Everyone has heard of Watford but not many people know anything about it, many assuming it to be a small town in Luton

1. Watford is a relatively new town being invented in 1894 by Queeen Victoria herself who wanted to create a summer retreat for herself which she would not be amused by in any way shape or form, the Queen won the 1895 town planner of the year award for suceeding so spectacularly, the population of Watford itself today (well yesterday to be exact, in all honesty I havent re checked today, sorry ) is barely 80,000 and even when you add adjoining areas only just goes over 120k which amazingly makes it the 47th largest urban area in England

2. Many people assume that Watford is part of the Watford Gap motorway service area, they are wrong that is a fair way North up the M1, others believe that the Watford Gap is the flagship store of a well know clothing retailer in the town, again they would be incorrect.

3. In 2009 Elton John took out one of those super injunction's much beloved of footballers, preventing anyone publishing his name before number 3 of a top ten facts about Watford, he had become sick to death of people associating him with Watford before they mention his musical talents, ironically in a recent mori poll conducted by celebrity TV star Les Dennis, musical talent came 4th in the list of things Elton is famous for.

4. Watford has several roads named after its most famous resident as well as a whole new housing developement with streets named after famous Elton John songs, Your Song Street, Daniel Way, Saturday's Nights alright for fighting Close and my own personal favourites, Dont go breaking my heart Avenue which is smack bang next to I couldnt if i tried Way, NB Watford Tourist Board have asked my to point out that Kiki Dee has no connection to the town.

5. Not many people know that Elton John is not Elton's real name, he was forced to change it in 1967, back then he was called Reg Dwight, but at the time the simiarly named Reg Varney was a superstar for the programme On The Buses and when Reg would take to the stage he would find that many of the audience were there to see some sketches about a bus driver all ending in hilarious consequences, so Reg changed to Elton

6. George Michael is also from around Watford way, but they dont seem as keen to big up their Wham connections, George though is still a regular visitor to the area and can often be seen sat in his Range Rover in a bush complaining of feeling a bit tired

7. Elton to his credit though was/is a genuine follower of Watford taking over as Chairman in 1976 and seeing them through a meteroric rise up the leagues culminating in promotion to the top flight and the 1984 FA Cup final which they lost to Everton, Sir Elton is no longer Chairman but remains a Life president

8. Watfords main rivalry is with Luton Town, like many other local derbies it was friendly up until the 1960's when it started to get nasty due to the building of the M1 motorway, both towns were responsible for building half of the stretch between them, Luton building the road Southwards and Watford North, they were due to meet up in April 1965 in what was going to be a historic occasion with both Mayor's shaking hands symbolically, Watford reached what they saw as the meeting point but could see no sign of the Luton contingent, perplexed they sat there for several hours before they noticed the luton end of the road in the next field around 200 yards from them, both towns claimed that they had the right co-ordinates and the argument esculated, the end shot though was that the m1 is the only motorway in Britain with a dog leg bend in it.

9.Watford have played at Vicarage Road since 1922, which was just as well as they had an evening kick off that day at 1930, so they got into their new home with eight minutes sto spare, it had a greyhound track around the pitch till 1977, when new manager Graham Taylor demanded it be removed as he felt that it demeaned the clubs professionalism, the Greyhound owners were unamused did they not like that

10. Its hard to finish a top ten about Watford without mentioning Sir Elton John again (really it is hard ! you try finding ten things about the place without about 8 of them being Reg Dwight related) a little know fact is that Elton as he was known back then, rather than the Sir Elton as he pompously likes to be called nowadays, Elton originally met Princess Diana at a Watford game, she was a big Hornets fan as a child and a season ticket holder during their rise from the fourt to the first division, he wrote many songs about the Princess and for many years struggled with his sexuality because of it, songs with Diana references include Benny & The Jets, Song For Guy, Crocodile Rock and Goodbye Yellow Brick Road which he had originally written for the Wizard Of Oz soundtrack but adapted for her funeral when it was sung so tenderly by the 4th battalion of the SAS

Photo: Action Images

Whatsforpud added 20:41 - Feb 24 One season in the 90s, Watford were cut loose at the bottom. Graham Taylor was asked what chance they had of survival. He replied they had two chances - slim and none, and Slim had just left town.
0

Southampton Polls