Motoring Discussion > Wot no mention of Geoff Duke's passing?	Miscellaneous
Thread Author: Zero	Replies: 27

New Sun 3 May 15 17:06   Wot no mention of Geoff Duke's passing? - Zero

www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/motorsport/32563894 Reply to this message | Report message

New Sun 3 May 15 17:11   Wot no mention of Geoff Duke's passing? - Armel Coussine

Remember him well of course. But I preferred cars to bikes. Less frightening. Reply to this message | Report message

New Sun 3 May 15 17:46   Wot no mention of Geoff Duke's passing? - Old Navy

I would not be surpried if the youngsters here have never heard of him. Reply to this message | Report message

New Sun 3 May 15 18:09   Wot no mention of Geoff Duke's passing? - Armel Coussine

I love the look of that bike too. Reply to this message | Report message

New Sun 3 May 15 18:22   Wot no mention of Geoff Duke's passing? - Robin O'Reliant

I must admit I thought he'd already gone. Reply to this message | Report message       1

New Sun 3 May 15 19:19   Wot no mention of Geoff Duke's passing? - Zero

>> I must admit I thought he'd already gone. so did I , but i can't believe people have never heard of him. I guess because I assume that car people naturally ride or have ridden motorbikes as well and every biker must surely have heard of Geoff Duke. Last edited by: Zero on Sun 3 May 15 at 19:19 Reply to this message | Report message

New Sun 3 May 15 18:23   Wot no mention of Geoff Duke's passing? - sooty123

I have to say ive never heard of him. Reply to this message | Report message

New Sun 3 May 15 18:45   Wot no mention of Geoff Duke's passing? - John Boy

I might have mentioned this before, but, if not, this could be my last chance. When I was at school, my Dad took me to Boston Assembly Rooms to hear him give a talk. We sat right in the middle of the front row. He had his jacket unbuttoned and, partway through his talk, his tie began to twist round, revealing that it had a plastic backing and must have been on an elastic round his neck. His status as one of my heroes rather diminished at that instant. Was it because I thought it was a bit naff or because he might not be able to knot the real thing? Probably a bit of both. Reply to this message | Report message

New Sun 3 May 15 18:48   Wot no mention of Geoff Duke's passing? - Skip

I have never heard of him. Reply to this message | Report message

New Sun 3 May 15 19:33   Wot no mention of Geoff Duke's passing? - Dog

>>I have never heard of him. +1 Reply to this message | Report message

New Sun 3 May 15 20:23   Wot no mention of Geoff Duke's passing? - Robin O'Reliant

>> I have never heard of him. >> Don't beat yourself up about it, he'd never heard of you either. Reply to this message | Report message       1

New Sun 3 May 15 21:26   Wot no mention of Geoff Duke's passing? - MD

I have heard of him. Is Mike (Upright) Hailwood still with us? Ruddy youngsters. Cars...Pah! Reply to this message | Report message

New Sun 3 May 15 21:30   Wot no mention of Geoff Duke's passing? - Robin O'Reliant

>> I have heard of him. Is Mike (Upright) Hailwood still with us? Ruddy youngsters. Cars...Pah! >> Hailwood died in rather tragic circumstances about thirty years ago. His car was in collision with a lorry and both he and his young daughter were killed. Reply to this message | Report message

New Sun 3 May 15 21:33   Wot no mention of Geoff Duke's passing? - MD

Ror. I should have done my homework. I didn't. Bad of me. I just Wiked it. Sheesh. Reply to this message | Report message

New Mon 4 May 15 08:47   Wot no mention of Geoff Duke's passing? - Clk Sec

>> He had his jacket unbuttoned and, partway through his talk, his tie began to twist round, >> revealing that it had a plastic backing and must have been on an elastic round his neck. That was probably a clip-on tie. Nothing wrong with that and quite popular amongst celebrities, I would think. I wore one when I was in the military. Far more comfortable with the regulation starched collar than a traditional tie. Geoff Duke. My hero when I was a wee lad. Reply to this message | Report message

New Tue 5 May 15 14:38   Wot no mention of Geoff Duke's passing? - Cliff Pope

>> I would not be surpried if the youngsters here have never heard of him. >> I've never heard of him Reply to this message | Report message

New Tue 5 May 15 21:31   Wot no mention of Geoff Duke's passing? - VxFan

>> I've never heard of him +1 Reply to this message | Report message

New Sun 3 May 15 23:11   Wot no mention of Geoff Duke's passing? - Avant

One who is still alive is John Surtees, who I think is the only man to have been world champion on both two and four wheels. Now there's someone who should have had a knighthood. Reply to this message | Report message

New Sun 3 May 15 23:21   Wot no mention of Geoff Duke's passing? - Ted

Duke should have got a Knighthood to go with his MBE. Hailwood was another victim of the Rover curse with Princess Grace and David Penhaligan MP. Reply to this message | Report message

New Sun 3 May 15 23:31   Wot no mention of Geoff Duke's passing? - Armel Coussine

>> One who is still alive is John Surtees, who I think is the only man to have been world champion on both two and four wheels. Now there's someone who should have had a knighthood. Sounds right, if they are going to knight sportsmen. Either it's a bit random who gets one and who doesn't, or there are personal levels to these decisions that aren't made public. Sometimes one, sometimes the other, sometimes both no doubt. Can't say I really care. But one has a kneejerk response every time if one has heard of the cat. Geoff Duke was a big hero to many in my youth. He could ride that thing. Reply to this message | Report message

New Mon 4 May 15 09:38   Wot no mention of Geoff Duke's passing? - Mike Hannon

When I was little there was Juan Manuel Fangio and there was Geoff Duke. An era never bettered, IMHO. One of my earliest memories is the sound of Manx Nortons, etc, passing on the radio commentary from the Isle of Man. When I was still tiny he became a pioneer of multi-cylinder competition on the Island, with Gilera. Geoff Duke may have been out of the limelight for many years but he was very successful in business, if I recall correctly. If you've ever bought one of the very many motor sport videos made and sold by Duke Marketing you helped fund his retirement. Reply to this message | Report message

New Mon 4 May 15 14:35   Wot no mention of Geoff Duke's passing? - alfalfa

Thanks for this Zero. He was a childhood hero and well remembered here for his races in the Ulster GP. alfalfa Reply to this message | Report message       1

New Mon 4 May 15 23:46   Wot no mention of Geoff Duke's passing? - legacylad

Never heard of him until yesterday. As we were waiting for the rain to clear , we went to a small cafe just SW of Biggar, and from there we had a circular walk over a hill called Tinto. I kid you not. The cafe owners father had been Geoff Dukes mechanic. And one of my walking companions runs a bike shop in Penrith and has participated in the TT so knew the history of the man. Strange how life is full of such coincidences. Reply to this message | Report message

New Tue 5 May 15 14:19   Wot no mention of Geoff Duke's passing? - Stuartli

Geoff Duke use to have a business in my town for many years before moving to the Isle of Man and running a company producing DVDs of motorcycling and other similar type sporting events. He was a friend of my father, himself a keen motorcyclist, along with Harold Brockbank, another former motorcycling legend who also had a business in my town. Reply to this message | Report message

New Tue 5 May 15 15:50   Wot no mention of Geoff Duke's passing? - Bromptonaut

>> Either it's a bit random who gets one and who doesn't, or there are personal >> levels to these decisions that aren't made public. Sometimes one, sometimes the other, sometimes both >> no doubt. Duke retired in 1959 when the honours system was much more closed up than it is now. I suspect these days he would have been knighted in same way as Bradley Wiggins and others, though it should be noted that neither Nigel Mansell (CBE) or Damon Hill (OBE) did. One might equally have thought his business achievements would qualify though the rules for nominations from Isle of Man could be different. OTOH upsetting the IoM Steam Packet Company's apple-cart might be black ball territory. And some people of course refuse honours on principle. Reply to this message | Report message

New Tue 5 May 15 19:21   Wot no mention of Geoff Duke's passing? - John Boy

>> And some people of course refuse honours on principle. Yes, I had to turn one down. Otherwise, knowing my opinions on the monarchy, AC could have accused me of hyprocrisy. :-) Reply to this message | Report message       1

New Wed 6 May 15 09:46   Wot no mention of Geoff Duke's passing? - jc2

In this morning's Telegraph! Reply to this message | Report message

New Wed 6 May 15 09:50   Wot no mention of Geoff Duke's passing? - henry k

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/11583993/Geoff-Duke-motorcyclist-obituary.html Reply to this message | Report message