Cycling maniac and general sports enthusiast, Ian Street (@ianstreet67) tells us why he’s off to on opera this weekend, The Cycle Song in Scunthorpe . . . yes, you heard right; OPERA in SCUNTHORPE!
45 years ago yesterday, Tom Simpson, perhaps the greatest British cyclist to date, collapsed and died on Mount Ventoux competing in the Tour de France. Today his legacy was fittingly remembered as David Millar won this years longest stage in the Tour de France while Bradley Wiggins is in the leaders jersey and is favourite to become the first ever British winner of the race and Mark Cavendish is the current world champion. This is now the golden age of British cycling with the squad expected to excel in the forthcoming Olympics. However 92 years ago another Olympics took place in Antwerp and a Steelworker from Scunthorpe, Albert ‘Lal’ White, road to Olympic silver medal glory in the 4,000 metres pursuit – the event that would eventually be conquered by Bradley Wiggins.
This weekend sees the promise of a remarkable performance in Scunthorpe – the Cycle Song – as Opera, Cycling and Scunthorpe combine in an open air community spectacular to celebrate the remarkable life of ‘Lal’ White. The performance includes over 900 young singers from schools and singing groups, 250 adult singers, 180 musicians, 4 opera singers and 100 dancers and promises to be something else with whispers that there will be a large peloton of cyclists sweeping through the park, a multi level stage, ‘Lal’ hoisted into the air, the stage set reflecting the steelworks of Scunthorpe and a firework spectacular. Sounds both crackers and amazing at the same time.
Lal was one of 17 children and spent 50 years working in the Steelworks of Scunthorpe and despite the back breaking work he adopted a punishing training regime on his bike doing paced training by 20 club mates in the park where the weekend’s performance will take place. He won his first race at 12 and clocked up an astonishing array of victories, so much so that he is reckoned to be the most prolific prizewinner in the first half of the 20th century. Not having much money and being an amateur, Lal could not always afford the train fare to meetings so he would cycle there with his racing bike strapped to his back, compete in the race, strap the racing bike back to his back and cycle home again. Lal competed for 30 years but his finest year was 1920 when he won four British titles and competed in three of the four track cycling events at the Olympic games, culminating in the silver medal in the 4,000 metres team pursuit.
As can be seen by the photo Lal was a powerhouse of a man who regularly snapped the chain on his bike due to his strength. He didn’t drink alcohol and was allegedly early to bed every night. I think that judging by his physique he could have given Chris Hoy a run for his money as he was unusual for a cyclist in that he competed in both sprint events and longer distances.
Lal’s story has been brought to life by the Barnsley Bard Ian MacMillan who has turned librettist (nope I didn’t know what it was either till I looked it up) instead of poet and I asked him how Opera, Cycling and Scunthorpe were getting along:-
For me it feels like the perfect mix, a really comfortable thing to be doing. The tale of Lal epitomises the endeavour of a place like Scunthorpe and I really enjoyed putting his story to words. I think the music is fantastic and has captured the spirit of the words beautifully. Every time I work with composers I want to work with them again so I hope this will be the first of many collaborations and I can’t wait to see and hear it this weekend!
I’ll be honest it is not often I think to myself, ‘Let’s go to Scunthorpe for the weekend’, but this weekend is going to be one of them. The event promises to be fantastic and what a fitting tribute to a remarkable man, one whose life has stepped out of the history books and can be recognised and appreciated by today’s generation. A true Olympian.