Though our mate Michael has already given us the quintessential rundown on just what made the World Cup 2014 such a cracker, for me the highlight was not that biblical stuffing Brazil got from the krauts but actually the incredible official World Cup films from the past that BBC2 were showing. In particular the ones from the 1970s; sublime adidas sportswear in pretty much every frame, swarms of proper seventies dolly birds smiling back at us seductively from the crowd, players with great hair that looked (and behaved) more like rock stars than rock stars did and soundtrack provided by Rick Wakeman’s hypnotic synth magic. Yes the Seventies truly was the beautiful decade when it came to the beautiful game and to further back up this claim Taschen have produced ‘The Age of Innocence.’ which is a whacking great book crammed with era-defining stills from a golden age when players would smoke John Player Specials and open fashion boutiques between chomping on their half time oranges. Available very soon from HERE.
