There, that is one pompous post title! All because of the chain that began last Sunday, January 18, when we were watching the first episode of "Grantchester," a British murder mystery series being broadcast on PBS as part of the Masterpiece: Mystery series. Clearly taking place a few years after the end of World War II, I was curious to know exactly when (something that could easily be found from the synopsis if I had gone there first!). Since DI Keating was all mad about a football game that England lost to Hungary 6-3, I thought that might help me find out. Little did I know!
So, it turns out that this was not just a football match (soccer for us Yankees), but THE football match--a cataclysmic football match! Googling "6-3 england hungary" and you find the very first hit is its very own Wikipedia article: "1953 England v Hungary football match" answering not just my question--November 25, 1953--but all sorts of other questions, you didn't know you had: about how this match--"3-6" from the English side--fit into the psyche of English football fans, what this match--6-3 as far as Hungarians go--meant to the post-war, recently Communist Hungary. There is so much about this on the Internet, that my wandering could go on for ever, but where I started was with the tiny bit I had--its mention on the TV show I had just watched. While Wikipedia articles often mention how some historical event is picked up or treated in literature and film, this one had not been edited to add this little note. In fact, the only note was that there was a "popular 1998 Hungarian comedy film 6:3 Play It Again Tutti [based] on the match." (more on this later)
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