00:00My name is Ian Anthony Huntley. I've been attending the TT since 1947. Man, boy and child.
00:09Right.
00:10I first started as a fetus in a womb. In 1939, my parents came over to see the TT in
00:19June
00:20and they saw Georg Meyer win the TT on a BMW. I was born in September, actually my father's
00:29birthday. I was born ill because I had very bad chest. And I went through up to 1946 with
00:40recurrent bronchitis pneumonia. And my father went down to the doctors who was a local, my
00:46own GP. He said, what can we do with Ian to come to breathe better? He said, well, you
00:52need to have fresh air, sea air. My dad used to come to TT since 1927.
00:59So he said to the doctor, do you think the island might be any good? He says, that's
01:05an island was surrounded by seawater. Great, great. So that's how I started.
01:12So have you been every year since you first came?
01:15I cannot claim to be every year. I wasn't here doing COVID. But I came over when the foot
01:21and mouse is dizzy and so on.
01:23Oh, you did?
01:23Because I came over with a friend who was a rep and he was coming over to see me. He
01:27said, don't want to come over to keep the seat rooms going. Now I can claim to be coming
01:32over here for a month, three weeks, two weeks, one week. But those are the ones that have
01:37been in any gaps. It could be one day. If I couldn't get over because of exams or because
01:43of job, I used to grab the coach to Liverpool by maybe motorcycle news or a local garage.
01:54Yeah.
01:54Used to run chips, the other man, come over for the one day, come over on Thursday, seeing
02:00the race and come back on the more or less the second of the morning. I did that for about
02:06seven years because I couldn't get over for the full fort right now.
02:08Do you mind me asking, what makes you keep coming back? Do you enjoy it that much that
02:12you just love it?
02:13To me, this is a totally different world. It does me so good. I mean, seeing me, I'm
02:18in a wheelchair now and I get myself a bit depressed about things. And we've just been, my son and
02:25I are coming in, he hasn't been for a few years, but he started coming in with me again. And
02:31we're together on a great time. We're just meeting people like friends, like Jane. We've made
02:37so many friends over here.
02:39What do you think about the sidecars as well being cancelled this year? Is that, is that
02:43something you agree with or?
02:44Well, I've got to say at this stage for five years now, I've said air must board under the
02:50sidecar. I'm a great believer in aerodynamics. And having seen the bottom of Bray Hill one
02:57sidecar actually take off. I said at that stage, I said there's going to be problems here. And
03:03unfortunately, I saw a friend of mine killed, it was Mark Hobson on Bray Hill. I think he
03:10hit a, what do you call it, a manhole cover. So it really wasn't applicable there. But then he
03:17hit the hard cause it did take off.
03:19So it's always been a concern of yours that it could...
03:21Very much so, yeah.
03:22Do you mind, tell me a bit more about your medal that you got around your neck?
03:26Well, this is the second one. My friends know my liberty out of man, and they clubbed together,
03:33and they bought this for me, and it says on the back, I can't hear it, it says, more
03:41or less, congratulations on 79 years, last year of 78, indeed from 1947 to 2005 instead of 2006.
03:52Yeah.
03:53So I'm quite proud to wear that.
03:54Absolutely, yeah, yeah.
03:55It's like a substantial medal.
03:57Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So moving forward, do you plan to keep coming back? You're obviously
04:01next year.
04:01I'm ready to move next year.
04:02You are? Amazing.
04:03So that's the big milestone then, 80 years, it's quite, quite an achievement.
04:06I'd like to think it's going to be 80.
04:08Yeah.
04:08Yes, I'd like to come over for 80 years.
04:10Mm-hmm.
04:10Mm-hmm.
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