The St. George flag of England

As seen and read on the front and back covers of the Hornet comic.

Front cover of the 1966 World Cup Programme.

See The Hornet front and back covers issues 271; 281; 287; 289; 292; 315; 407; 454; 460.

Writer:- The Hornet editorial team. Artists:- Main picture - not known; different artists drew the players stories - Sturrock, Marti and Giralt.

Time period:- London, 30th July 1966.

As Hurst scored his third goal, the BBC commentator, Kenneth Wolstenholme was saying, "And here comes Hurst! He's got..."

(Wolstenholme's attention is diverted by some of the crowd spilling onto the pitch)

"Some people are on the pitch! They think it's all over!"

(Geoff Hurst scores)

"It is now, it's four!"

The above phrase has gone down in history as a famous sporting quotation. (In the UK anyway).

England's performance in the World Cup 2010 campaign has been woeful. But back in 1966 England won the World Cup at Wembley Stadium, London beating Germany 4-2. The entire team became national heroes. The stories of the players was told on the front and back covers of The Hornet. Several of the players were awarded honours by Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, whilst others had to wait until 2000. Roger Hunt, Alan Ball, George Cohen, Nobby Styles and Ray Wilson were finally officially awarded MBE's after a successful newspaper campaign.

I have also included the biographies of the England manager, Sir Alf Ramsey and striker Jimmy Greaves. The England team that played in the 1966 World Cup Final below, are in the positions that they played in for this match. Note - the Hornet didn't tell the biographies of Cohen, Wilson, Hunt or Ramsey (or if they did, I don't have those issues), so I have added their biographies and photographs to this page.

Main artist not known. © D.C. Thomson Co. Ltd
Gordon Banks, Goalkeeper, front cover.
Biography artist Sturrock. © D.C. Thomson Co. Ltd
Gordon Banks, Goalkeeper, back cover.