Be Excellent To Each Other

Upon going down to visit my parents in the small town they live in (and the one I grew up in) the other day I decided to wander round a particular bit that I hadn't been to in about ten years and was saddened to note that a wall near the primary school had been demolished. I wasn't sad about the wall itself, but more that for about 12 or so years it had always read in huge letters in bright white paint "Oi, Fido, leave them kids alone.".

This baffled me for years as a child. Who was Fido, why was he to leave those kids alone (only years later would I recognise the nod to Pink Floyd), and why did the council seemingly refuse to wash it off for over a decade (and, for all I know, it maybe really did stay their until the wall itself got demolished)?

Upon retelling this story at work it seems that everyone grew up with their local school or town centre having at least one baffling piece of famous graffiti that was there for years through their childhood.

So, yours?

There are a couple of bits in Newcastle that have been there for years -

'PHIL BABB'
and
'DON'T ATTACK IRAQ'.

The latter seems to have done the trick as far as I know, Newcastle-under-Lyme hasn't launched any attacks on Iraq.

Phil Babb, the former Coventry and Liverpool 'legend'?

I remember 'Chorley will die' on the Football ground wall being there for well over 20 years.

Wall gone now...

Which team, Fleetwood Macademical?

I remember seeing a 'gouranga' stencilled in an impossible position on a footbridge over the a19. It was there until they knocked down the bridge to widen the road. Someone must have dangled another fella by their ankles to get that one. Good job Buddhists are skinny!

New graffiti just been spotted

"Myps will die... of chemical fire AIDs"

I was wondering if "The Pies, The Pies" really existed.
Turns out it did!

http://bitrot.net/blog/2005/01/13/the-pies-the-pies/

(And it appears on that rarest of creatures: a good blog!)

only one of note I can remember is the vast number of 'Inch"' ones which I think are nationwide meant to be a group of them that do it or something.

For as long as I can remember there's been a long, rambling piece of anticapitalist graffiti daubed on a railway bridge a few minutes from my parents' house. It was still there the last time I looked, albeit pretty chipped and faded and now largely covered with ivy.

I've got some pictures of it, but I don't think I ever uploaded them to my flickr account. I'll see if I can dig them out when I get home.

There's a fair few for 'The Maybes' around Liverpool. I assume it's some low rent Merseybeat combo.

there's one on the outside of the balcony of an old building on the outskirts of the town i grew up that says "LIVERPOOL IS THE BEST" on big ugly red letters. It's not actually a graffitti since it was painted. It's there since i can remember (which can be around 1984), and i wonder why no one ever cleaned it.

Although bad drawn penises are also a common thing, there's one near my girlfriend's parents house that never fails to pull a grin on my face. This is an highly detailed one with semen coming out and lots of pubic hair

"Erase Today" stickers used to everywhere around here (even spotted some in Amsterdam). They were an average band from Blackpool.

There is some excellent graffiti on the way in to Euston Station. As I looked out of the train window it always reminded me that I was nearing the big city and ready for an adventure. Also I often wondered about the story behind each mural and how the people painted them in the places they did. Some of it has been around for decades.

We need to resurrect Chads.

Too filthy to touch.

FTFY fewl!

I remember them!


This topic reminds me of that sketch in The Mary Whitehouse Experience about "M. Khan is bent"

I just saw one awesome on my lunch hour (full of spelling mistakes):

"Sócrates (portugal's prime minister), you have bird's flu on your ass"

and another

"air conditioning kills"

Yeah, but it's so cool.

There's yet more space dust on here...

"Dave from Elsemere Port" was scrawled up and down Colwyn Bay promenade when I were a kid. And then shortly before I moved house "Phil from Elsemere Port" joined him.

"M Khan is bent"

Heh.

A massive 200 metre long one on a big fence at the end of a field on the way into London on the M4 (or M40?) -

"WHY DO I BOTHER DOING THIS TO MYSELF EVERY DAY?"

Someone should go all over the country, and pick 200 different sites of graffiti, then paint the GTA San Andreas/Saint's Row 'spray tag here' icon next to them all.

or paint big a big 'M' on each wall and see if some fat Italian bloke tries to hose it down.

I expected Chinny to be the first one to say that.

As it stands, it wasn't' even you.

There was one in the docklands that was there for about 23 years and may still be there today.

It was in 5 foot high capital letters near the water on a wall and read "If Thatcher is the answer it must be a fucking stupid question"

I added a comma but then removed for authenticity.

"Ballingry Boot Boys" on an old brick bus shelter in my home village, probably from well before I was born until I was about 18, when they partially demolished the shelter and painted it over.

I was actually quite sad the day I realised it was gone.

JP 4 MT

Malc

When I was driving once, I saw this written on a bridge:

For many many years a train bridge over a main road had 'SEXY WOMAN I LOVE YOU MANHOOD' sprayed on it. It was painted over a little while ago.

Also, a bridge near the river had 'rockers' on it for ages. I wonder if it is still there.

Ballingry is about 3 miles from here. It is a scumhole.

They've clearly had elections and replaced them with 'mods'

Oi! Quiet you, or I'll send the Boot Boys round!
Ballingry is a lovely place!*

*This may be a lie.

There was one for years on the inside wall of the bridge at Hillingdon Station (where someone must have jumped down and walked along the tracks for a good minute or two) in huge white letters reading "KEN DODD RULES OK".

When I once wondered aloud who'd done it, a friend pointed out that it was probably Ken Dodd.

It's gone now, painted over with some arse about 'Incinerators Kill' or something. I was very sad when I noticed that had gone.

On the bike sheds at my junior school, someone had sprayed 'Pink Floyd' on the white brick wall in the same style as their name appears on 'The Wall' album, I quite liked that.

There's also a railway bridge just after Junction 16 clockwise on the M25 that had 'PEAS' graffitied on it in large white letters. Recently, someone has added 'GIVE' and 'A CHANCE' either side of it, which makes me smile whenever I see it.

The finger of suspicion points at Mimi.

Have you and Ana Ng walked in the glow of each other's majestic presence yet?

I remember seeing Arthur Fowler is innocent painted near some shops on the Old Kent Road ages and ages ago, don't know if its still there.

I'm glad someone got it, rather than everyone thinking I was just a dick.

I was, as well.

There was some painted on one of those junction box thingmies near my parents house. The whole box is gone now, though.

'We are the best, Mac and Muz, if anyone wants a fight then come to uz'

I really wanted to meet them. Not for a fight obviously, as they were clearly well 'ard (like the dog).

Also, I used to work with someone called Ken Dodd.