Clue time - At college, this person was a noted sports star until injury forced retirement - and also wrote the sports news in the college newspaper under the name M.M.M.
Yes - due to his anti-communist views. It got as far as an assassin being sent to USA, but he was caught by the FBI... Over to you
Cheers BB. A topical one: Who is the only English football manager still currently in a European club competition ?
Graham Potter at Östersunds FK in Sweden. Quite a few Englishmen seem to manage Swedish sides, so that was the first place I looked.
All yours Barry. Östersunds FK are in the knock out phase of the Europa League - quite an achievement for a club from a town half the size of Rickmansworth who were in the 3rd Div. a couple of seasons ago. Over to you.
Which work of fiction has a link to Jersey and Guernsey in the 19th century and the Isle of Man in the 21st century?
Clue: It is not set in any of the islands, and they are not mentioned in it. Although it is a work of fiction, there are regular references to historical events within the original version.
Time for guesses here, Victor Hugo lived in the Channel Islands for a while so was it Les Miserables ?
Correct. He was exiled to Jersey, but was told to leave the island for his comments against Queen Victoria and went to Guernsey. The Isle of Man link is Samantha Barks, who played Eponine in the West End and the film.
Cheers Barry. Ok. Which sporting event is named after a journalist who ran the New York Herald ? A name we often hear in everyday speech.
Gordon Bennett I didn't think it would be that easy. Actually I was thinking of the Gordon Bennett balloon race - so you are half right (and totally right if I have forgotten the other one). Apparently as a journalist he was the epitome of 'never let the truth get in the way of a good story' hence the origins of the expression - namely his articles were always the direct opposite of reality. Had he not lived then the expression could have been landed on Bojo.
Interesting character eh... and he seemed to have a finger in lots of sports: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Gordon_Bennett_Jr. Which distinctly unchilly club smashed us one December