A number of people have asked me when I was going to do a piece for the Examiner on the TT races, which have been an important part of my life.

Well this week would, in normal times, have been practice week so as good a time as any I guess!

My mum and dad divorced when I was a baby, quite unusual in those days.

Part of the divorce settlement allowed for my father to have access to me on Senior Race Days for the TT and MGP races, so my connections go back a very long way.

I have so many memories of this special part of our island’s history that I cannot get everything into one piece.

So this will be principally about when I became a real fan of the events and I will return to this theme again in the future.

If any reader has anything they would like to share please email me on [email protected] .

My earliest recollections as a young boy, which were shared by many of my generation, included going up behind the TT Grandstand or to the various hotels where the works teams were staying to try to get factory hats, badges, transfers and other memorabilia.

Autographs of the top riders were eagerly soughtafter as well!

The works teams included the exotic Italian MV and Benelli, Japanese teams from Honda, Suzuki, Kawasaki and Yamaha, from Spain Bultaco and from Eastern Europe MZ, Jawa and CZ.

Obviously there were great British bikes but the glamour of those from far-off lands really attracted my attention.

Also very much valued were used riders’ back numbers or the racing numbers from the machines.

If the screen had been damaged we would take them home and try to attach them to our cycles.

As this time was so influential in my life I am still collecting TT memorabilia today!

A few years ago there was an auction of the Geoff Cannell collection which included some from Peter Kneale as well and I bought lots of items and am always on the lookout for really special items.

I’ve recently acquired a number of TT rider back numbers from a former TT winner and have lots of other historical items in my man cave, including autographs, programmes, marshal and competitor armbands, photographs, TT winner trophies and other ’one off’ items.

Among the hotels and other places where the teams and little boys could be seen were the Douglas Bay Hotel, Castle Mona, behind the Falcon Cliff Hotel and the Nursery Hotel.

We would stand goggle-eyed for what seemed hours hoping that the rider may start up and test the machine while we were watching.

The Isle of Man is associated with motor sport back to 1905 for four-wheeled events and the first TT for motorcycles was held at the St John’s course starting by Tynwald Hill in 1907. It moved to the TT Mountain course in 1911.

Between 1954 and 1959 the Clypse course in Onchan was utilised first for the reintroduction of sidecars and the Ultra Lightweight TT and then in 1955 for the Lightweight event.

A Clubmans TT was also held on this course. The sidecars had first been introduced in 1923 and there were no sidecar races between 1926 and 1954.

The TT gained World Championship status in 1949 and Bob McIntyre completed the first 100mph lap in 1957.

In 1976 the event ceased to be one that enjoyed such status and the doom mongers said that would be the end of the TT.

The contrary now applies where competitors make a free choice whether to participate, rather than being forced to in order to obtain World Championship points.

When I was minister responsible for the TT between 1996 and 2006 there were consistent claims that the event would cease in 2007 in its centenary year.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Indeed we went on to celebrate the centenary of the mountain course in 2011 and we are now another 10 years on.

Sadly, because of the global pandemic we are now missing our second TT week but I believe - just as after the cancelled TT because of foot and mouth in the UK in 2001 - people all around the world are really looking forward to joining us for TT 2022.

This includes marshals so those currently suggesting that there may be a shortage of marshals more than any other year are wrong in my opinion.

Back to my youth!

I lived with my mother some way from the course, but even as a youngster I would go down the road to just after the bottom of Bray Hill to watch or even more exciting would get up in the very early hours of the morning and walk all the way to the grandstand to watch the practices.

As I walked through the deserted streets of Douglas I could hear racing motorcycles being slowly ridden up to the start.

Then as the sky turned from pitch black to half light in the cold of an early morning the lights would come on around the old TT Grandstand.

Shortly after the multi-cylinder machines would line up and I remember so clearly listening with great excitement as Giacomo Agostini, Renzo Pasolini, Mike Hailwood and others would push start their bikes and they would burst into life when fired up and hear them going away from the start line.

I believe we could hear them until at least Braddan bridge and probably further and I recall friends watching and listening from Signpost Corner telling me that they could hear the bikes coming from Kate’s Cottage.

In those days the riders were all in black leathers with pudding basin helmets, goggles and leather masks.

They would race in any weather conditions and upon completion of practice or race would warm up in the soup tent behind the grandstand.

I don’t remember how (honestly!) but I got into the tent and was able to mingle around the giants of the TT and even enjoyed a hot chocolate!

I remember my father when he had access taking me to see the races.

His favourite spots included Laurel Bank and Cronk y Voddy and later on, when I had the opportunity myself to race in the Manx Grand Prix, I still recall seeing him out of the corner of my eye watching me in the races and his favourite spot on the inside of the course opposite Kate’s Cottage.

When I was a boy we had a Steam Packet fleet of boats, a number of coach operators and I remember clearly thousands of day trippers coming over and being transported to various locations such as the Creg-ny-Baa.

Like many others I was a Scout on the scoreboards for 5th Douglas.

I was a runner and on the clocks and again have many happy memories of playing my part.

Latterly I have been a TT marshal for many years. I’ve got lots more memories to share on here but that’s for another day, I hope you enjoyed these!