HossC

There don't seem to be many songs for this year's tournament, so for Meadowmfn, here's Andy Cameron's 'Ally's Tartan Army' from the 1978 World Cup in Argentina (I couldn't embed the Top of the Pops version!). England's best-known football anthem is 'Three Lions (Football's Coming Home)' by Baddiel & Skinner & Lightning Seeds. It was actually written for the 1996 UEFA European Championship, which England was hosting. FYI. Jules Rimet is the World Cup trophy and "30 years of hurt" refers to time since England won the World Cup in 1966 (we don't like to talk about it ). We've been spoiled for football songs. Here's New Order's 'World in Motion' from the 1990 World Cup. It was co-written by comedian Keith Allen, who is singer Lily Allen's father. He appears in the video along several of the players from that era. Finally, for a bit of football mixed with humor, Keith Allen was also behind Fat Les's 'Vindaloo' for the 1998 World Cup which was co-written by Blur bassist Alex James and bassist Guy Pratt. It was written as a parody, but has since been adopted as a chant by England fans. The video is a parody of The Verve's 'Bitter Sweet Symphony', and was filmed on the same street in Hoxton, London.

USA won their second game yesterday, so they should be progressing to the knockout stage. Scotland, however, have never reached the knockout stage and will have to wait until their last game after losing yesterday. At the World Cup, players play for their country, but on a weekly basis, 154 of them play in the English Premier League, 94 in the German Bundesliga, 78 in the French Ligue 1, 74 in the Spanish La Liga and 68 in the Italian Serie A. The ninth highest with 37 is England's second division, the EFL Championship.

Out of interest, how many of y'all are watching the World Cup? I really only watch motorsports, but I keep an eye on the scores at Word Cups and watch bits here and there. England had a good win in their first match, and I'll watch some of their games as they progress, but the time difference means that a lot of the fixtures are taking place in the middle of the night over here.

The Tartan Army are confusing the people of Boston by putting traffic cones on statues.

I found a description of the incident, but it didn't add a lot to your write-up. Johnny was invited to a fake cocktail party at the Mayfair Hotel after watching the tennis at Wimbledon. It took place in 1985.

Here's something a bit different. How well do y'all know British words and phrases?

I pretty much answered that question here.

A feature that the Formula 1 YouTube channel has recently introduced is a ghost car comparison of the fight for pole position. It's very interesting to see where the cars and drivers get a slight advantage over each other. You can see George Russell vs Lewis Hamilton here.

Some past Spanish grands prix have been processional, but not today. George Russell took pole in qualifying yesterday with Lewis Hamilton second and championship leader Kimi Antonelli in third. Charles Leclerc crashed his Ferrari in qualifying and started tenth. Despite Lewis (and Max Verstappen in fifth) starting on the soft tires, the top drivers held position at the start. Lewis was then first to take a pit stop. With a powerful undercut at this track, Mercedes had to cover off the stop by ptting race leader George. After Lewis took a second stop, he was taking 2.5 seconds out of the leaders' advantage. With Lewis closing in, Mercedes pitted both of their drivers giving Lewis the lead. Then Ferrari had a bit of luck when Fernando Alonso had to stop his Aston Martin triggereing a vitrual safety car. That gave Lewis a chance to make his final stop and stay in the lead. Toward the end, Kimi put George under a lot of pressure and eventually took second place, but it didn't last long as Kimi had his first mechanical failure of the year and had to retire. Chsrles also had to retire around the same time, but made it back to pits. That left Lewis to win by nearly 20 seconds ahead of George in second and reigning world champion Lando Norris in third. Race highlights are here. It's great to see Lewis take his first win for Ferrari after a tough 2025 when he didn't even make the podium. At 41, he's the oldest driver to win an F1 race since 1970, and it's the first all-British podium since 1968. Kimi still leads the drivers' championship, but Lewis has moved ahead of George to take second. There's two weeks until the next race in Austria.

Before the Spanish Grand Prix, a bit of news from the Monaco Grand Prix. The Alpine team have successfully appealed Pierre Gasly's pit lane speeding penalty which demoted him from third to seventh, and his original finishing position has now been reinstated. They showed that drivers could legally take a shorter route at the pit entry which reduced their time between two marker points without exceeding the speed limit. It doesn't look like the other teams affected are going to appeal their drivers' penalties.

Wings It's amazing how a single word can trigger an earworm!

Monaco isn't a great track for overtaking, but today's race definitely didn't lack drama. Unfortunately, we were deprived of the anticipated fight at the front when Max Verstappen's Red Bull had a problem at the start and retired at the end of the first lap. Luckily, all the cars behind avoided him, and the Ferraris of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc set off after Kimi Antonelli. Behind them, Isack Hadjar had problems with his car all afternoon, but George Russell couldn't get by. The same was true for Lando Norris who was passed by Pierre Gasly at the start and also couldn't pass. There were a lot of penalties given out today, including about a third of the field getting 5 seconds for speeding in the pit lane. There were so many that the commentators questioned the sensor accuracy. For the second race in a row, World Champion Lando Norris had to retire when his car failed. On lap 60/78, when there were only 3 or 4 cars still on the lead lap, Lance Stroll crashed his Aston Martin into the barrier on one of the slowest corner bringing out a safety car. Pretty much all the drivers used this as a chance to get new tires, but while Lewis served his penalty at the stop, George didn't which earned him a further drive-through penalty. The race restarted on lap 65, but was immediately back behind the safety car as Charles Leclerc hit the same barrier as Lance. After a couple more laps the race was red flagged when it was determined that the crashes may have been caused by the surface of what is a regular road breaking up. The road was swept and the race resumed after about a half hour delay. Kimi held his nerve at the restart and became the youngest winner of the Monaco Grand Prix. He wasn't even born when the race was last won by an Italian driver. Lewis held on for second, but couldn't touch Kimi's pace. George dropped out of the points serving his penalty. Despite his car troubles, Isack finished third and Oscar Piastri finished fourth. Before the race, Liam Lawson told one of the presenters that he'd be lucky if his car made the start. He finished fifth. You can see the highlights here. With five wins in a row, Kimi now leads the championship by 66 points from Lewis who has moved up to second. Only a single week to wait until the Spanish Grand Prix.

F1 is on the tight street circuit of Monaco this weekend. Ferrari were the ream to beat in the first two practice sessions, but Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, current drivers' championship leader, topped to table in the third session. The final qualifying session went down to the wire with pole position changing places a couple of times in the final seconds. In the end, Kimi took another pole from Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton. Charles Leclerc, at his home race, clipped one of the barriers and got a puncture on his final attempt. The top six provide a neat mirror image being Mercedes-Red Bull-Ferrari-Ferrari-Red Bull-Mercedes, but leave George Russell wondering why he's five places behind his team mate. This is McLaren's 1,000th Grand Prix, but they could only manage seventh and eighth on the grid. You can watch the qualifying highlights here. I don't think there's any rain predicted for tomorrow's race, so it'll be interesting to see whether the new engines specs and two extra cars this year make a difference on the crowded track.

Here's another video from Girl Gone London, this time looking at British foods that are off the radar for most Americans. I have never had bubble and squeak or haggis, and have no intention of trying jellied eels, although I have enjoyed the pie, mash with liquor (a parsley sauce, not alcohol) where they're served. Of the rest, I regularly eat black pudding, marmite and sausage and mash. Toad in the hole is also good, but I haven't had it for a while.

Fanta is Fanta, right? Apparently not. Here's a quick comparison of Fanta from the US vs Fanta from the UK.