Rich recently came up with the answer to the question: "Whatever happened to Saint & Greavise?" (whether you were asking it or not), and here he is to tell all...
As part of the buzz around last summer's World Cup, my local charity shops got involved and I was sucked in. The Heart Foundation shop were offering various football-related fare, so I parted with 199 pence for a box of childhood memories featuring TV stalwarts Ian St John and Jimmy Greaves acting as quizmasters. Perhaps fortunately, my wife, who was unaware of Saint and Greavsie as she had grown up in Finland, placed the box in the garage, before I could get around to watching it, in DVD board game heaven with a Jack Bauer-themed quiz and one about James Bond.So eventually on a period of gardening leave between jobs, I found myself tidying said garage and deciding to give it a whirl. Well, after kicking the free gift football to the dog...
It didn't take long for the wave of nostalgia to rush over me like heroin. The opening credits roll with cigarette cards coming to life to the soundtrack of the ITV World Cup 86 theme. Greavsie drinking milk (for a change), some clips from Wembley games of the era and then we're away. Now I may have had my mind spoiled by the Skinner and Baddiel imitations of Saint and Greavsie, with the constant chuckling... But I was almost disappointed for St John to pile straight into the introductions.
The main menu screens fart out a choice of two sides - England or Scotland... It's as though the quiz itself is set in the 1970s. It's a game for one or two players (or teams), including the patronising option of playing with a cat. I opted to play against the dog. Thankfully for me he slept through the whole ordeal. Choosing England or Scotland makes little difference to the game itself, aside from the pre-recorded joshing between Saint and Greavsie during the rounds.
It's a very typical TV quiz once it gets going, following the formula quite closely of A Question Of Sport. For someone who grew up on the sparse fare of televised football in the 1980s, it was nice to watch the footage that formed the "What happened next" rounds, followed by, in the first case, a clip of Steve Bull scoring for England with some questions about Bully's career. I didn't realise he'd scored four times... I suppose those days passed me by.
Part of the drawback to a DVD quiz were the questions which displayed a league table, where you had to identify the year. You then click to reveal the answer, before confirming whether you got it right. If you're playing on your own, would you be honest enough? I'd never cheat against the dog, I couldn't forgive myself. Luckily, the painful memories at the end of the 1998/99 season remained.
That's pretty much it - quiz over, roll credits.
But if you float around long enough, you'll find a couple of Easter Eggs on the main menu - bloopers and memories feature heavily, but one of them contains the pair's efforts at creating an all-time World XI. There is some evidence of a wider view outside of the British Isles, although surprisingly it is Greaves, perhaps, with the benefit of playing abroad, who is more willing to look to players like Lev Yashin, Di Stefano and Puskas. The XI itself is certainly different from a lot of similar efforts. Can't imagine Ray Wilson featuring heavily.
And so that's it - I'm happy to send my copy to anyone who wants it, it'd certainly pass the time after a night on the pop. You may need a few beers to help get through it. Hit me up on Twitter - first come first served.
Such generosity - thanks Rich! So there you have it... if you want to play along with Saint & Greavsie, get in touch with Rich Nelson on Twitter (@EscapeToSuomi) and you could soon be receiving his very own copy of the game.
It also just leaves us to say a big thank you to Rich for writing us this guest post, and if you want to read more of his excellent writing, you can catch him over at the Escape To Suomi website at www.escapetosuomi.com.
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