Newport County(H).12/03/77.

In each of these 1977 and 1978 Torquay United programmes there are contributions from Norman Jope of Molesworth Road, Plympton. Who was Norman Jope? And was he old or young?

Merse has already given us a clue once describing Norman Jope as a "studenty type" whose work had to be carefully scrutinised for libellous and other unsuitable material. All these years later type his name into a search engine and you'll find plenty of references to a Plymouth-born poet of some repute.

That they are the same person I am of little doubt. The poet was born in 1960 and attended schools in Plympton through to 1978. This would have made him a sixth-former when he contributed to the Torquay United programme. He then moved to rural Wales to study philosophy at university.

Take a brief look at Norman Jope's poetry and you'll discover a man of varied talents, possessed of vivid conceptual thoughts, who rarely moves or thinks in a straight line. Not unlike our friend and valued contributor Alpine Joe. I wouldn't for a single second suggest they are the one and same person. Yet I'd wish to think that Norman Jope and Alpine Joe are somehow related.