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- In 1514 the town of Brighthelmstone was invaded by French forces who established England's first Quiche factory in the town. By the end of the 16th century the town had become the world's biggest exporter of egg-based pastries.
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- Many of the Carry-On films were based in Brighton including Carry On Girls, Carry On At Your Convenience and Carry On Eating Quiche.
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- In 1974 the Eurovision Song Contest was held in the town and was won by Swedish group Abba with their song 'Waterloo' which commemorated the defeat of Napoleon, the famous French military strategist and notorious quiche fancier.
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- In 1984 the IRA planted a bomb at the Grand Hotel with the intention of assassinating Margaret Thatcher. The bomb was detonated at night but the PM was saved as she had stayed up late preparing a speech and eating quiche.
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- The 2011 census revealed that whilst 42% of the local population professed no religious belief, 2.6% claimed to follow the Jedi cause, the highest in the UK. Brighton is renowned for embracing religious freedoms and tolerance and has a large Quaker presence with their pacifist tradition and their creed 'Blessed are the Quichemakers'.
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- Brighton has around 400 restaurants, more per head of population than anywhere outside London. A range of cuisines are available. Including Quiche.
In contrast to our recent stellar
form, our opponents today have under-achieved in recent months. Having briefly
led the table back in September their progress this season has been undermined
by a number of unexpected reversals against lower opposition. They're the
divisions draw specialists and have failed to win any game in which they've
gone behind.
They have however not lost a game
all season after taking the lead. An early goal tonight will settle the nerves
nicely...
An early lead looked a realistic
possibility as once again we took the game to the opposition from the off. An
early darting run from Bellamy brought us a free kick on the edge of the box at
a nice angle for a Whittingham special. Unfortunately we haven't seen one of
those since October and as if to emphasise the decline in his influence the
ball was given to Bellamy who failed to take advantage.
Shortly afterwards a couple of
near misses / should have beens defined the game for us. Noone scuffed the ball
from 6 yards and then Bellamy failed to get round Kuszczak when one-on-one with
the keeper. Whittingham also had a sharply deflected shot pushed round the post
by the excellent former Man Utd shot-stopper. The half was littered with
misplaced passes as we dominated territorially but couldn't push on. Inevitably
somehow, Brighton then caught us on the break.
After losing possession in
midfield the ball was swept out to the wing and fed on a plate to the
fleet-footed ex-Swansea and Barcelona man Orlandi who broke through our back
line to place the ball past Marshall. His celebrations were unnecessarily
impudent, somewhat lacking in restraint, as he took his place in Betty's little
black book. 'Andrea'? Wot sort of stupid ruddy quiche-munching name is that for
a bloke anyway??
At half-time I called it right
(again) by suggesting that the ineffective and lightweight Noone should be
replaced by Conway to beef up the left hand side. Sure enough Noone was given
the hook after 10 minutes and Malky proved yet again to be as tactically astute
as the more discerning members of his audience.
As the second half wore on Brighton
went further into their shell, defending deep leaving one man on the halfway
line to begin with and then bringing all ten back to repel the marauding
Bluebirds. Their reputation for never having lost this season after taking the
lead began to gain credence. I could catalogue every near miss but frankly we'd
be here all day. Suffice to say that Campbell (twice) Gunnarsson (twice)
Bellamy and the woodwork (thrice) conspired to deny us a well-merited leveller.
The six minutes of injury time
was fully justified after much mischief-making by the battered opposition and
tantalisingly held out hope for a point. We continued to apply the pressure but
after Bellamy gave the ball away on the halfway line the Seagulls descended and
deposited the ultimate indignity with just seconds remaining.
So, disappointing, but this was
certainly no capitulation. Although 4 of the 5 chasing pack were impressive
winners tonight and it does leave one feeling rather spleenish...
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