From the archive: Martin Amis on tour with Elton John and Watford FC

15-Mar-2020 06:00:50 | The Guardian

For reasons unknown, the revitalised football club and their glamorous chairman travel to China

Martin Amis had rather low expectations for his visit to China with Watford FC and Elton John, their chairman, for the Observer Magazine of 10 July 1983 (‘The Long March from Vicarage Road’). ‘I expected the team’s only cultural concession to their historic tour,’ he said, ‘would be the odd racist taunt, the occasional self-destructive experiment with rice wine and one or two requests for a Chinese takeaway.’

Today we’re used to clubs exporting their ‘brand’ overseas, but the reason for this visit is never really explained. Amis, however, was clearly having fun grubbing around in his familiar novelistic milieu: ‘Wearing a Billy Bunter suit, a banded boater, purple sunglasses and a diamond earring, Chairman John gazed down fondly at his protégés.’