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1984
1984 was different, not only because george orwell prophesied it as the year when big brother would become the pinnacle of human oppression. as we now know, not only did his prophesy fail to match the political climate of the day, the title was only arrived at by orwell's switching of the last two digits of the year in which the book was written (though it wasn't published until the following year).
in retrospect, 1984 could also be highlighted as the tenuous beginnings of a markedly different era at the tour de france. for 'twas the year in which a diminutive glaswegian garnered not only the highest ever placing in paris, but the first british rider ever to win one of the event's principal jerseys. riding for the peugeot team, robert millar won both the king of the mountains jersey, as well as stage 11, to finish in fourth place overall. it might be stretching credibility to place robert at the start of the recent british success story, considering it would be twenty-five years before prince bradley equalled that fourth place. wiggins subsequently took the brit-crown three years later, standing atop the highest step on the podium. however, with hindsight and a distinctly partisan point of view, those north of the border, at least, consider robert to be the first in that hypothetical line.
of course, in essence, robert millar is no more. that place has been taken by philippa york, a woman who has arguably preserved robert's je ne sais quoi, often supplanted by a healthy and often hilarious sense of humour. but those of you who have seen granada tv's documentary, the high life' in which a film crew followed millar's less than successful 1985 tour, will no doubt have felt sympathy for the hapless journalist tasked with enquiring after his performance, while the scottish rider sits on the tailgate of a team car, divesting himself of the day's combative apparel. if the journalist's questions were answered at all, they were replied to mostly in as few disinterested words as possible.
in an earlier interview, i asked pippa about her reputation for being 'difficult' in situations such as the above. "I think journalists found me difficult because I couldn't be doing with inane questions, so they got inane answers back as a result." however, she also once mentioned in correspondence that the scots often had a reputation as somewhat 'sullen', so she had used that persona as a suitable defence. i'm sure many of us in the homeland have taken a leaf from that particular book.
so, while philippa enjoys her 'new' life, still connected to the sport of professional cycling, yet no longer a part of its internal (some would say 'infernal') machinations, there are still many present day cycling fans who revere and celebrate the achievements of a scots rider abroad, who triumphed in circumstances substantially different to those taken for granted by the contemporary world tour rider. millar's palmares is all the more impressive when you realise that english-speaking riders were few and far between in the 1980s, and that it would be another five years before joining team-z would see him in the same bus as greg lemond. in other words, millar's was very much a singular do-it-yourself attitude.
and that's very much at the core of the robert millar appreciation group that has surfaced on facebook recently, curated by brian gibb (of thecyclejersey.com fame), and drew wilson. aside from encouraging fans to post images from and recollections of millar's sterling career, they have released a t-shirt with pippa's blessing (and signature), inspired by that 1984 mountains classification victory. twenty-five percent of all profits from the shirt will be donated to a charity or organisation of pippa's choice.
the first recipient of such monies will be christina mackenzie who, this coming july, will make an attempt on the land's end- john o'groats women's world record, while raising funds for alzheimer's research. approximately £7 from each jersey sale, between now and july, will be donated to this specific cause. if you too, are amongst those enamoured by the cycling exploits and successes of robert millar, you might like to consider the purchase of one of these quality t-shirts, secure in the knowledge that the proceeds are being sent in the right direction. i've included links below to the t-shirt sales page, along with a link to the appreciation group's facebook page.
no tartan was harmed in the making of this t-shirt.
robert millar t-shirt | robert millar appreciation group
saturday 14 march 2020
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