Friday, August 22, 2008

Win!


What with 'Spillers forming a world beating footie prediction team, and Bolt beating world records at the Olympics - there seems to be a lot of winning going on these last few weeks, so in honour of that; there's two things I'm going to do....

Thing 1: Post the song "Olympic Cyclist" by ballboy, because there'll never be a better time to do so, especially as it's a Scot winning the medals, and especially because the lyrics are so fab:

You did a perfect job last night
You shaved your legs and you washed your bike
And you looked like an olympic cyclist to me
And in your tiny council flat
Relive the memories that take you back
To athens and your rain-soaked sprint for gold

Thing 2: List all the things I've ever won:

1. A mountain bike when I was 9 in a draw cos I'd bought a book (I couldn't ride it for 5 years after cos it was too big for me)
2. £10 on the first ever national lottery; lost the next week, and never bothered again
3. The school sports day triple jump in 1989, followed by a half decent result in the 4 x 100 relay
4. A steak pie in my local playgroup's raffle about 3 months ago; still haven't cashed it in
5. A copy of Black Grape's "It's Great When You're Straight, Yeah" cd album from a local newspaper for answering the question; "What was Shaun Ryder's previous band named?"
6. Some Bjork 12"s off Xfm back when they were doing their test broadcasts, back in the day
7. 3rd prize in a daffodil growing competition when I was in primary school

RIGHTO 'SPILLERS - What have YOU won??

Olympic Cyclist by ballboy

30 comments:

Tim (Kalyr) said...

I won a bottle of wine at a quiz at a term-building exercise at work last week.

A prize for best photograph at a club photo competition a few years back.

Can't think of much else

steenbeck said...

I won shoelaces that said J'aime paris from my french class in highschool, I won singing lessons (That I actually had to audition for, and I'm a supershy performer, so it was torturous) and I won a $7500 grant from a foundation photographer Robert Frank set up for female filmmakers. And I didn't even apply for that one!!

snadfrod said...

Oh Lordy, I've never really thought of myself as much of a 'winner', really, but then I don't use drugs, so I must be doing ok...

Let's see:

- I once got about 75 quid on the Lottery for getting four numbers. Frustratingly, however, I also had the bonus ball and was one digit out on another one. For the sake of one digit I would have had 360 grand. Not an epic win, I'll grant you.

- Last year I finally beat my dad at pool, based on results over the course of a week's holiday. I am still yet to ever out-bowl him, though.

- A few years ago I won best actor in Manchester University's Easter Fringe Theatre festival. I gave my seminal Teach in David Mamet's 'American Buffalo'.

- Staying with theatre, I also held the coveted Platt Shield for a year in 1999 as Greater Manchester's best young actor, apparently. My Captain Absolute is still spoken about in hushed tones to this day.

- Um, my team won the only competitive cricket match I ever played in. I, however, went for a duck and bowled one rancid over of leg-spin.

And the big one, the video of which my brother wheeled out in his best man's speech at my wedding - when I was 11, I won a family holiday to Florida in a Thomson Sun holidays Kids Talent Competition. I won for my hotel, after a week in Majorca and got to go to the final in Ibiza. I did impressions. Lloyd Grossman, Barry Norman, Cilla Black. All the greats. At the final I got to meet Ross King. And that win, my friends, truly was epic.

Mrs Frod would like to point out that she won a Natwest contest for some interlocking hexagons when she was about eight. She then won me and, apprently, needs win no more. Yay.

And aren't we all a little closer now, huh?

snadfrod said...

Oh, I also hold the world 100m record with a time of 9.55 seconds, but it has yet to be ratified. Shh.

TracyK said...

That's a gorgeous version of Olympic Cyclist, B, where's it from?I was wondering whether Ballboy count as a cult band, because everyone who has heard of them tends to love them. I get the feeling they will never be huge, but that suits me fine, because we're like a gang that get it. The tweeness, the humour, the hopeless romanticism. Mmmmmmahhh!
I've won £10 on the lottery about 5 times, which is pretty rubbish. I've won the caption contest on the film blog once, for which I was promised a Jeff Buckley cd which never appeared, so they sent me a Joni Mitchell covers cd instead, which I've still not listened to, even though it sounds quite good. I've won several competitions on 6 Music, before I stopped listening because of George Lamb. Includes a few cds and a photo of New Order signed by the photographer, who may have been Ridgers.
Best thing I ever won, a free Toni and Guy haircut in a pub raffle, which really cheered me up at the time. I also won a script from the tv show Spaced (episode is Mettle) and a signed postcard and continuity Polaroids from the episode Gone. That was pretty cool actually.

Blimpy said...

Hi Trace, it's a live version recorded at the reid hall in edinburgh a few years back - a free download from ballboy's website (theres some good stuff on there, check it out!!)

I'm totally loving the responses to the question so far, by the way!!

Keep 'em coming!!

(steen- mrs mcflah is well jealous of your shoelaces!!)

snad- can you put the video on youtube, please??



pretty please??!!

Blimpy said...

and, no, ballboy will never be huge - or even medium sized; i just hope that never stops gordon from recording and performing.

gordon, i know you're reading this, YOU RULE!

(new ballboy LP in shops now, kids!!)

Shoegazer said...

Never won, nothing, never (except for Mrs. Shoegazer, so no complaints).

Anonymous said...

I won a trip to Mardi Gras in 1993.

We'd been to New Orleans in '92, and I said to DarceysMam at the time that we just had to make it to Mardi Gras somehow. So when my favourite Louisiana spirit tipple ran a nationwide competition through various outlets, I decided I was going to win it. I told several people in advance that I was going to do so, including gordonimmel.

And lo and behold, one morning I was woken up by someone from the local paper asking me if I had a passport and a criminal record ...

sourpus said...

Things ive won:

1) A tenner on the very first lottery (hey, dont tell me it was a fix to win customers!)

2) The Princess Charlotte pub quiz in Leicester. A team of one against against teams of five, mainly DeMontfort Uni students - quite proud of that one

3) Maria McKee's harmonica over the spin of a bouncer's coin. He wouldve walked away with a tenner if I had lost. Superb.

4) A ticket for the 1993 Roskilde Festival - didnt even collect my prize. Cant remember why.

5) A place at University. Should have taken that one back - what a swizz!

6) A daft looking Koala bear on a shooting gallery at the fair in Skegness.

7) A small cottage in Torquay in a grand public raffle.

(I lied about only one of the above)

ejaydee said...

I won:

-Hot CHip's DJ Kicks mix and Maps' album for a competition on the Guardian's Music podcast

-A booklet on history after coming dead last in a TV gameshow, probably the worst performance on TV ever, thank god there was no youtube at the time, and that we didn't even have the channel that would air it.

-A few Francs in the Black Jack scratch cards, usually just enough to reimburse the thing.

-The biscuit on RR for nominating The Laughing Gnome.

Anonymous said...

I won £5 in a 'Design a banner for the CPSA' competition (I was the only entrant)

Various Puffin Club prizes, when young, including a trip to London to meet Kaye Webb who nearly poisoned me by giving me Pink Paraffin (she thought it was lemonade)

Various junior poetry prizes including one at the Dursley Festival where I had to read out my poem in public and the microphone broke down

£750 in a syndicate of 8 (National Lottery) - I bought a wok

Anonymous said...

Sorry, anonymous is me, I hit the wrong button

snadfrod said...

@Blimpy - um, well, VHS and, er, old tape and, erm, not sure where it lives any more and, hrmmm, what's 'youtube' anyway?...

@ejay - TV quiz show defeat, now that I can sympathise with. I got knocked out second on the Weakest Link once, its a long story, but suffice to say I got stiffed. I won nowt but my travel expenses. Bloody BBC...

(P.S. Blimpy (and others) - I love the Ballboy track, and so does Mrs F - where to begin, please?)

Blimpy said...

hey snad

There was a brief ballboy discussion (with mp3s) on The Spill in July:

http://readersrecommend.blogspot.com/2008/07/girl-who-works-in-record-shop-says-im.html

snadfrod said...

Nice one Blimpy, cheers. I'm on it.

Shoegazer said...

There was supposed to be a raffle at the event I went to last night. Thought, that's a coincidence, could this be it? Turned out to be an auction. Nothing. Never.

Shoegazer said...

Oh & a Ballboy related story.

Recently bought some downloads from the excellent Ballboy site, but didn't check my e-mail straight away for the download links. When I got round to clicking the links, I received a message saying "It's been 3 days & your links have expired". I got cross, and blasted a reply e-mail (I did delete the swearing before sending, but the word "scam" was included).

Same day, got a very nice reply back (that I didn't deserve) from "Rachel" at Ballboy site support. This fixed the problem and forced me to send a thank you e-mail, that included an apology for being a dick about the whole thing.

The moral of the story: Sometimes the support is as good as the main band.

Luke-sensei said...

I won about 1600 quid on the Lottery for 5 numbers, any other week and it would have been a lot more....but I reckon it was definitely fate; I was a grand overdrawn (I'd just finished University), out of work with a payback deadline coming up for the overdraft and no way of getting the money......I paid off the overdraft, bought some jeans and spent the rest very slowly until I got a job...


I love Ballboy's version of "Born In The USA", i've looked for a... ahem..."free" version on the web many times, but to no avail....can anyone spill a downloadable version?

ToffeeBoy said...

Loving that version of Olympic Cyclist blimpy - thanks for that.

Best thing I've ever won was at my school summer fair a few years ago - a soft-top Mercedes CLK 320 - OK, I had to give it back after a week but what a week!

I also have a shooting trophy (I know!). It was at ToffeeGirl's work 'fun day' about ten years ago. They had this laser clay pigeon shooting event (not only is this kind to pigeons, it's also kind to clay pigeons) and even though I'd never in my life picked up a gun of any sort, I thought I'd had a go. I ended up with a score of 20/20 and a trophy which I'm slightly embarassed to own! I retired at the top and have never touched a gun since.

We also have a trophy for winning a Treasure Hunt - no treasure though...

ToffeeBoy said...

@ alimunday - that's one fucking expensive wok - you can get them for under a tenner at Tescos...

Shoegazer said...

@japanther
The Ballboy site shop allows you to download any individual song for 75p (PayPal):

http://www.ballboymusic.com/shop/records.php

USA is on the Sash album. Just check your e-mail straight away after purchase & be nice to the shop assistants if you run into them.

Anonymous said...

@Toffeeboy - my share worked out at about £50, I may have bought other things as well (like food) - I'd just split up with my ex and moved into a flat so it came at a very opportune time. I still have the wok (13 years on) and the handle is held on with string and superglue, so could do with buying another Lotto ticket ...

GarethI said...

I won a yellow sash for coming second in a three-legged race when I was about 6.
About a dozen years later, I picked up a medal for rugby at school, along with the English and politics prizes.
£250 out of the fruit machine in the bar I was working in after uni was nice.
I've been on the winning team in quite a few quizzes, including one at my old company. Everything hinged on the final round. It was one of those "guess who from these clues" rounds.
The team just behind us on the leaderboard guessed right after two, which were "this person wrote their first novel in 1976" and "this person was made a peer in 1992", so we needed to get the answer off the next clue or we'd lost.
The MC said: "This person writes the first draft of their novels in felt-tip pen."
Any guesses?
@Tracyk: George Lamb is unlistenable, the indie Westwood. Gideon Coe, Craig Charles and Guy Garvey, on the other hand, are marvellous.

TracyK said...

Gareth, if I'm at home, the radio goes on when I wake up, about 10:30, usually, right in the middle of Lamb. I don't like Nemone much either, so I've got out of the habit of listening to it at all, even though I absolutely love Lamacq (I've met him, he played Hefner at a ball in a cowshed I once went to...)
And Shoey, Rachel is Rachel Queen, who runs their merch stall for them when they play live, she's a very lovely girl, we've had a chat with her whenever we've seen her and reviewed some stuff on the music blog she used to run, Friends of the Heroes. Gordon embarrassed her hugely in Notts last time, as he claimed she was usually pissed on the stall, so to be nice to her and speak slowly. She did manage to give us a med. shirt instead of an XL, mind. Maybe he wasn't joking!

treefrogdemon said...

In the 50s I won a Rupert Bear competition in the Daily Express (my parents' choice of paper I hasten to add!) - it was a biro, which were very rare then, but it was very blobby and leaky.
I won the Melody Maker student essay competition in 1981 or 2 with a piece about Springsteen...it was a whole page in the MM!
Um - I won a CD of Everly Brothers rarities from one of Mark Lamarr's radio programmes...Oh yes, and I won 14 paperbacks of my choice and a trip to Broadcasting House to watch the books programme Paperbacks being recorded, for correctly identifying all the publishers' logos in the title sequence - apparently I was the only entrant who got them all right. At the recording I met Alfred Bestell, who drew Rupert Bear. So you see, it all comes round again.

And I've got a letter published in today's Observer, but you don't get a prize for that.

Shoegazer said...

@Japanther

Bought that Ballboy yet? You can have this as your free gift.

http://boxstr.com/files/3281855_x6cok/05 Full Metal Jackson.mp3

Anonymous said...

ballboy hgave all their Peel sessions for free download on the downloads page of theiur website

ToffeeBoy said...

@ tfd - you have unwittingly revealed your true identity! Your letter in this week's Observer (Why Georgia cannot be allowed to join Nato) gives the game away.

You are Lord Rea of Eskdale and I claim my £5.

treefrogdemon said...

Yes, I am a gowk and cannot help boasting.