsenal (both on the Piccadilly Line) are the closest tube stations.
Rowan Atkinson is the master of ceremonies for the second wedding, between Bernard and Lydia, which takes place around the 34 minute mark with ‘St Mary of the Fields in Cripplegate’ actually being the Royal Naval College Chapel. Greenwich is the nearest rail station and the chapel (below) is open to the public and free. It also featured as the interior of a ‘Venice’ church in ‘Lara Croft Tomb Raider‘ (2001) and a fair few other films which are arguably of greater note!
The reception for that wedding was shot at Luton Hoo Hotel, Golf and Spa which seems to have been used in some way in many recent locations updates on Tokyo Fox such as ‘Eyes Wide Shut‘ (1999) and ‘The World Is Not Enough‘ (1999).
Carrie (Andie MacDowell) gives Charles a show of her potential wedding dresses on 58 minutes at 1 Sloane Square (below) which used to be Albrissi, an interior design service.
The fourth wedding of the film on 89 minutes at ‘St Julian’s’ is actually St Bartholomew the Great in Smithfield. Farringdon or Barbican on the Circle Line are the tube stations within walking distance and it’s this church where Charles has his doubts about getting married having met Carrie who informed him that she had separated from her husband.
For other London filming locations click on the links below:
Long before they won the chance to host the 2022 World Cup about the only thing I knew of Qatar was that it was the only country starting with the letter Q! As a teacher, this comes up quite often in lessons as a common activity which I do from time to time is the A-Z of countries that can only include one example for certain letters such as Oman for O and Yemen for Y.
The one and only other time I’ve visited the middle-east was Jordan in 2011 and that ranks as one of my favourite holidays ever so with that in mind I was keen to return to this part of the world and a layover on the way back to see my family last Christmas was the ideal opportunity.
I arrived very early in the morning and paid QAR100 ($28) for the visa and after I’d been to the place which featured in ‘Qatar 2014 Pt I‘ the taxi driver dropped me off at the Museum of Islamic Arts. Of course it wasn’t open at that time but my plan was always to leave it till the afternoon so instead I wandered up Al-Corniche; the very pleasant crescent which winds around the bay for 8km. I only followed this promenade under the palms for a fraction of its total length stopping along the way to admire the Pearl Monument below. An interesting photo stop but the nearby surrounding area was all a bit building site-like.
As for the views across the bay of this oil rich state, they were lovely with the high-rise buildings stood across the dhow harbour (below) with the architecturally wonderful museum and hundreds of ships in the foreground.
A little further along Al-Corniche I crossed the road which was a mission in itself as many of the main roads in Doha are so wide and with the traffic constant it took a while to get across as the lights don’t seem to stop too often. Once on the other side I could see Diwan Emiri; the government building (below) that houses a lot of the highest level decision makers in Qatar.
The lush green turf surrounding the building as well as the clock tower and the Grand Mosque (below) had some mounted police on Arabian horses trotting up and down which would become quite a common sight throughout my short stay in the city.
Lying across from that area were the horse stables (above) and just beyond that was Souq Waqif; the most important historic market in Doha and a window to the beautiful past and authentic history and culture for the community. It was pretty dead when I entered as it was still very early on in the day which in some ways was quite nice as I got to see the Falcon Souq (below) all by myself.
Thereafter the sandy coloured buildings were far more prominent as I wandered deeper into the souq amidst a plethora of alleys, pathways, mosques, hotel apartments, markets, outdoor cafes, souvenir shops and so on.
My mind turned to food after that and I wandered round for a bit before deciding on the most popular place which was Zaatar W Zeit; a place specialising in manakeesh (a pizza-like flatbread topped with thyme, cheese or ground meat). I think it’s more Lebanese than Qatari but who knows what food from the latter exactly is? Not me! I ate the traditional form of zaatar (dried thyme mixed with oil and sesame), batata (sweet potato fries) and mini fattoush which is basically a salad containing cucumbers, mint, parsley, tomatoes, lettuce, green pepper, cheese and oven-baked squares.
Satisfied with my lunch I left and walked round the souq for a little bit more which was a far busier and atmospheric place by then. I was able to use my new-ish camera properly for the first time to zoom in on people and things from a distance which was quite nice.
After a while I realised I was not going to get anything more out of my souq experience so headed back to Al-Corniche via the spiral shaped Islamic Studies Centre (below) and wandered on back to where I started at the museum.
The museum was thankfully free and I wandered around but had no real strong interest in any of the exhibits on display. What I did enjoy though were the views from the museum, both inside and out.
I left the museum and walked on down the road for a bit before calling it a day and catching a taxi back to the airport. Travelling to Qatar had taken me out of my way a fair bit and only saved a tiny amount of cash compared to a direct flight but I was very satisfied with what I had seen and done. The only downside was that I had to do a (far, far shorter) transit in Doha on the return leg when I’d rather have just flown directly between London and Tokyo without such a detour.
Ever since FIFA controversially awarded Qatar the 2022 World Cup, it’s never been too far from the sports headlines. News of bribery, corruption, controversial labour laws, abuse of migrant workers and monthly deaths during stadium construction have rarely been out of the foreign media, particularly in Britain.
As ever, things are different in Japan though. Mention the word Qatar to any Japanese soccer fan and it’s highly probable that they’ll refer to the “Agony of Doha” (ドーハの悲劇 Dōha no higeki). Readers of a nervous disposition may want to look away now for this is the nickname which refers back to that fateful day on 28th October, 1993 when Japan were on the verge of qualifying for their first World Cup.
Picture the scene; Japan are playing Iraq in Doha and with just seconds to go they lead 2-1 and are heading to USA ’94. However, the Iraqi team hit them on the break and earn a corner which is played short. The Iraqi player takes the man on and beats him, gets his cross in and there to meet it is Jaffar Omran Salman who glances a header past keeper Matsunaga into the corner leaving both the Japanese players and fans absolutely stunned. The defenders are totally deflated and sink to the turf in despair at what has just happened.
These days fans of the Samurai Blue perhaps almost take it for granted that their country will qualify for the World Cup but it was all a bit different a couple of decades ago which is why this game has gone down in the annals of Japanese football history. The score draw was played out in the capital of Qatar because back then a round robin format of matches was used to decide the final couple of qualifying games.
Whilst in the little-but-loaded Gulf state recently, I decided to visit the stadium which played host to the infamous 2-2 draw. Having arrived at Doha International Airport at 4.30 am I waited around for the sun to rise a couple of hours later before taking a taxi to the Al-Ahli Stadium, formerly known as Hamad Bin Khlifa Stadium. For a long time now, bus loads of Japanese tourists doing layovers in Qatar’s capital have been transported around the main sights of Doha and part of the itinerary has always included this crumbling old stadium.
Beforehand my expectations were fairly low as I knew it was an old, decaying ground far removed from the state of the art stadiums which are expected to pop up in the run up to 2022. Based on what I’d seen from the taxi passenger seat, vast parts of the city are building sites but none of that would quite prepare me for the welcome I’d receive on my arrival at this once famous stadium.
The first thing I actually saw was a signboard with an artists impression of what the stadium would look like way down the line when it may be used for some World Cup games. If I’d reversed onto the site of the sports club with a blindfold on after that I might not have been as shocked. The place really was a shadow of its former self and just about standing with the aid of scaffolding all over the place.
With the taxi metre still running I didn’t have too much time to waste so darted straight into the ground and asked one of the many men hanging about if I could see the pitch. Now, this kind of thing certainly wouldn’t work in many countries and it’s not something I’d usually do but time was money and all that. A guy led me through a tangled tapestry of cables, wires, hard hats, rubble and general emptiness before I was eventually left to my own devices and allowed to walk out the tunnel which captain Tetsuji Hashiratani led the Japan team out of. On that occasion, the stadium which holds 12,000, had around 4000 fans waiting to greet the sides. For me, it was a handful of mystified builders!
One of the workmen took an interest in what I was doing and looked at the screenshots of the game I had on my tablet for potential match-up shots. Sadly, he didn’t know about the Japan-Iraq game but I certainly filled in the details on that one. There really wasn’t much to see but at least the grass and goalposts were still there! I just wish I had a ball on me to kick around and do a recreation of that decisive qualification night.
Having finally taken the shots I wanted on the field (photography-wise!) I headed back down the tunnel advancing towards the main reception area. Bayern Munich manager Pep Guardiola, lured to the country for one last pay day, actually played for the club between 2003 and 2005 and years later became an ambassador for Qatar’s successful World Cup bid and was also in charge of Barcelona when the club agreed a highly lucrative sponsorship deal to have the Qatar name (first the Qatar Foundation and then Qatar Airways) on their shirts.
Guardiola won nothing during his time at the club which may be a surprise to anyone seeing the clubs trophy room! Al-Ahli Sports Club is the oldest one in Qatar, having been established in 1950 and the reception area is absolutely packed full of trophies though god knows what most of them are as my research tells me that they have only ever won five cups! Anyway, among all the silverware is the item of most interest to me; a signed Japan home shirt from the 2010-2011 era.
Football in Japan has progressed a lot since the end of 1993 when the inaugural J-League had only been underway for about five months and some believe that the “Agony of Doha” helped shape things for the better as the team recovered and came back stronger to qualify for each successive World Cup thereafter.
Whilst everyone in Tokyo knows that Shin Okubo is the home of all things Korean it is not such common knowledge that just one station along the Yamanote line there is a community of Burmese restaurants and bars. Takadanobaba (also on the Tozai and Seibu Shinjuku lines) possesses a quite surprising number of places serving up delicacies from Myanmar.
Formerly known as Burma, Myanmar shares borders with India, Bangladesh, Laos, China and Thailand. Malaysia is not so far away so it’s no wonder that its cuisine is influenced by elements of all these countries. Generally speaking Burmese food is not as spicy as Thai food and not as dry as Indian food. A lot of these restaurants couldn’t be easier to find assuming you’ve arrived by train.
We decided to sample what these places had to offer starting with the cluster of places alongside the tracks just one minutes walk from the Waseda exit. Nong Inlay (2-19-7 Takadanobaba) specialises in food coming out of the civil war ravaged Shan state of which there is a map on the wall showing its proximity to Thailand, Laos and China with the latter heavily influencing its taste and style. When we went it was a mix of Burmese people and Japanese businessmen who were taking up some of the 10-12 seats on each side of the place for it has two rooms. The restaurant gets its name from a lake in the Shan state. There is a large menu (with pictures alongside the Japanese and Burmese words) with a variety of Shan-style meat and vegetable dishes. Specialities include pei pot kyaw (sour bean condiment) and hmo chawk kyaw (fried mushrooms).
On the other side of the tracks running parallel is Sakae-dori where there’s a couple more ethnic restaurants. Swe Myanmar (3-5-7 Takadanobaba) is located at the end of the street on the right hand side. The walls are lined with pictures of the 80+ authentic home-style Burmese dishes on offer to the 21 customers which the place holds. This restaurant has the cheapest food on offer with nine lunch sets ranging from 500 yen and the most expensive dish is still under 1000 yen! Furthermore, we were even given a service bonus of mochi.
With an estimated 20,000 Myanmar internationals living in the vicinity, a lot of these places cater for the local community and this one has a monthly magazine and two weekly Myanmar-language publications printed in Japan.
The similarly named ShweO (3-2-13, 4F Takadanobaba) is just across the road from there and among the tangled tapestry of visible pipes, wall rugs, ubiquitous spices and sparse flowers, are 50 dishes on offer which are all displayed in poster form on the wall. The decor may be basic but its a large spacious place with a very professional looking menu folder (not always the way at some of these places!) ShweO is famed for its many salads, noodle dishes, rices and curries containing huge chunks of chewy beef. Specialities include hand-made tofu, dry noodles, local shrimp and fish curry. There’s also a wide array of alcohol, including 500 yen beer, to help wash the dishes down. Lunch sets range from 550-900 yen and include a pot of tea. Don’t be put off by the owner wearing headphones whilst she serves you! She is friendly and speaks a bit of English.
Perhaps the most sophisticated and modern looking restaurant is Ruby (3-18-11, 1F Takadanobaba) which has some delicious chicken and potato dishes from the southern part of the country which is where the owner and her husband are from. The place is at its most busy at weekends when there’s a great Sunday buffet service including tabehodai rice, salad, soup, vegetables, tea and shwe yin aye which is a popular and refreshing dessert of agar jelly, tapioca and sago in coconut milk.
There are a couple of Myanmar restaurants on the main road that runs through Takadanobaba. As you’re walking away from the station the first place you come to is Minglaba (2-14-8, 3F Takadanobaba) on the left. This place seems to attract families, offers standard Burmese food at lunch and at night. The owner is a very friendly smiling lady who recommended a few dishes which are characteristic of the country. Lape-toh is a salad made of fermented tea leaves, garlic, lettuce, nuts, sesame seeds, dried fish and other ingredients. Perhaps the most famous dish is mohinga which is a highly savoury stew with a fermented fish gravy the consistency of pea soup, and containing chicken, vegetables and fine wheat-flour noodles. Tofu-joh are fried squares of yellow-lentil tofu served with a hot and sweet dipping sauce.
Whilst you’re waiting for your orders you might wanna try your hand at learning the Burmese alphabet which makes hiragana and katakana seem a doodle. They also have a few packets of imported noodles and spices for sale at the checkout should you be inspired to go home and make your own ethnic dish.
Just over the road is Mali Kha (1-25-9, 3F Takadanobaba) and this one serves up an extensive menu of Kachin food from the country’s most northern state which borders China and India. There is the customary map of the country and state as well as posters of marine and freshwater fishes of Myanmar should you wish to brush up on your knowledge of the country. Possessing a dozen seats on one side and room for plenty more on the other side this oriental kitchen sells home-style dishes like fish steamed in banana leaves, tripe stew and chicken and bean curry.
Almost all of these restaurants have picture menu’s in Japanese and Burmese but no English. Hatch-style service is usually the style and TV’s, used for karaoke at night, are evident everywhere. Expect photos of national landmark Shwedagon Pagoda to don the walls in the majority of these places along with the requisite portrait of political activist Aung San Suu Kyi, practically a national law. They all sell the country’s self-titled national beer ‘Myanmar’ for around 600 yen a can.
After 50 years of nightmare, Myanmar is starting to open up to tourism more and more but if you want to have an introduction to its tastes and smells then you could try Burmese restaurants in Ebisu, Sugamo, Zoushiki, Waseda and Minami Otsuka but for the broader choice you will need to make your way to ‘Little Myanmar’ in Takadanobaba.
This Sam Fuller directed film was released a decade after the end of WWII and Japan has of course transformed itself quite a bit since then. ‘House Of Bamboo‘ was the first post-war American movie to be filmed in Japan and as you can imagine most of the Tokyo locations (including Ginza and Asakusa) now look nothing like what’s seen on screen. However, there are a couple of locations which have remained relatively unchanged in the six decades that have passed since filming wrapped and the reason for that is that they are places of worship in the form of a temple and shrine respectively.
Now, yes I do know that Kamakura is actually part of Kanagawa prefecture but lets not small things like that get in the way! If it was good enough for ‘Ju-on: The Grudge 2‘ (filmed in Tokorozawa in Saitama) and ‘The Ramen Girl‘ (filmed in part in Yokohama) then it’s fine for ‘House Of Bamboo‘ to be included in this Tokyo-based series!
First up on 33 minutes is the Great Buddha (below) of Kamakura at Kōtoku-in temple (200 yen entry) which appears for less than a minute! The 13.4 metre Daibutsu statue is an awe-inspiring sight even after many visits and it’s quite easy to see why it’s a national treasure.
Suddenly the scene changes to Tsurugaoka Hachimangu shrine (below) for a couple of minutes and Maiden and Wakamiya Shrine are seen before the guys ascend the 60 steps that lead up to Hongu (Main Shrine).
However, the place at the top where they have a discussion is not where it seems in the film. In fact, I’m not even sure where it was filmed. It could have even been shot in the studio but my guess is that it was filmed in the Shrine Museum which costs (200 yen to enter) which features some time-honoured treasures such as weapons and craftwork. Remember that a long, long time has passed since this film was made!
From the outset of the film the narration informs viewers that it was filmed entirely on location in Japan and then the magical and mystical Mount Fuji lingers beautifully in the background (a matte painting perhaps given it really is captured so perfectly in the centre of the screen!) as the scene is set.
The film concludes in the city of Yokohama which is actually Japan’s second largest city and just a short train ride south of Tokyo.
Screenshots appear courtesy of thisislandrod.blogspot (though of course they are just copied from the movie!)
For other Japan filming locations click on the links below:
Always keen to add a twist or two to these ‘set in Japan’ reviews here is the first review of an animated movie. My sister told me at Christmas that ‘Cars 2‘ featured Japan and I had hoped to watch it with my nephew but sadly that never happened and so I ended up viewing it all alone one afternoon which is pretty sa-a-a-a-ad!!
Having been challenged to a series of races by an Italian car, Lightning McQueen and his tow-trucking sidekick Mater head to Japan and Europe to compete in the World Grand Prix. Now I’ve not seen the original ‘Cars‘ (2006) movie so all the characters were new to me but I do now that Lightning McQueen is the prime protagonist. However, in this film the roles are pretty much switched as Mater becomes the main focus as he becomes sidetracked in an international espionage adventure via the classic movie mistaken identity scenario.
Lets start with the positives then. Naturally, for a series titled ‘Films Set In Japan’ it is the scenes set in Tokyo which I was most interested in. There’s plenty of attention to detail here (both automobile-related and otherwise) to please and amuse those who know what Tokyo is like. Alongside some fantastic animated views of Mount Fuji, Rainbow Bridge, Tokyo Tower and the neon-lit city there are references to vending machines, capsule hotels and state-of-the-art toilets and the fight in the latter is quite reminiscent of the pre-title sequence in Daniel Craig’s first outing as 007 in ‘Casino Royale‘ (2006).
What this film is lacking in though is any kind of story. The plot is far too convoluted for a kids film and it’s been so over-stuffed that one can’t even remember which plot they should be focusing on at times whether it be the race, secret agent or alternative fuels one. The kids surely want to see racing scenes but they seemed almost incidental at times in this Pixar-produced sequel. Heartwarming moments are few and far between and too many of the characters are just not that interesting or funny!
There seems to be too much focus on Mater who doesn’t really cut it as the lead character and his slightly annoying country drawl and demeanour starts to grate a bit as the film drags on. It may be funny when he’s in the supporting role but when it’s the centre of attention it fails to amuse so much.
Furthermore, all the stuff about environmentally friendly alternative fuel sources is a bit forced and comes across as a little bit preachy. Cinema is one particular part of the entertainment industry which is disposable and I, for one, really didn’t feel the need for Pixar to climb on their moral high horse and start telling us about how bad the oil companies are. The (far too limited) racing scenes may keep the children happy but I don’t believe that too many of them would have followed the plot about oil companies, mafia and espionage.
Ask Foxes fans to compile their all-time Leicester City XI and the chances are that one of the centre back positions would be filled by Matt Elliott. The gravelly-voiced former City captain has been working as a match-day summariser for BBC Radio Leicester this season and whilst I was in the city recently I went along to meet one of my heroes.
Signed from Oxford United for £1.6m, Elliott settled into the team in no time and became a Premier League star under the guidance of manager Martin O’Neill who had a knack for making average to good players play consistently way above their level.
When Matt arrived at the BBC studios I was on hand to greet him, introduce myself and nervously utter some nonsense before we walked into the actual studios together where he was due on air 15 minutes later to give his views on the Monday night Football Forum (6-7pm).
I was then alone with Matt and talking to him about managing Army United and just generally living in Thailand before I realised my error! I was in the company of a Leicester legend and talking to him about something other than his City days! I soon corrected that by bringing up an article by Mark Lawrenson in his Mirror column in 1998 when he said that Elliott was his player of the year. Matt said that he had that cutting and was well pleased to have received such an accolade from an ex-player like Lawro although he did humbly say that he must have been looking for an alternative to the usual stars of the Premier League at that time.
To be fair I thought our meeting was going to be nothing more than asking him for a photo and exchanging a few words (and I would have been more than happy with that!) so to get a few minutes with such a lovely down-to-earth nice guy throughout the evening was an absolute delight.
Once the show had gone off air I was allowed to enter the studio used by him and presenter Ian Stringer to get my photo taken with the man who used to be on my wall in my early 20’s. Yes, I still had pictures of Leicester players in my bedroom at that age!
As he was about to exit he asked me where my car was parked after as if to say we could leave together but I told him I had come by train and joked that if he was passing through Market Harborough then I’d accept a lift!! Sadly he wasn’t but worth a try anyway!
Elliott was an absolute colossus in our defence during his 245 appearances between 1997 and 2005 (though he did play a few of them up front!) but it’s probably his goals (a very respectable 26) that defined his time at the club and here is the Tokyo Fox top 10……Matt Elliott moments!
1. v Tranmere, 2-1 (League Cup Final): 27 February 2000 – The game that ultimately defined Elliott’s time at City as he led the Foxes to victory at Wembley with two very similar goals from corners. Watch ithere.
2. Premier League Player Of The Year, Daily Mirror: April 1998 – Former Liverpool defender and BBC pundit Mark Lawrenson said in his newspaper column that Elliott was his player of the year for the 1997-98 season.
3. v Aston Villa, 1-0 (H): 2 February 2000 – A great header in the League Cup Semi Final was enough to separate these teams over two closely fought matches. Watch ithere.
4. v Wimbledon, 3-1 (A): 1 March 1997 – Quite possibly the match when Elliott really announced his arrival at Leicester with a brace of goals that helped City “do a Wimbledon” against the Dons at Selhurst Park.
5. v Everton, 2-2 (A): 3 January 2000 – In a televised match, Elliott was playing as a makeshift striker and scored twice in five minutes with goals that any striker would be proud of.
6. v Arsenal, 3-3 (H): 27 August 1997 – Bergkamp took all the plaudits from this game for a sensational hat-trick but it was Elliott who got the first equaliser for City as they clawed their way back from 2-0 down late on before the late, late drama. Watch ithere.
7. v Sheffield Wednesday, 1-0 (H): 7 May 1997 – City may have finished 9th in their first season back in the Premier League but that was due to back-to-back victories in the final two games as well as other results going their way. Indeed, City weren’t even safe until the penultimate game against Wednesday when Elliott scored four minutes from time to ensure survival for the Foxes.
8. v Liverpool, 2-1 (A): 13 August 1997 – In the 1980’s City were the bogie team against the Reds and Elliott rolled back the years with the opener at Anfield.
9. Penalties – Rarely the main taker but never afraid to step up to the spot during the League and FA Cup penalty shoot out victories (1999-2000) as well as league games against local rivals Coventry and Nottingham Forest, Elliott (to my memory) blasted each and every one high down the middle. Watch the Arsenal shoot-out goalhere (Elliott’s penalty on 2:50)
10. v Newcastle United, 3-4 (A): 2 February 1997 – Elliott’s first goal in a City shirt was an equaliser which set Leicester on their way to a 3-1 lead before the wheels fell off as Shearer helped the Toon Army comeback to win in front of the Sky TV cameras. Watch ithere.
Bonus: v Faroe Islands, 1-1 (A): 5 June 1999 – Thanks to his Scottish grandmother, Elliott was eligible to play for Scotland and gained 18 caps whilst scoring a solitary goal along the way but it was the tabloid newspaper headline “PRAT ELLIOTT” the day after he was sent off against the mighty Faroe’s which I most remember!
Movie locations being faked has been a bit of a fascination for me these last few years. Many different places have been used to replicate the likes of Afghanistan, Myanmar and Vietnam but who would’ve thought that this Stanley Kubrick film did the same trick. Whilst its no surprise that some of those aforementioned far-flung places have been faked it’s quite rare to see New York city filmed elsewhere but that is what happened in ‘Eyes Wide Shut‘ as Kubrick’s fear of flying meant it was predominantly shot in London.
Don’t be fooled by the edit. Sure, there are lots of New York street scenes featuring the ubiquitous yellow cabs but these shots were picked up by a Second Unit team and are all interspersed with what was filmed on sets at Pinewood. The Greenwich Village street scenes were dressed to look like those from New York.
This erotic thriller actually takes place at Christmas and opens with a big festive party filmed at Luton Hoo Hotel, Golf & Spa in Bedfordshire which has been used in ‘Four Weddings & A Funeral‘ (1994) and as the interior of an Azerbaijan palace in ‘The World Is Not Enough‘ (1999). In the wake of that and the news that his wife Alice (Nicole Kidman) had a sexual fantasy about another man, a rather disturbed Dr. Bill Harford (Tom Cruise) goes on a sexual odyssey so that he can feel equal in some way.
He meets a prostitute called Domino but back at her place he does nothing and so leaves and heads on to ‘Club Sonata’ which in reality is Madame JoJo’s (below) on Brewer Street in Soho. It’s here that Bill catches the end of his old pal Nick’s piano performance on 55 minutes at the New York jazz club and manages to get the password to the orgy out of him.
Bill returns to Domino’s apartment (by yellow cab of course as it is in the United States right?!) with a gift and her roommate Sally informs him that Domino has just tested positive for HIV. Bill leaves soon after that (120 minutes) and notices someone is following him. That sinister man is on Worship Street with Nicon House (below) at number 21 very clearly visible in the background. Shoreditch High Street station in East London is the nearest station.
As for Bill, he is actually a couple of miles away on Hatton Garden where New York-style payphones were installed between numbers 32 and 38 and shops were adorned with the 555 phone numbers which are the fictitious NYC dialling code used in American films. He continues on past Diamond House (below) which is at 36-38 Hatton Garden and very close to a couple of locations used in Guy Richie’s ‘Snatch‘ (2000). It is reported that Berner Street and Eastcastle Street also stood-in for other Greenwich Village scenes.
On 124 minutes Bill walks through the revolving doors of Chelsea & Westminster Hospital (below) as he goes in search of Mandy; the beauty queen who he saw in the newspaper had died of a drug overdose.
The Royal Suite of the Lanesborough Hotel (* SEE COMMENTS) at 1 Lanesborough Place is where Bill meets the Christmas party host (from the start of the film) Victor Ziegler (Sydney Pollack) who fills him in on many details regarding the ritual orgy and Mandy’s unfortunate fate. This huge complex, located on Hyde Park Corner, was built in the 1830’s though sadly it’s been under reconstruction since the end of 2013 (hence the rather dull photo below) and is all set to re-open this year.
This slightly weird but highly watchable movie concludes on the ground floor of the famous toyshop Hamley’s (below) in London’s Regent Street on 141 minutes as Bill and Alice take their daughter Christmas shopping and have some kind of reconciliation.
For other London filming locations click on the links below:
Tokyo Fox (東京狐) 