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Tommy Charlton said his siblings Jack and Bobby “died as my brothers – not as famous footballers”, as he remembers the legacy they left behind.

Speaking to Sky News, Charlton shared memories of his brothers and his sadness since their deaths – as well as how he missed the 1966 World Cup final because he couldn’t afford the fare to Wembley.

Sir Bobby Charlton died last month at the age of 86 and is remembered as one of the heroes of England’s World Cup-winning 1996 squad.

His brother, and fellow World Cup winner, Jack died in 2020 aged 85, after a long career both on and off the football pitch.

“They were real big brothers,” Tommy said of Sir Bobby and Jack, telling Sky News he “hated it” when they left home to go and play football.

Jack, Tommy and Bobby Charlton
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Jack, Tommy and Bobby Charlton

I didn’t know what was happening,” he said.

“I didn’t know why he had to go away. I didn’t know why Jack had to go.

“My uncles, Jack, George, Jim and Stan all went away to play football, so I’ve experienced the fact that we had relatives who didn’t live at home. They had to travel all over the place playing football, and I was quite used to that.

“But when Bob left, I didn’t really understand it because it was my brother leaving, and it was like: ‘where’s he going?'”.

Tommy added: “They were my brothers, and I was proud of them. I always have been sincerely proud of my two brothers.”

The Charlton brothers with their mother - Jack, Tommy, Gordon and Bobby
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The Charlton brothers with their mother – Jack, Tommy, Gordon and Bobby

England's Jack Charlton and Bobby Charlton
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England’s Jack Charlton and Sir Bobby Charlton

‘Heart-warming’ to hear from people

In the weeks since Sir Bobby’s death and the years since Jack died, Tommy said it has been heart-warming to hear people talk so fondly about his brothers, and expects people to line the route for Sir Bobby’s funeral this month.

“It’s been very heart-warming to have so many people telling me that they were really proud of Bob.

“I’ve never thought of Bob and Jack as anything but my brothers – they died as my brothers, not as famous footballers.

“And that is difficult for me. It’s difficult to separate the two. And it’s heart-warming to see that the number of people, thousands of people, telling me that they respected Bob and they respected Jack.”

Tommy said he expects people to line the procession route for Bobby’s funeral “and they’re going to clap”.

“Wonderful. That’s my brother they’re clapping.”

Sir Bobby Charlton and his mother. Pic: Daily Mail/Shutterstock
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Sir Bobby and his mother. Pic: Daily Mail/Shutterstock

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‘End of an era’: Fans pay tribute to Sir Bobby

‘He remembered the life’

The trio were brought up in Ashington, Northumberland, where Tommy explained despite their “hard” upbringing, Bobby never spoke ill of his home town.

He always spoke in a proud way he always remembers those mates from Ashington, and he remembered the life.

“It was a hard life. We had a hard upbringing. My dad worked at the pit, he didn’t make a lot of money… Bob remembered that with pride.

“He didn’t speak in a derogatory manner about Ashington ever.”

Bobby Charlton in Ashington after the Munich Air Crash. Pic: Daily Mail/Shutterstock
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Sir Bobby in Ashington after the Munich Air Crash. Pic: Daily Mail/Shutterstock

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‘A champion on and off the pitch’

‘We both started crying’

Tommy recalled the last time he spoke to Sir Bobby on the phone before he died.

“It got to be that we only conversed on the telephone because I’ve stopped driving, and we used to meet at football matches… but Bob didn’t end up doing that,” he told Sky News.

“Bob never got very far.

“And I remember the last time I spoke to him. We were on the telephone, and he broke down and started crying while I was crying.

“His wife, after that, Norma, said, ‘it’s probably best not to put Bob on the phone’, so she kept us updated on how he was, and, well, she was a saint.”

Read more:
‘Never a more popular footballer’: Sir Bobby Charlton obituary
Sir Bobby Charlton was ‘forever a gentleman of English football’

Jubilant England players parade the World Cup around Wembley after their 4-2 win: (l-r) Gordon Banks, Alan Ball, Martin Peters, Bobby Moore, George Cohen, Ray Wilson, Bobby Charlton, Jack Charlton.
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England players including Sir Bobby and Jack Charlton, right, parading Wembley after winning the World Cup

Bobby Charlton, who is to play centre-forward in the Manchester United team meeting Bolton Wanderers in the FA Cup Final at Wembley.
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Sir Bobby in his Manchester United days

‘It was just my brothers playing a game’

Despite both his brothers playing in the 1966 World Cup final, Tommy revealed to Sky News he never actually made it to Wembley to watch them.

Before the final, Bob managed to get me a ticket to the final,” he said.

“And I lived in Ashington and Ashington is a long way from London. I’d never been to London. I’d very rarely been out of Ashington, if the truth was known.

“I didn’t have any money to get there. Nobody in the family had that sort of money, and I didn’t want to ask brother Jack to help me, because they had far too much on the plate at the time.

“And that was just not the thing that I was willing to do, so I watched the match at home on the TV, and, well, it was actually with my girlfriend at the time – it was at their house

“But I regret that now. I regret that I should have, actually got a bank loan or something to get there.

“But to me, it was just my brothers playing a game… it was playing for England again, you know?

“I don’t know what he probably makes of that.”

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Trump-Starmer talks could be landmark moment – and join pantheon of UK-US summits

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Trump-Starmer talks could be landmark moment - and join pantheon of UK-US summits

In years to come, it may become known simply as Chequers ’25.

But today’s summit between Sir Keir Starmer and Donald Trump, at the prime minister’s country retreat, has the potential to be a landmark moment in UK-US history.

There’s plenty of scope for it to go horribly wrong, of course: over Jeffrey Epstein, Sir Keir’s pledge to recognise Palestine, the president’s lukewarm support for Ukraine, the Chagos Islands sell-off, or free speech.

Trump state visit live – read the latest

But on the other hand, it could be a triumph for the so-called “special relationship” – as well as relations between these two unlikely allies – with deals on trade and tariffs and an improbably blossoming bromance.

Either way, this Chequers summit – on the president’s historic second state visit to the UK – could turn out to be one of the most notable one-to-one meetings between PM and president in 20th and 21st century history.

Sir Keir and Mr Trump have already met several times, most recently at The Donald’s golf courses in Scotland in late July and, before that, memorably at the White House in February.

Donald Trump and Keir Starmer wave as they board Air Force One on a previous trip. Pic: AP
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Donald Trump and Keir Starmer wave as they board Air Force One on a previous trip. Pic: AP

It was then that the PM theatrically pulled King Charles’s invitation for this week’s visit out of his inside pocket in a spectacular stunt surely masterminded by the “Prince of Darkness”, spin doctor-turned-ambassador (until last week, anyway) Peter Mandelson.

And over the years, there have been some remarkable and historic meetings and relationships, good and bad, between UK prime ministers and American presidents.

From Churchill and Roosevelt to Eden and Eisenhower, from Macmillan and JFK to Wilson and Johnson, from Thatcher and Reagan, to Blair and Bush, and from Cameron and Obama… to Starmer and Trump, perhaps?

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‘History’ that binds the UK and US

A brief history of relationships between PMs and presidents

Throughout UK-US history, there have been many examples of a good relationship and close bond between a Labour prime minister and a Republican president. And vice versa.

Also, it has not always been rosy between prime ministers and presidents of the two sister parties. There have been big fallings out: over Suez, Vietnam and the Caribbean island of Grenada.

Leading up to this Chequers summit, the omens have not been good.

First, the PM was forced to sack his vital link between Downing Street and the Oval Office, Lord Mandelson, over his friendship with Epstein.

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Trump meets Starmer: What can we expect?

Second, the president arrived in the UK to a barrage of criticism from London mayor Sir Sadiq Khan, who accused him of doing more than anyone else to encourage the intolerant far right across the globe.

And third, in a video-link to the “Unite the Kingdom” march in London last weekend, one-time Trump ally Elon Musk called for a dissolution of parliament and a change of government and appeared to encourage violent protest.

Churchill and FDR

Churchill and FDR at the White House in 1941. Pic: AP
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Churchill and FDR at the White House in 1941. Pic: AP

Back in the mid-20th century, the godfather of the “special relationship” was wartime leader Sir Winston Churchill, though it was 1946 before he first coined the phrase in a speech in the US, in which he also spoke of the “iron curtain”.

It was in 1941 that Churchill held one of the most significant meetings with a US president, Franklin D Roosevelt, at a Washington conference to plot the defeat of Germany after Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbour.

Churchill arrived in Washington in December after a rough 10-day voyage on a Royal Navy battleship and stayed three weeks, spending Christmas in the White House and on Boxing Day becoming the first UK PM to address Congress.

The close bond between Churchill and Roosevelt was described as a friendship that saved the world. It was even claimed one reason the pair got on famously was that they were both renowned cigar smokers.

Churchill and Truman

Churchill and Truman catch a train from Washington in 1946. Pic: AP
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Churchill and Truman catch a train from Washington in 1946. Pic: AP

After the war ended, Churchill’s “special relationship” speech, describing the alliance between the UK and US, was delivered at Westminster College, in Fulton, Missouri in March 1946.

The speech was introduced by president Harry Truman, a Democrat, with whom Churchill had attended the Potsdam Conference in 1945 to negotiate the terms of ending the war.

These two were also close friends and would write handwritten letters to each other and address one another as Harry and Winston. Mr Truman was also the only US president to visit Churchill at Chartwell, his family home.

Eden and Eisenhower

Eden and Eisenhower shake hands at the conclusion of their three-day conference in 1956. Pic: AP
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Eden and Eisenhower shake hands at the conclusion of their three-day conference in 1956. Pic: AP

But the transatlantic cosiness came to an abrupt end in the 1950s, when Churchill’s Conservative successor Anthony Eden fell out badly with the Republican president Dwight Eisenhower over the Suez Crisis.

Mr Eden did visit Mr Eisenhower in Washington in January 1956, and the official record of the meeting describes the discussion as focussing on “policy differences and Cold War problems”.

Macmillan and JFK

Harold Macmillan and John F Kennedy at Andrews Air Force Base. Pic: AP
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Harold Macmillan and John F Kennedy at Andrews Air Force Base. Pic: AP

But in the early 1960s, a Conservative prime minister and a Democrat president with seemingly nothing in common, the stuffy and diffident Harold Macmillan, and the charismatic John F Kennedy, repaired the damage.

They were credited with rescuing the special relationship after the rupture of the Suez Crisis, at a time of high tensions around the world: the Berlin Wall, the Cuban missile crisis, and the threat of nuclear weapons.

The two leaders exchanged handwritten notes, as well as Christmas and birthday cards. The Macmillans visited the Kennedys twice at the White House, in 1961 and 1962 – the second described in the US as a “momentous” meeting on the Cuban crisis.

The relationship was abruptly cut short in 1963 by Supermac’s demise prompted by the Profumo scandal, and JFK’s assassination in Dallas. But after her husband’s death, Jacqueline Kennedy was said to have had a father-daughter relationship with Macmillan, who was said to have been enchanted with her.

Wilson and LBJ

Johnson meeting with Wilson. Pic: Glasshouse Images/Shutterstock
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Johnson meeting with Wilson. Pic: Glasshouse Images/Shutterstock

After JFK, the so-called special relationship cooled once again – and under a Labour prime minister and Democrat president – when Harold Wilson rejected pressure from Lyndon B Johnson to send British troops to Vietnam.

Mr Wilson became prime minister in 1964, just two months after LBJ sent US troops. His first overseas trip was to the White House, in December 1964, and the PM returned to tell his cabinet: “Lyndon Johnson is begging me even to send a bagpipe band to Vietnam.”

Thatcher and Reagan

Thatcher at Reagan's 83rd birthday celebrations. Pic: Reuters
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Thatcher at Reagan’s 83rd birthday celebrations. Pic: Reuters

And even though Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan were ideological soulmates, Thatcher was furious when she wasn’t consulted before the Americans invaded Grenada in 1983 to topple a Marxist regime.

Even worse, according to Mrs Thatcher’s allies, a year earlier, Reagan had stayed neutral during the Falklands War. Reagan said he couldn’t understand why two US allies were arguing over “that little ice-cold bunch of land down there”.

Thatcher and Reagan became firm friends. Pic: Reuters
Image:
Thatcher and Reagan became firm friends. Pic: Reuters

But their relationship didn’t just survive, it flourished, including at one memorable visit to the presidential retreat at Camp David in 1984, where Reagan famously drove Mrs T around in a golf buggy.

They would also memorably dance together at White House balls.

Blair and Bush

Blair hosts Bush in Durham in 2003. Pic: PA
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Blair hosts Bush in Durham in 2003. Pic: PA

Camp David was also where, in 2001, Republican president George W Bush and Labour’s Sir Tony Blair embarked on the defining mission of his premiership: the Iraq War. It was to prove to be an historic encounter.

The war was the turning point of Sir Tony’s decade in Number 10. He was branded a liar over claims about Saddam Hussein’s “weapons of mass destruction”, he was vilified by the Labour left, and it was the beginning of the end for him.

And to add to the suspicion among Sir Tony’s critics that he was Mr Bush’s poodle, in 2006 at a G8 summit in St Petersburg – that wouldn’t happen now – a rogue microphone picked up the president calling, “Yo, Blair! How are you doing?”

Cameron and Obama

Cameron and Obama serve food at a barbecue in the garden of 10 Downing Street. Pic: Reuters
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Cameron and Obama serve food at a barbecue in the garden of 10 Downing Street. Pic: Reuters

Some years later, the Tory prime minister sometimes called the “heir to Blair”, David Cameron, bonded over burgers with the Democrat president Barack Obama, serving a BBQ lunch to military families in the Downing Street garden. They also played golf at the exclusive Grove resort in 2016.

They seemed unlikely allies: Obama, the first African-American president, and Cameron, the 19th old Etonian prime minister. It was claimed they had a “transatlantic bromance” in office. “Yes, he sometimes calls me bro,” Lord Cameron admitted.

But not everything went well.

The Tory PM persuaded Mr Obama to help the Remain campaign in the 2016 Brexit referendum, when he claimed the UK would be “at the back of the queue” on trade deals with the US, if it left the EU. It backfired, of course.

Now it’s Sir Keir Starmer’s turn to tread a delicate and potentially hazardous political tightrope as he entertains the latest – and most unconventional – US president.

The greatest dangers for Sir Keir will be a news conference in the afternoon, in the gardens, if the weather permits.

Good luck, as they say, with that.

Before then, there’s the potential for what the Americans call a “pool spray”, one of those impromptu, rambling and unpredictable Q&As we’ve seen so many times in the Oval Office.

For Sir Keir, what could possibly go wrong?

Chequers ’25 could be memorable and notable, like so many previous meetings between a PM and a president. But not necessarily for the right reasons for this UK prime minister.

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Sadiq Khan calls out Gaza ‘genocide’, as Starmer ‘delays’ recognising Palestinian state until end of Trump’s state visit

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Sadiq Khan calls out Gaza 'genocide', as Starmer 'delays' recognising Palestinian state until end of Trump's state visit

London’s mayor Sir Sadiq Khan has for the first time described the situation in Gaza as a “genocide”, becoming the most senior Labour figure to contradict the government’s official position.

Earlier this week, a UN Commission said a genocide was taking place in Gaza – something repeatedly denied by Israel.

Meanwhile, Sir Keir Starmer has been under pressure to raise Israel’s bombardment of the territory with Donald Trump during his state visit to the UK.

The prime minister is due to have discussions with the president today, but reports suggest he will delay formally recognising a Palestinian state until this weekend, after Mr Trump has left Britain.

It is claimed the government wants to avoid the issue dominating a news conference the two men plan to hold, according to The Times.

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Trump meets Starmer: What can we expect?

The prime minister has found himself at odds with the US administration over the move, which is opposed to official recognition of Palestine.

The mayor of London, who has engaged in a long-running spat with Mr Trump, has added to the political tension by contradicting official Labour policy at a people’s question time event on Wednesday.

“I think it’s inescapable to draw the conclusion in Gaza we are seeing before our very eyes a genocide,” said Sir Sadiq.

Sir Keir has previously pledged to recognise Palestinian statehood ahead of next week’s United Nations General Assembly in New York if Israel does not meet a series of conditions to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza.

Other nations, including France, Australia and Canada, have said they plan to take the same step at the UN gathering.

Explainer: What does recognising a Palestinian state mean?

The UK has consistently argued that the issue of whether Israel has committed genocide was a matter for the courts. Israel is fighting a case at the International Court of Justice in The Hague in which the country is accused of genocide.

But some opposition leaders, including Zack Polanski for the Green Party, and the Liberal Democrats’ Sir Ed Davey have specifically referred to the situation in Gaza as genocide.

Read more from Sky News:
Watch: Israel’s Gaza City offensive
MPs denied entry into West Bank

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Is Israel committing genocide?

On Tuesday, the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory released a report, claiming: “It is clear that there is an intent to destroy the Palestinians in Gaza”.

It said Israel’s actions meet the criteria set down for defining a genocide.

The UK government has said its official position was it “has not concluded that Israel is acting with that [genocidal] intent“.

Israel is currently undertaking a major ground offensive in Gaza, with thousands forced to flee from Gaza City in recent days.

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Man dies, woman injured, after London park shooting

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Man dies, woman injured, after London park shooting

A man has died and a woman has been taken to hospital after a shooting at a park in London.

The Metropolitan Police said officers attended Clissold Park in Hackney at 7.06pm on Wednesday.

A woman in her 40s was treated for gunshot wounds and treated by paramedics. There has been no update yet on her injuries or condition in hospital.

Police said a man in 40s also suffered gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead later in hospital.

A firearm, thought to have been involved in the shooting, has been recovered from the scene.

Forensic teams in blue boiler suits could be seen at the park on Wednesday night recovering items, including clothing, and placing them in evidence bags.

A blue forensic tent could be seen in the park with staff also taking pictures of the scene and logging evidence.

A blue forensic tent in the park
Image:
A blue forensic tent in the park

Police could be seen guarding several sites in and around the park, which had been cordoned off.

Numbered yellow evidence markers had also been placed on the ground at various locations.

Items are recovered by forensic teams and bagged
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Items are recovered by forensic teams and bagged

Clothing appeared to be among the items being collected
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Clothing appeared to be among the items being collected

In a statement, Detective Superintendent Oliver Richter said: “We are in the early stages of the investigation, but we believe the man and woman are known to one another.

“At this time, we are treating it as an isolated incident and there is no wider risk to the public.

“A crime scene remains in place for investigation with an increased police presence.”

Read more from Sky News:
Sadiq Khan calls out Gaza ‘genocide’
Trump speaks at state banquet
Overhaul needed for SEND support

Det Sup Richter added that officers were still working to establish what happened and did not elaborate on the circumstances surrounding the shooting or who fired the weapon.

Hackney Council said on social media that it was “supporting the police with their investigations”, adding the park would remain closed on Thursday morning.

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