Len Silver: As Luck Would Have it - a Cockney's Tale

ALMOST since the day he was born in February 1932, it seems Len Silver has been dicing with danger. Whether it was avoiding German bombs in his native East London during The Blitz or the low-flying aircraft that nearly ended his life in the RAF, gaining a reputation as a tough but accident-prone young speedway rider or ski-ing at high speeds in the Alps . . . this irrepressible Cockney character has faced numerous potential life-threatening situations head-on.

As luck would have it ¬- hence the title of his book ¬- he has survived all the above and more ¬, and lived to tell the tale. At 77 but with all the zest of a lively teenager, he looks back on a remarkable life that has seen him excel at pretty much everything he has attempted to do. Not that he has ever had it easy, as you will discover.

Len recalls his battles to overcome the doubters who didn¹t think he would make the speedway grade as a rider and how Johnnie Hoskins gave him an unexpected boost after a spectacular second-half crash at West Ham Speedway.

But after struggling to hold down a team place at Ipswich, where he was harshly treated by his first promoter, in the early 60s he became a Provincial League star with Exeter Falcons and the top rider in the second division. He explains why the biggest night of his career, winning the PL Riders' Championship in 1962, was tarnished by the miserly attitude of the Belle Vue management.

He tells how he had to supplement his speedway income, as both rider and promoter, with other businesses ¬ most notably through the East End motor trade. Len reveals some of the `tricks of the trade' that served him and his colleagues well during difficult times. And why he once feared a visit from the notorious Kray twins, who dominated the East End underworld crime scene in those days.

Years later, Len's passion for ski-ing inspired him to launch Silver Ski and he made the company the success it is today - despite resistance from the French authorities and one or two others (including a former fellow director) who tried to get in his way.

Twice divorced, he talks about his early struggles in marriage, how his complex private life developed and why, despite the break-up of his marriage to second wife Hazal, they have remained very good friends and business partners to this day.

He writes, too, about the rapid progress of his son, former Rye House, Arena-Essex, Swindon and Eastbourne rider Andrew Silver, and also explains why he suddenly quit racing in 1994. In 2009, at the age of 42, Andrew made a brave comeback at Rye House - and you can read what his `old man' thinks about that as well.

Len Silver will be best remembered, however, as one of British speedway¹s most prominent and successful promoters ¬ of his time - a genuine showman very much in the mould of his hero Johnnie Hoskins.

He reveals his ongoing slog to keep Hackney going for 20 years and the many different PR stunts he pulled to get speedway established at The Wick against all odds. He twice revived Rye House and, at great personal expense, transformed it into the prime Premier League venue it is today.

In between times, we also gain an insight into his involvement as co-promoter at Rayleigh, Crewe, Sunderland (the track that was "all run in one day") and Weymouth, where, in his only season there, he was once moments from death until his track man saved his life. "It was a miracle and yet another example of how my `Guardian Angel' came to my aid at just the right time," he says, still moved by the experience.

Len recalls some of the rider characters he encountered along the way, including all-time Hackney favourite Zenon Plech. Read how Silver smuggled him into England in the boot of his car and why the former Polish No.1's full-throttle style led his angry boss to aim a punch at a referee and suffer a one-month ban for his actions!

Len also provides an insight into `Crazy' Jack Millen, who lived up to his name the time Silver went looking for him at Crewe. "I cried for a week when he died," says Silver.

He talks candidly, in the chapter titled `Tragedy', where he reflects on the death of his own Hackney rider Vic Harding, and the career-ending injuries suffered by Eastbourne's Steve Weatherley in the same horrendous crash at the East London track in 1979.

Len was devastated by that fatal accident and he explains why he felt guilt after Reading's Denny Pyeatt was also killed at his Hackney track three years later. "I couldn't believe a rider could be catapulted as high as Denny was. What happened will live with me forever," he admits.

This multi-talented speedway legend brings us the inside story on his behind the scenes efforts to prepare the acclaimed World Final tracks at Wembley. Read how he overcame a succession of problems posed by the Football Association (and one club's manager, in particular) - and why he was dismayed to receive such little thanks from his BSPA contemporaries for producing the perfect racing surface at the last World Final ever to be staged beneath the Twin Towers.

Len is the most successful England team manager ever, uniquely guiding the lions to three consecutive World Team Cup Final victories during the golden era of the early 70s. In fact, in 39 senior Test matches spanning four seasons, his team lost only three matches - but that still wasn't good enough for the people who appointed him.

He lifts the lid on his controversial sacking in 1976 and, having been re-appointed in 1981, why he angrily resigned as the national boss and vowed never to manage England again. "I still can't believe how badly treated I was," he sighed.

There is plenty to appeal to speedway supporters of all age groups in this absorbing tale of a Cockney kid made good. The 272-page softback As Luck Would Have It includes more than 150 pictures, many previously unpublished and a number of rare and fascinating images from Len's personal collection.

Len's uplifting story is supplemented by a substantial Tributes section - compiled by Gareth Rogers - in which many of his former colleagues, team-mates and others who rode for him for club and country record their own personal memories of the man widely recognise as the best post-war speedway promoter of them all.

Contributors include:
Bruce Penhall, Michael Lee, Ray Wilson, Malcolm Simmons, Dave Jessup, Chris Morton, Dennis Day, Barry Thomas, Colin Pratt, Laurie Etheridge, Malcolm Brown, Finn Thomsen, Bo Petersen, Dingle Brown, Terry Stone, Graeme Smith, George Barclay, Russ Dent, Dave Parry, Glyn Taylor, Tai Woffinden, Reg Fearman, Terry Russell, Peter Thorogood, Ian Thomas, Chris Van Straaten, Peter Sampson, Chris Neath, Kevin & Luke Bowen, Karl Fiala, Steve Naylor, John Sampford, Robert Mear, Stuart Robson, Tommy Allen and Daniel Halsey.

Finally, for the statistically minded, there is a comprehensive season-by-season analysis of Len's career as rider, promoter and team manager.