A matter of National concern

I WAS LUCKY ENOUGH TO HAVE BEEN AROUND TO WATCH Red Rum’s astonishing three Grand National winners between 1973 and 1976, but the first I was properly invested in — literally — was Ben Nevis, who ran away with the race in 1980 at 40/1 and helped pay for far more under-age nights in the local pub than a 15-year-old should have had any business with. The thing about the National is that every winner is memorable — or, rather, becomes memorable through the very fact of winning. I guess it’s much the same as interest in the backstory of Liz Truss; the one fact of her having been PM makes it so. It’s a cliché that the race is less of a lottery than it used to be. The…

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The Critic (Digital) - 1 Issue, April 2024

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