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Doug Nicolson recalls the life and times of the man known as “Maximum” Monk in his early days at Glasgow’s still lamented White City.

 

Charlie Monk – Speedway’s Great Enigma Part One – The Man

Right from the start, Monk was a true enigma. Firstly his real forenames were Warren Edric and, while it’s quite a mouthful, no one ever found out how the “Charlie” moniker arose, nor whether it started in Adelaide or the UK. When he first started riding at Rowley Park in 1960 he was billed as “W Monk” and for a time was known as “Bill”. Secondly the unproven and unchallenged declaration that, as his father was born in Dundee, he was eligible to ride for Scotland. Any other rider would simply have been asked about them, but, with Monk’s uncommunicative façade, it would have been a waste of time – and, if you caught him in a rare talkative mood, there were far more important topics to discuss. Initially he refused to pose for photos saying he had done nothing to warrant a photo, a highly unusual stance, and in the following years getting his autograph would prove even harder. Famously the Exeter programme for the GB v Overseas test match had a blank space over his name in the photo page! Ian Hoskins concluded that he was an inverted showman, who by doing the opposite of what was expected of him, still claimed the spotlight, a pretty fair summing up. While he eventually mellowed a bit – just a bit, in his prime he was speedway’s version of Greta Garbo and generally lived up to the “I want to be alone” motto associated with the Swedish actress.

Adulation was not for him. He rarely took a lap of honour after a race. His after race norm at the White City was to have slowed down sufficiently to do a u turn on the back straight and return to the pits. This was a routine he stuck to, no matter the circumstances and in some respects this was disrespectful to the fans. He had some momentous defeats of Barry Briggs at Glasgow but never came round for us to cheer him. Some thought it was thrift or even meanness that led him to this. Certainly at Coatbridge he would not only u turn but would usually return to the pits via the tractor lane behind the goals, saving only a few yards. One night when riding for Halifax he stopped while doing his usual u turn routine and, leaving his bike at the side of the track, clambered over the fence to head into the changing rooms apparently to answer a fairly urgent call of nature!

He certainly provoked strong emotions, and at both ends of the spectrum too!.Scottish supremo Ian Hoskins recalls that only Reidar Eide provoked similar feelings. However Glasgow fans adored him despite his antisocial ways. Fans would chant “Char-lie; Char-lie” as he lined up for his races, even at just run of the mill BL meetings. I was part of the group in the White City stand that made this war cry a standard part of our Friday nights. Young Glasgow girls sent Valentines to “Charlie Monk, Rowley Park Speedway, Adelaide, Australia”, although it is not known if the object of their affections actually received this mail. And the hero worship wasn’t just contained to the Glasgow area. Les Fidler, a hospital orderly from Manchester was probably his most devoted fan. The guy didn’t drive and had to rely on public transport, mainly trains, to follow his hero. This often led to him sleeping in railway waiting rooms until his early morning connection arrived.

 

Man of Few Words

Australians are traditionally extrovert and outgoing. Monk was not. He was frequently a man of few words – if any at all! He had his own routine and rarely deviated from it on race nights, and that seemed to extend to speaking to anyone. Promoter Trevor Redmond said that at times he would only speak to find out about a booking or a pay cheque but that on occasions, once you got him started, he would go on at great length. Ian Hoskins recalls that in three seasons the most he ever got was a “hiya Hossie” greeting, while Terry Stone, a team mate during the initial season in Glasgow recalls getting a “g’day boys” in the dressing room before he headed to the pits, where he commandeered the only sheltered corner. Bruce Ovenden remembers that communication with team partners was always limited with no discussions over gate positions and the like. Monk was always in the habit of getting to the gate first to get prepared and partners just took vacant gate left to them. Nobody risked talking to him during a meeting when he was in the zone, as Ove Fundin found out at Coatbridge, when his attempt at conversation resulted in Monk issuing a curt rebuff without even looking his way. He was also most reticent about discussing which gearing he was pulling and like many experienced riders was loathe to pass on any tricks of the trade feeling that he would lose any advantage he had spent years building up. It wasn’t any different when he returned home to Adelaide in 1965. While fans welcomed the returning hero, both fellow riders and officials in the pits complained of getting “the freeze”.

Things weren’t much better when shaking hands with local dignitaries during pre-meeting parades. One VIP, in an attempt to make conversation, asked him how long he had been riding. Without looking up, he answered “too bloody long”. If it was hard getting to speak to him in the first years at the White City, it was even worse trying to contact him away from the track. He lived in digs in Winchburgh, a small mining village about twelve miles outside Edinburgh where he had Wayne Briggs as a next door neighbor. Neither had a phone and promoters had to ring the public phonebox at the end of the street and hope that a passerby would both answer it and be prepared to knock on the Monk door to get him to come to the phone.

When pressed into service as a judge at an interval Miss Glasgow Speedway heat, he duly lined up with the other riders on the panel but quickly marked his choices on his card and returned to the pits to attend to more pressing matters.

There were rumours that he had got married during the close season towards the end of the Hampden era. The promotion may have considered some form of presentation but the question was – who would ask him? In the end Neil MacFarlane drew the short straw, but his fairly sincere enquiry was just met with the trademark enigmatic smile which defied further discussion. Certainly a private type. It is believed he had a brother Max who took part in sidecar events a Rowley Park, although he never referred to this.

 

And Few Autographs Too!

During the early BL years, I was a pretty avid autograph hunter as my programme collection will testify. I had all the big visiting names including Barry Briggs and Olle Nygren… but not Charlie Monk. After a few weeks of his “head down” rush to the pits, I think I gave it up as a lost cause. I did see his autograph and unlike the much appreciated scribbles of Briggs and Nygren, it reflected the man himself – precise and economic in a neat hand – “C Monk” – five letters, possibly the shortest autograph of all time.

 

But Not Always So!

There were rare occasions when he was quite chatty and sociable in public. Most notably when he rode in the Dutch Golden Helmet when pictures show him being the life and soul of the party and when, unable to make his meal order understood, he resorted to chicken impressions to indicate he would like eggs.

He was an enthusiastic player in Glasgow’s “Riders and Promotion” against the Supporters football game on the red ash pitch outside Hampden’s main stand, organized by the supporters club to raise funds to buy the team coloured leathers. Resplendent in blue track suit trousers, he scored a rasping thirty yarder, in front of a crowd that would be the envy of any current speedway promotion, and indeed the present day Queens Park club. When given a pro forma to fill in his sizes for these leathers, under the “Quality” question, he wrote “the best”!

On leaving the Tigers in 1973, the supporters club organized a Presentation Dance to mark his services to the club and in a very pleasant evening both he and his wife mixed freely and chatted to fans.

 

 

Mean and Moody

While he was a man of few words he certainly was a man of action. There was some confusion over the operation of the Rider Replacement rule in its early days. Tigers’ team manager Redmond meant to send Monk out as a tactical substitute in a mid meeting heat in the place of the injured Bluey Scott but the referee presumed it was just a straight R/R nomination. This came home to roost in the closing stages when Redmond sought to put Monk out for what he believed was his R/R ride. A considerably heated debate ensued! However the referee would not be swayed and Monk missed out on an extra ride. Bizarrely he withdrew from the second half in protest, missing a further ride! Presumably he thought there was some logic to this!

A few weeks later he was in a heat at the White City that had been restarted twice for tapes infringements. The third attempt looked to be ok when, with Monk again leading, the referee again stopped the race, explaining that he had realized he had mistakenly left the red lights on – something that none of the riders seemed aware of – and had flashed the lights to stop the race again. All hell broke loose in the pits with Monk and partner Bill McMillan seemingly tussling over who was going to be the first to phone the referee. Monk had had enough and withdrew from the meeting. There were a few boos as he went to the dressing room but it has to be said that the supporters, judging by the letters page in a subsequent programme generally backed him.

At times some played up his moody side quite unjustifiably. Ian Hoskins wrote in an Edinburgh programme editorial that the “temperamental Australian”, after resigning his Scottish Match Race title, had also declined a booking for the Scottish Open. What he didn’t say was that Monk already had a booking in Czechoslovakia on the night of the proposed match race and that he had also agreed to ride at Halifax before being asked about a Scottish Open booking. Similarly there was no mention of Monk having his car so badly vandalized after the Scottish cup tie that it needed a respray.

He had his moments at Halifax too, proving that may be he hadn’t mellowed. After a run of engine failures he failed to turn up at Coventry. Ironically he injured his ankle at the next meeting.

 

Perfectionist

He was always a perfectionist and paid great attention to little details. His bikes were always spotless. He was one of the first to use fibre glass engine covers and he had a bit of a thing about waterproofing his bike, using what looked like orange Bunsen burner tubes – remember them from science classes at school? – to cover his clutch and throttle cables. He was similarly in the vanguard of wearing overalls on top of his leathers on a wet night and having an extra pair of goggles attached to the front of the peak of his helmet.

He was always a keen student and when racing Swindon often made a point of going out onto the centregreen to study Barry Briggs

Early in his career he had missed meals in order to buy spares and it was said that he lived so frugally on the boat over from Australia that he only allowed himself one bottle of Cola on the journey. He carried this thrifty approach throughout his time in the UK. Team jerseys were worn to bits and he continued to wear his red jersey from the Hampden era years later when riding for Edinburgh. Old inner tubes were cut up and were used as fork gaiters and also as a waterproof seal between boots and leathers on wet nights. Possibly proving that he did have Dundonian ancestory! Barry Briggs suggested that he went to extremes with his dedication and that he may be “overdid the psychological bit”.

He certainly took good care of his machinery and often covered his engine with a blanket after warming it up. On cold nights at either end of the season he would bring a number of flasks with him. Some contained oil at the right temperature for his bikes, while other had hot water into which he immersed his hands prior to racing to ease wrist problems, a legacy from earlier injuries. He certainly felt the cold, particularly immediately following his return from Australia and on one occasion poured some methanol on the pits floor and set it alight to warm himself. Not something you will see these days!

His car, a Ford Corsair, was similarly well maintained and tuned. During the close season he had ordered some special parts, probably a carburettor, which were flown in especially from the continent. I was involved in taking them to Wayne Briggs for onwards delivery to him. Wayne said that Charlie would have been really excited to get them. I wish I’d seen that! Later in the season he seemed to be particularly grumpy in the Hampden pits. The word was that he’d been booked for speeding while driving up to Glasgow and what really upset him was that the police actually caught up with him!

 

May Be Not a Team Man

He was never one to loan his bike to other team members, nor was he ever happy to ride others bikes. Most notably at West Ham in 1969 when the Tigers looked like pulling off a rare away win. Unbeaten after two rides he blew his motor in his third outing and no amount of persuasion could get him to take his fourth ride on a borrowed bike. Tigers’ chance of victory disappeared with him. Similarly he was never one to team ride, possibly because no one could keep up with him. There were few entries in his Bonus Point column during his heyday years at the White City. It was only when his career was in decline that he started to accumulate paid points. However he did put himself out for the team on the night Swindon came to the White City. Taking five rides in a vain attempt to beat the Robins, he was in such a state of severe exhaustion that he collapsed in the pits and had to be withdrawn from the second half and also his Silver Sash challenge against Barry Briggs whom he had already beaten in the league meeting. A couple of years later he got out of a sick bed to ride on successive nights at both Hampden and Coatbridge, the latter very much against promoter Les Whaley’s wishes.

Somewhat strangely Danny Taylor offered him the Tigers captaincy after incumbent Maury Mattingley resigned in May 1967. Monk turned it down saying “I’m not a good team captain. My job is to score points and I can’t concentrate on anything else during a meeting” and suggested the role be given to Willie Templeton. A trawl through my Glasgow programmes found a manuscript amendment showing him as captain for the challenge meeting against Swedish Bysarna, a meeting skipper Jim McMillan was allowed to miss being the night before his World Final appearance at Wembley in 1972.

 

Iron Man

He was a virtual ever present during his time at Glasgow and never missed a meeting through injury or illness despite often not being in particularly good shape. In all there were only seven meetings where he didn’t turn out for the Tigers. Apart from the one when his van broke down en route to Sheffield for Glasgow’s first away meeting in 1964, all were sanctioned by officialdom. He was absent on international duty riding for Australia on four occasions, while one Internationale appearance coincided with a league meeting at Newcastle. This was offset by Ivan Mauger also missing the meeting for the FIM event. The only other “miss” was at the start of the 1969 season when his allocation to Glasgow hadn’t been finalized. Quite a record!

The closest he came to missing a Glasgow meeting in which he was programmed was when he cut his thumb quite badly while cutting his tyre prior to the league meeting at Newcastle. Predictably he refused medical attention saying there was plenty thumb left! It should be said that in these austere times, even top riders would often cut a new edge on their tread to make tyres last longer.

His time at Halifax proved he was human after all! He tore his ankle ligaments in a Northern Riders championship meeting in the summer of 1974. He tried to ride the following night with his ankle strapped up but fell in the first race aggravating the injury and ruling him out for a number of weeks. Days before he was due to return, he suffered severe burns to his legs in a workshop accident, ending his season. He got off to a bad start in 1976 being knocked unconscious and sustaining a badly broken collar bone in the first meeting. This kept him out for over a month and he also missed a number of meetings in the summer with a recurrence of long standing back problems.

 

 

He Certainly Knew His Own Mind

The annual rider allocation exercise prior to the 1969 season was one of the most far reaching, with top heat leaders both demanding and refusing certain moves. Ivan Mauger was adamant that he was leaving Newcastle, and going to Belle Vue. A number of riders were allocated to Newcastle as his replacement, including Monk, Nygren and Harkins. Monk was equally emphatic that he was joining the Tigers and no one else and both he and promoter Les Whaley stood firm through all the machinations although Monk’s move wasn’t confirmed in time for him to race in Tigers opening meeting of the season at Hackney. In some ways it’s a bit hard to explain why he wanted to come back to Glasgow. Home meetings involved a 500 mile round trip every week, something you would surely want to avoid if at all possible and he would have known that the Tigers would no longer be riding at his old stamping ground at the White City. Hampden would have been a great unknown to him. Possibly he was keen to join Les Whaley whom he would have known from the Rowley Park days. Like a lot of other things, this too was a great mystery but Glasgow fans certainly weren’t complaining!

 

The Great Escape

While he had his share of “near things” on the track, his guardian angel was certainly watching over him as he made arrangements to return home to Australia after the 1965 season. Fortunately, he never received confirmation of his booking for the late evening flight from Edinburgh to London Heathrow towards the end of October. Tragically the BEA Vanguard crashed attempting to land in the fog killing all passengers and crew.

 

Dead Or Alive?

In the early winter of 1966, a hoaxer phoned most of the newspapers in Glasgow with incredible stories about Charlie Monk - he was going to quit Glasgow; he had been suspended for life; he had been killed in a track crash. Promoter Trevor Redmond was kept busy denying these ridiculous claims. However the Govan Press, a fairly limited circulation weekly, based a stone’s throw from the White City ran the “Speedway Ace Dies” line without checking it. One of my classmates told me this shocking news, but, even though I was barely into my teens, I was quite sceptical about it. However, there was the fear that no paper would print something as sensational as this, without being certain that it was correct. I took comfort that the news hadn’t been reported in any of the main dailies but it was with considerable trepidation that I opened my Speedway Star the following week. There were no banner headlines telling of a tragedy in Australia, but what a worrying couple of days it had been. However a short piece mentioned the hoax without giving specific details and warned the hoaxer that the police had been informed. Thankfully this warning had the desired