The Ali Shuffle

To anyone such as myself that is a fan of boxing, the 'Ali Shuffle' along with the 'Rope-a-Dope' are things of legend.

Born Cassius Clay, but later, having converted to Islam, and changing his name to Mohamed Ali, he  went on to become not only the greatest boxer the world has ever seen, but arguably the greatest sportsman the world has ever seen. His movement in the ring was sublime and, for opponents, frustrating. While the rope-a-dope was the opposite, where he lay against the ropes round after round letting George Foreman punch himself out, only to step away from the ropes to knock Foreman out!

But unfortunately. with the onslaught of Parkinson's disease, his shuffle is now just that.

The reason that I'm telling you this is because, the other evening while I was at a party, a young girl got up on the dance floor and the whole room started to cheer and clap. I had never met this girl before, so I asked the person next to me why people were cheering her onto the dance floor, to which she replied, “That's Sammy!” I still had no idea about who Sammy was, or the relevance of the cheer. The woman next to me, noticing the blank expression on my face (I always have a blank expression on my face it saves time) she added, “You know, of the Sammy shuffle fame?”

I know what you are all thinking: what an idiot not to know about the Sammy shuffle. Or maybe you, too, are not aware that this young woman is famous for having a few drinks then taking to the dance floor only to dance for hours. They say she keeps dancing even when the music stops, as she hears the music in her head. She wasn't on drugs, or particularly drunk, she just loves music and dance. I think this is fantastic! To be able to love something so much and feel free to express yourself is wonderful. And now the shuffle is becoming synonymous with her. The woman sat next to me said, “it must be nice when something is named after you!” But I think the Sammy shuffle has a long way to go before it is more famous than the 'Ali Shuffle', the 'Harlem Shuffle' and many more.

But this got me thinking about people who are actually known for things that they themselves didn't start. I, for one, fall into this category. If you look down the right hand side of this blog you will notice my desperate attempt to sell my wares as a writer this is second nature to me. The poetry books that I write for young people are slightly rude but hopefully funny poems. They are designed to engage young people into the habit of reading. I have now acquired the tag of the 'Godfather of bad taste poetry' (my publisher started that one I think) Then, to my amusement, in the Times Educational Supplement, I noticed that other books in a similar vein as mine (though not as good!) were described as in the genre of Gez Walsh! I don't deserve that, but I'll take it and stick it on my CV, thank you! Of course there have always been rude poems, ever since man started to write. To think that one person started it quite recently is of course nonsense.

'Voltaire's' famous line, 'I don't agree with what you say but I shall defend to the death your right to say it” wasn't said by him, but actually written by his biographer.

St Nicholas didn't ever go to the north pole: he was Turkish.

Sir Walter Raleigh didn't bring tobacco to Britain, though he helped make it popular by smoking it in court.

William the Conqueror was actually known as 'William the Bastard' to his peers, and he will always be known by that title to me.

Gladstone, the Victorian prime minister and noted man of sobriety and good clean family values, was a well known avid visitor to the local prostitutes around Westminster.

Alexander the Great, conqueror of half the then known world at the time, and man of war, was gay.

But the strangest one for me is the famous Scott of the Antarctic! As a British schoolboy I was told this story and was both touched and enthralled by it. But the truth is that the whole mission was a complete failure! Amundsen was the first to reach the pole, but most forget this. He succeeded, and Scott failed, because of their attitudes.

Amundsen lived with the Inuit for a while, learned their ways and took their means of transport and clothing. He had the sense to see that these people had developed a way of living in this environment over generations. While Scott, being a man of his time, in other words a colonialist, in his views about the Inuit being inferior was quite racist. He did this at his own cost! But when hearing the news that Scott and his party had perished, Amundsen was known to have said, “He has beaten me,” even though he had been there and was home and actually having a bath when he heard the news! This, of course, was correct: because of Scott's heroic failure, the struggle to get to the pole will always be synonymous with Scott, and not with the victor, Amundsen.

Anyway, did I mention that I write rude poems?