Light up or leave the country
Wednesday, March 12, 2008 Today is No Smoking Day. This used to be a major event in the Forest calendar. We'd spend weeks devising a suitable response and preparing for the inevitable round of interviews. It still attracts interest (from the local media) but as a national event NSD is well past its sell-by date. After all, thanks to this government, every day is no smoking day. What makes NSD any different?
Anyway, when I first joined Forest we were under pressure to come up with an angle that would interest journalists and broadcasters. I suggested that for one day only we should leave the country - literally - to the anti-smoking brigade. How much more fun it would be, I reasoned, if we spent No Smoking Day in what was then the European capital of smoking - Paris.
The plan was simple enough. A small group of Forest supporters and staff (led by my colleague Juliette Torres) would travel to France by Eurostar. Arriving in Paris they would be met by our French counterparts who would host a lunch in their honour at a restaurant that was used by the Resistance during the war. All the while they would conduct interviews with the British (and French) media until it was time to come home.
At first, everything went according to plan. In those days you could still smoke on Eurostar so while I stayed behind in London, handling media enquiries, Juliette was broadcasting live to the nation from the smoking coach as the train swept through Kent and, later, northern France. After the group rendezvoused with our French partners at Garde du Norde, there were more interviews from the restaurant and a photo call opposite the Eiffel Tower.
What we didn't take into account was the fact that the group - whose ages varied from mid twenties to mid seventies - was never going to maintain the same pace or be attracted to the same places or drink the same amount of alcohol. As a result, when it was time to go home, a number of tired and emotional travellers missed the train and the return journey was more Dunkirk than Waterloo.
Sadly (but not surprisingly) our jaunt was largely ignored by the British press, apart from a few news-in-brief style reports. Nevertheless one journalist did join us for the entire journey. Bob Shields of the Daily Record came all the way from Glasgow (with a photographer) and his exclusive feature (a double-page spread) is still one of my all time favourite Forest reads. (You couldn't make it up.)
If we tried the same stunt today we would have to travel a little further afield. According to our information, the European capital of smoking is currently Budapest or Prague. Next year, perhaps?
Reader Comments (2)
Being unemployed Simon...would you pay my fare to Paris?
I sent you a disc on the 19th February, it was sent registered post...have you received it yet?
I can't seem to track it on the Royal Mail website.
Count me in for a trip to Prague if i,ve got any money left from being taxed to the hilt.