A chance meeting in Scotland

Love it!

What a great tonic your story was. Thanks for sharing.

ps: I went to school with James and occasionally used to help sell his fanzine outside the ground.

Your nephew James Corbett - any relation to the great naturalist and killer of man-eating tigers in India - Jim Corbett (1875-1955)?

That James Corbett you speak of was an Irishman. Possibly still related? His books (all true stories) are tremendous, The Man-Eating Leopard of Rudraprayag being my favourite.

Might I ask for those not fortunate enough to have read James's excellent books about Everton and Evertonians, you pen an article at some point outlining the breadth and depth of all things Everton within your immediate and wider family - I am sure some of the individual stories pulled together would make an excellent book in themselves.

The single most uplifting story on ToffeeWwb in weeks, months even.

A remarkable chance meeting, pre-destined in the stars which would not have happened if two strangers hadn't indulged in civil conversation between them.

Inspiring.

I too enjoy going to watch other football when I get the chance.

Hopefully soon I can get to see Everton's German alter-ego Schalke make their way back to the top tier of Bundesliga football.

I follow Everton unreservedly, but its always healthy to look at football in the wider sense and not just the Premier League. I've watched many non-league matches over the years.

I've even taken in a MLS match. LA Galaxy v Chicago Fire. It was entertaining. Especially the half-time show and the party going on in the executive box balcony than continued well into the second half!!

There used to be a programme on the wireless: Truth is Stranger than Fiction, your story comes into that range and how very nice you could see your dad n that long ago painted portrait.

Do you think your dad was indicating, puffing on his pipe, stay calm, everything is going to turn out okay, regarding his favourite team?

If I was you Peter, I'd be closing my eyes, to see if your late father, has also got six numbers he wants you to remember, or even better, maybe 2022, is going to be Everton's year for the cup🤞

Ajay, I don't know about that, but I've necked a few Tigers with James. And Cobras. And Singhas.

Ken, James is the pen-master of the family, he does very well at it.

Dave, my Dad (who was very close to his grandson James) was always very calm. He told me once about the hell of flying in bombers, seeing friends die, the thought of what was happening to people on the ground below, and I always supposed after that there wasn't much to get too anxious about.

Tony, 2022 add up to 6, maybe it's the jackpot year and Frank will do his dance.

One of the things about which I am optimistic about Frank Lampard is that he is from sound footballing stock. The Lampards, Bonds, Redknapps know about the importance of football to supporters, and its potential for unifying people in a positive way. Everton FC has lost that over the past 6 years, I very much hope we can find it again.

Ajay - on the Jim Corbett theme, I have all 6 of his books, published as 2 omnibus titles. I've not completed them, but a long-standing friend of mine is the long-term CEO of the TIger Centre in India, and we used to be Sunday lunch companions when he was in Singapore, where they had an office. I'm determined to take up his offer of a visit to Kanha, in Madhya Pradesh to go look at some cats.

For anyone with even just a passing interest in reading, Peters nephew James Corbett's books about Everton, plus the co-authored "Shankly - The leaving of Liverpool" are tremendous reads.

I would also highly recommend the (unrelated) Jim Corbett books mentioned by Ajay above. These are about his hair-raising adventures in Government sponsored 'removal' of various Tigers and Leopards which had turned Maneater, terrorising huge swathes of the population in remote areas of India in the early 1900's.

Suddenly life looks Blue again!

Keith (21), Jim Corbett is one of the few Brits remembered fondly in India :-). He even has one of India's largest tiger sanctuaries in India named after him - The Jim Corbett National Park. Never been there myself, but the chances of a tiger sighting is supposed to be very high at the Jim Corbett.