Review of Those Glory Glory Days

Julie Burchill,columnist,author,playwright,well-known in the UK for her trenchant views on almost everything wrote this autobiographical play about growing up as a middle-class Jewish girl in North London.It starts with Ms Burchill in the Press Box at White Hart Lane failing signally to be taken seriously as a football reporter in that all-male preserve. Leaving the ground in a despondent mood she is nearly run over by ex-Spurs captain Danny Blanchflower who drives her back to the Daily Express building in Fleet Street (known in the trade as "The Black Lubyanka".During the journey she opens her heart to mr Blanchflower on whom she had had a serious crush 20 - odd years previously. "Those Glory Glory years" was shown on BBC TV as one of the "First Love" series 26 years ago.It is the sweet,sad story of Julia,gawky,bespectacled teenage football fan and her love affair with Tottenham Hotspur F.C. Her obsession gets her into trouble at home and at school,and ultimately,she steals tickets for the Cup Final from a friend's father. It helps your enjoyment of the movie if you understand the fierce pride of the true football fan,the lure of the magic League and Cup "Double", and the intenseness of a young girl's love. There are some fascinating scenes from the 1961 Cup Final courtesy of Pathe News,and the era is perfectly evoked. The whole thing is sad and funny by turns,beautifully observed and exquisitely performed. I feel it is an injustice that it is not better known.