Yes, I have been up in my loft again and dug out all the files pertaining to each year ending in a "1" to jog my memory of those days gone by.

And believe me, there is a fine collection for 1981. The Honda protest, Joey running out of fuel on lap three (great Doug Baird photos) and Crosby/Grant, Suzuki.

However, my memory was really jogged by the Motor Cycle Weekly 20th June 1981 (a thick TT edition with lots of detail) when I came to a column about a Dinner I attended that year at the Palace Hotel.

This Dinner was dedicated to Edgar Jessop and we all wore Plimsols or pumps and ate such delicacies as black pudding, cod, fish and chips, mushy peas and treacle tart. We drank tea and tizer !! It was to commemorate ten years since Edgar had first appeared at the TT. Chris Carter, the journalist, won the butty eating contest !

They were jolly evenings in those days and I know many of us miss that kind of events.

Can we see the new Palace franchise owners start doing similar events...If not is the Sulby Hotel willing to arrange such a do ??