Commodore
Class #3: Once, twice, three times a Graham Gooch
Do you believe in deja vu? That we have a destiny
or that our fate is actually controlled? And do you believe in
Graham Gooch, ex-England batsman? Anyhow read on and wonder what's
linked to my life.
Why Graham Gooch, moustache wearing legendary
opener should play an inextricable part in my life, who knows.
Not the man himself of course, more the games that he lent his
name to over the years. Cast your mind way back to 1986. There
were few C64 owners that I knew at school, but one of them I had
become good mates with, his name Mark Perkins. His dad had the
great idea of taking Mark to the Novotel in Hammersmith to attend
the Xmas Commodore show, and he invited me along. Needless to
say I agreed. Now the details of the outing probably need their
own entry to tell, as they are weird and wacky, but during the
show I happened upon one of numerous demo stands around the hall.
With Mark in tow, I picked up the joystick and
started playing. It was Graham Gooch's Cricket on the C64. Don't
ask me why I happened to zoom in and try out this particular game.
It was pretty decent and between Mark and myself, we managed to
figure out the controls. After 5 mins or so, we put the sticks
down and walked on. A month or so later, there was a bit of a
surprise awaiting us. Paul Maguire, just about the only other
C64 owner we knew at school, showed me a copy of the January edition
of CCI (Commodore Computing International, a rather staid and
more serious mag than the likes of Zzap!64). In it, there was
a picture of me and Mark playing at the show. No idea why the
editors had picked that photo, but there we were.
Click the picture to see the full magazine
page!
Fast forward to my Oracle (teletext) years.
During one of the usual Xmas nominations for best of the year
awards (possibly 1991), there was an internal prize-giving for
various writers, so naturally as the C64 bod, I was to get something.
What did it turn out that I was supposed to get? A newer version
of Graham Gooch Cricket on the C64! Sadly it went AWOL in the
Oracle offices and I never did receive it. Strange... but old
Mr Goochie wasn't about to let his strangle hold of me go just
yet.
Just before I went off to start university in
1993, I got the call from Hewland International that I had made
it onto the GamesMaster TV show. However one piece of information
happened to slip by me here; that at the time I could have selected
what game I wanted to play in the challenge from their list. As
I didn't know that, by the time all had been confirmed and arranged,
I was left with the last game in the roster. And can you guess
what it was folks? Yep, that's right, Graham Gooch's Cricket for
the Amiga! To be played against none other than Liam Botham, son
of Ian. A celebrity challenge too.
After waiting around all day, as my challenge
was the last to be filmed, and having some reacquaintance with
my old "friend", we headed into Oxford Prison filming
area to get it over with. After a bit of a tussle, I just about
emerged victorious and after some chit chat with Dexter Fletcher,
was handed the Golden Joystick.
Since then, Mr Gooch has retired and I doubt
there'll be a need to run into any more of his games in the future.
Ah, you never can tell however what lies in store...
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