When I was 12 years old my friends and I would go to the local Woolworths store and help ourselves to sweets from the “Pick & Mix” counter. Being early Socialists we would stuff them into our pockets and leave the store without paying. Technically it was theft but in those heady days of the early 60’s it was “a bit of a laugh!”

Later we would progress onto sunglasses and fountain pens and do a roaring trade back at school.

Inevitably we got caught by the store detective who on the 30 July 1966 led us into the store managers office. Four of us stood there, 3 boys and 1 girl. The manager was perched behind an old Remington typewriter furtively tapping something onto a sheet of paper whilst at the same time watching a football match on a small TV. Being told of our crime he proceeded to verbally abuse us for a few minutes before telling the store detective to throw us out and make sure we never returned. He then went back to his one finger typing and the rest of the football match.

Later that afternoon England beat West Germany 4-2 in the World Cup.

Thanks to Bobby Moore and the rest of the team we avoided a trip to Van Diemans land!

Many thanks to Javolenus for getting this mix moving and high praise to Glenn for the wonderful barbershop rendition of an old classic folk song.

I’ve added the vocals to tell the young lag’s tale!