Bert & Dickie Page #5

It's the Olympics, for God's sake.

The point is, boys,

the repechage will be no procession.

And if you don't win that,

there are no more second chances.

You're out.

The Dutch are goin'.

Beat it in, Dickie!

They're goin'. The Dutch are going!

I don't want to know!

Go on, my son, come on.

Breathe in, Dickie. Go on. Go on!

More!

More!

Yes!

Keep going! Keep going!

Come on!

Bury 'em!

Bury 'em, Dickie!

Yes! Go on! Go on! Go on!

They made it. They're through.

In the semis.

I say, they're through

to the semis.

I don't care.

Richard.

Well done!

Thank you.

I was hoping I'd see you.

Let me take you for some supper.

No. Thank you.

I'm going out with Bert.

Ah. Good idea.

Let off a bit of steam together!

Well, I'll leave you to it, then.

I thought you were terrific today.

Thank you.

Really dominated.

Not sure about that show-boating

at the end but...

Sorry?

You'd won, Richard.

It was clear, long before

you crossed the finishing line.

There really wasn't any need

to humiliate your opponents

quite so thoroughly.

Ah.

I'm being churlish.

It was a magnificent row.

All I mean is...

it's a gentleman's sport, Richard.

It would be a shame to forget that.

How'd you get on?

Won.

Good.

Says here, the Belgians' time

from their first round

nearly broke the course record.

They're looking very quick indeed.

Flippin' heck.

He'll be here in a minute.

We could always pretend...

No, we can't!

He made a special point,

"I'll be there at seven-thirty.

"Don't all start without me

this time."

I'm back!

Hello again!

Guess who's through

to his semifinal?

It's spam and salad!

That's all we've got.

And the spam's disgustin'.

Potatoes aren't that good.

Oh, I see.

In which case...

maybe all this stuff that gets

flown in from LA could be of use.

I've got 35 sirloin steaks,

four bags of rice,

two bunches of bananas,

and three lemon cheesecakes.

Now, the steaks will keep, as long

as you ice 'em for a day or two,

but the cheesecakes,

they gotta go,

and cos of that,

I hope you don't mind, I've, er...

invited some friends around.

Hey, fellas! Fellas!

Hello, Bert!

Oh! Was an effort today, wasn't it?

More than I thought it'd be.

Think the occasion,

that saps you a bit an' all.

Either way.

Certainly felt it in the end.

Did you?

Legs are like lead.

All right, well...

That's all right.

We've got enough in the tank,

as long as we don't waste

anything in the semi.

There's a way we can win it, Dickie,

where we keep a bit back.

I've worked it out!

Belgium will get away fastest,

except they'll drop off about 750,

be the Yanks

we need to keep an eye on,

and I know with them,

they don't race!

It's even splits all the way.

I've looked at their times.

So all we gotta do is pick up

their rate at the start,

sit with them to 1,500 and then

crank it up in the last five...

38, 39, and that'll do it.

They won't be able to respond.

They haven't got the speed,

which means we'll win it and we'll

have something left for the final!

As long as they haven't got

the speed,

as long as they haven't been

holding something back.

I'm right.

I know I am.

Come on! I trusted you first round.

Eh!

It's my turn now.

Besides,

we're too tired for anything else.

She won a gold in the discus

this very afternoon!

She's apparently

a concert pianist.

Attended the Paris Conservatoire.

Micheline Ostermeyer.

She can knock out a tune, can't she?

On the old Joanna.

Here, um... Have you got any change?

What?

For the phone box.

How much do you need?

How much you got?

Hello.

'Margaret? It's me... It's Bert!'

Oh... Right.

I wanted to ring and... apologise

for not getting in touch sooner.

Apologise? I just assumed you were

busy with your training. 'No, no.'

I was upset. You'd let my dad

persuade you to leave and...

Point is, I should've called

and I didn't.

But then, just now, I was watching

this discus thrower and...

she was amazing.

'I thought of you straightaway

and it hit me...

'whenever I'm... anywhere where...'

I dunno, where I feel inspired,

you know,

'you always come into my head.'

And I think I must love you.

'I really must.'

You got that from watching

a discus thrower?

'Yeah.'

I know. It's complicated.

The thing is, I do!

Well, you're silly!

You're silly cos if you were upset

you should have called me.

And you're silly because

your dad was right.

'You did need to concentrate.'

What?

'He never persuaded me, Bert.

'I left because I thought

it was for the best.'

And you're through

to the semifinal now,

which is all that matters,

and that you love me.

That's quite good, too.

It's... mutual, by the way.

Margaret, er...

I've got no more money. I miss ya.

'I wish you were here.'

All right! Stop shovin' at the back!

Somebody's gonnae get hurt!

Here, Tam, you need to dae a rota.

So long in front, then move 'em on.

You've been here for two hours. You

should be the first tae clear off.

Will you all just shut up?!

I'm tryin' to watch my fiance here!

What? He's rowin', is he?

Aye. And it's called scullin',

as a matter of fact...

Oooh! Scullin'!

Right. Wait here.

Come on!

Right! Let her through.

Let the lassie through tae the

shop. Come on, then, out the way.

Oh, thank you! Thanks.

All right! All right!

Tell us what's goin' on!

USA one length ahead

after seven 750 metres.

The commentator says the wind is

an enemy to Great Britain.

The Belgians are droppin'

right aff.

Britain are comin' back!

Her fiance, he's a bloody giant,

by the way.

Is he fae the Gorbals?

He's not that, he's the other one.

She's engaged to the one

who looks like Harold Lloyd.

Never mind, the bigger one's picking

it up right now! Yes, come on.

Britain and the Yanks.

Neck and neck.

Come on!

Britain edgin' it!

Our boys have got another gear!

They're giein' it the hammer!

Come on, Bert.

They've opened up a gap!

Great Britain wins!

Yes!

USA second!

And who cares who's third?

We're through to the final!

Good, lads! Thought you'd gone off

too slow but timed it just right.

Just. How you feelin'? Good.

Good.

One more to do. Just... rest tonight.

That's the key.

One more.

Good show, chaps.

Wonderful performance.

Sheer guts.

I do beg your pardon. Charles

Burnell. But everyone calls me Don.

How do you do, Don? Bert Bushnell.

Well, you're there! You've made it.

You're Olympic finalists.

Incidentally, I don't know

if you got the finishing times.

Er, Parsner and Larsen, the Danes,

they won their semi

in seven minutes, 48.3 seconds.

You beat the Americans

in seven minutes, 55.1.

Tremendous effort!

Your best time so far...

but still a good seven

seconds off the Danes.

Perhaps another rasher of bacon

in the morning, eh, Bushnell?

So lovely to meet you. Best of luck.

Seven seconds. Christ!

Well, they weren't being pushed,

were they?

There was no-one near enough

to push 'em by the sound of it.

We can beat them.

Yeah, but...

Don't listen to him!

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