Cod Almighty | Diary

The Play for Today

9 June 2026

Just a quickie from BOTB diary to fill the Summer lull!

On Saturday I went to see Tommy's Long Weekend at the Caxton's Theatre. This is the tale of legendary publican Tommy Taylor whose establishment got the nickname of Tommy Taylor's Madhouse amongst local fishermen. I mention this because a surprising amount of the play is dedicated to the Mariners and their FA Cup semi-final defeat to Wolves in 1939. 

Although the tone is more journalistic than dramatic, the play is surprisingly riveting, and captures the struggle and pride of being a Town fan very well. It runs until the 13th June if anyone wants to nip down and have a look. 

In other news, the worst World Cup in history is about to begin. My main hope is that the England fans, and fans of other nations, are in good voice and have some songs about the orange criminal prepared in their official songbooks. Many Americans, depite being presided over by a rancid old cockwomble who they despise, are still bizarrely reverential towards him because of his high office. It might be up to the citizens of older democracies to show them how to respond to bent politicians and con men who try to steal countries. 

And, we must take it seriously for Scotand's sake. After all, they probably won't qualify for another World Cup in our lifetimes so it's important that we try and make their adventure holiday as special as possible for them. 

Who'll win? Well, whoever FIFA wants in the final will reach the final, and then they'll take it from there. It's fair to say their number one choice will not be England. As Frank Zappa put it, "they just looks after number 1, and number 1 ain't you. You ain't even number 2." Useful advice for life as well, if there are any kids reading. Spoiler. There aren't. 

UTM