Not that one

Definitely not a book about a monarch and not about another of her heroes - Elvis - either but an autobiography of footballer Denis Law. She always had a soft spot for Denis, presumably dating back to the time she saw him - a teenager in a strange town - on the top deck of a Huddersfield bus. There was always a sense of the excitement of her teenage self when she told that story. I'm not sure exactly when it would have been but I'm guessing it must have been shortly after Law made his debut for Town as a sixteen-year-old in 1956, when my Mum would have been just a few months older herself. Whatever the reason, as I was growing up I knew he was one of her favourites. As was the subject of the two books next to The King on the shelf - Geoffrey Boycott - Yorkshire (and England) cricketer. Someone to defend against perceived slights from selectors and media injustices, at least in his playing days. I remember watching his cricketing fortunes playing out on TV with her or listening on the radio, most notably him scoring his one hundredth hundred in a Test Match at Headingley. As with many of our sporting heroes indiscretions and scandals in their personal lives complicate things that are supposed to be simple. I never asked her what she thought of some of his more recent behaviour and his politics. Perhaps it's good I never raised it. Why complicate things? And then next to two sporting idols, a theatrical one, and also a favourite of my father. Another Yorkshire Lass, Judi Dench. Someone they both saw early in her career, during their London courtship. From Wikipedia and checking the dates I'm guessing it must have been during Dench's time with the Old Vic, although I'll need to ask my Dad again whether it was as Ophelia in Hamlet or in another role.