Mansfield - "that once romantic now utterly disheartening colliery town" (D.H. Lawrence, Lady Chatterley's Lover / Kettering Town supporter, 9.45pm tomorrow, unless we're much mistaken).
Finding interesting things to say about Mansfield is not the easiest gig. Even for a child of the town whose most illustrious son is William Knibb, who wouldn't rank too high in anyone's list of 100,000 most famous Britons. In many respects, Mansfield feels like a slightly grittier, borderline northern counterpart to Kettering - and of course we are linked by one Peter Morris, born in Mansfield in 1943 and rapidly on the way to being reappraised as a cavalier exponent of the beautiful game, compared to the 2010 KTFC vintage.
Mansfield gets a bad press. It has been variously described as one of the worst places to live in Britain, obviously by people who've never been to Corby. Or Rushden. Or Wellingborough. Come on it can't be that bad. Think about what the north Notts area has to offer... Oh ok then.
Sport - Mansfield Town FC enjoyed 77 years in the Football League. "Enjoyed" may be stretching it a little, perhaps, but in that time they built up a fierce rivalry with, ahem, Chesterfield. The Stags versus the Spireites. For some unknown reason, never mentioned in the same breath as Rangers v Celtic. And then there's Rebecca Adlington. Like her home town, some people have been unnecessarily cruel about Rebecca. Not us - without that gigantic hooter ploughing through the water like a ship's prow, Britain may not have celebrated double gold in Beijing.
Entertainment - "Ma Coo Ca Choo" crooner Alvin Stardust lived in Mansfield as a child. As did one time coke sniffing Blue Peter bad boy Richard Bacon.
Transport - Mansfield is the northern terminus of the A38, the longest A road entirely within England. That fact alone would have caused sexual arousal to certain occupants of the back row of the Travel Club bus once upon a time. And that's before the money shot was achieved with the news that - until fairly recently - Mansfield was the largest town IN EUROPE without a railway station. Holy mackerel!
Beer - Mansfield Bitter, an apt description both of the product and the reaction of consumers who supped this watery slop when it was the mainstay of the Poppies Club.
History - Mansfield lays claim to a Robin Hood connection. As does Nottingham, and Retford, and Doncaster, and indeed any settlement within a 50 mile radius. And judging by Russell Crowe's accent in the recent remake, Norwich, Newcastle and Tipperary too.
PATGOD - your essential travel companion.
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