The Vixens were thrashed and thrashed again, but at least they stayed on the court until the final whistle. Before the game and at half-time, I gave them basic training in throwing goals and practiced lay-ups and after about four massacres, they began to get the hang of it and scored a few goals. I ordered a special training session for a Sunday afternoon and drilled them on how to attack.
    But time was working against me. Because the entire competition was played on the same court on the same night—the teams on left side of the table playing one game later each week while those on the right played one game earlier. We swung around the bottom of the fixture, playing at 6.40, had a bye, then 6.40 again and then fifty minutes later each week. After seven games, the first match arrived which finished after dark—fairly late on these long summer nights. And the girls protested at having to ride home in darkness on the public transport. None of them had cars. Only Laura had a boyfriend with a car and he worked nights. They had a meeting and decided I should drive them all home.   

 “We’ll pay for the petrol,” they cajoled to make refusal completely impossible.

One of the more original sci-fi movies of the time was Crack in the World, starring Dana Andrews and the luscious Janette Scott. Dr Sorrenson’s project team explode an A-bomb deep in the Earth, expecting to be able to tap its resources. Instead they open a huge crack that travels from Africa far out into the Indian Ocean. Meanwhile Mrs Sorrenson is torn between her husband and his handsome protegee. The crack swings in a wide arc and heads back to where it started, at the project HQ.

  The section inside the circular crack tears free, and the  result is that the Earth acquires a second moon. The special effects are nearly as terrific as Janette Scott’s legs. Made in the days before digital effects, the scenes of destruction as the crack advances were brilliantly staged and the ending quite sublime. Top class movie making.

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