Top 5 Thunderbirds

Bit short on time again this week so I needed a topic that was quick and easy. Couldn't get much more straightforward than my favourite Thunderbirds, there being only five to choose from. OK, I know there was a Thunderbird 6 used in the film of the same name but it only had one outing and was actually a tiger moth biplane.

1. Thunderbird 2 - Not the most streamlined design but unlike any vehicle I'd ever seen. Thunderbird 2 was nearly always the most important part of any rescue and had a brilliant, palm tree bending, take-off sequence.

2. Thunderbird 4 - A close second, Thunderbird 4 was the most compact member of the fleet. It's outings were rare but that only increased my love of the little yellow submersible.

3. Thunderbird 3 - Alan Tracey's trips to Thunderbird 5 were few and far between but always great to see this bright red space rocket blast out of the middle of Tracey island.

4. Thunderbird 1 - TB1 may have been fast but having arrived at the rescue scene first Scott would nearly always have to wait for TB2 to turn up and actually do the job. Lacked the style of TB3 and looked a bit awkward in flight.

5. Thunderbird 5 - Poor old John Tracy got the rough end of the deal stuck alone on TB5 for most of the year. The space station displayed few signs of having any thunder and was pushing it a little to be described as a bird.

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Top 5 uses of Sunglasses in Film

Hooray for the pub! A random conversation last week provided me with an almost fully formed top five for minimum effort. Sunglasses have the magic ability to make anyone look cooler than they really are and film directors have always capitalised on this.

1. Jake & Elwood wearing Ray-Ban Wayfarers in “The Blues Brothers” - "It's 106 miles to Chicago, we've got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark and we're wearing sunglasses." The perfect start to one of the greatest road trips on celluloid.

2. The Terminator wearing Gargoyles in “The Terminator” – These are one pig-ugly set of specs that maybe only Schwarzenegger could get away with. A design that hasn’t stood the test of time but has become synonymous with the deadly killing machine that is the Terminator. By Terminator 2 Arnold had become a good guy and switched to wearing Oakleys.

3. Holly Golightly wearing Ray-Ban Wayfarers in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” - Audrey Hepburn wore an earlier style of Wayfarers in this 1961 romantic comedy. Effectively the same model as Jake and Elwood but a very different end result.

4. Boss Godfrey wearing mirrored shades in “Cool-Hand Luke” - Morgan Woodward plays Boss Godfrey, the silent prison guard known as the “man with no eyes” who impassively watched over Luke and his fellow inmates.

5. Mr Orange wearing Ray-Ban 3016 Clubmasters in “Reservoir Dogs” – Reservoir Dogs is one of my favourite films and Tim Roth plays one of my favourite characters in it. The Dogs wear a variety of good looking shades but Roth’s 3016s are the best. Maybe not as iconic as the other entries in this top five but a damn fine pair of specs.

So it seems Ray-Bans lead the way in memorable sunglasses or maybe they just have a very good product placement team. Thanks to this site for some of the details about the models.

Top 5 Brazil World Cup Goals

I guess no one is really interested in the World Cup now England have blown it but I'd already knocked this one up before the miserable debacle against Germany last Sunday. It does at least remind us how the game should be played. The BBC kind of beat me to the punch with their own top 5 but I've got a few alternatives.

1. Carlos Alberto v Italy (1970) - I've written about this one already. Lovely patient build up with an exquisite finish.



2. Pele v Sweden (1958) - Pele was only 17 when he scored this fabulous goal against the host nation.



3. Socrates v Soviet Union (1982) - The Russian's must have felt a little hard done by losing to two incredible finishes, this wonder strike from Socrates and an equally impressive effort from Eder.



4. Jairzinho v England (1970) - Similarities to the Carlos Alberto goal. Slick passing spreads the ball across the pitch before a cross finds Pele in the box, who controls and passes in one movement. Jairzinho then smashes it home.



5. Josimar v Northern Ireland (1986) - An thwack from the right hand corner of the box scorches into the top left corner. Josimar's celebration suggests he might not have expected it to go in.



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