This year the Isle of Man TT released a new documentary called No Room For Error, which is probably the best of the many films made about the jaw-dropping event. The four-part doco goes deep into the risks and the emotional stresses suffered by riders and their loved ones, so it’s not your usual macho TT nonsense. The
stars of the show are supposed to be the TT’s men of the moment: lap-record-holder Peter Hickman, Michael Dunlop, Dean Harrison and John McGuinness, the most successful living exponent of “wall dodging”, as Harrison calls his job.
And yet the real star of the show isn’t any of these riders, it’s Lee Johnston, a one-time TT winner and former BSB Superstock 600 champion. What makes Johnston the star is his sense of humour and his ability to communicate. He has that wonderful way with words, like so many Irish, who attribute this blessing to centuries of oral telling of myths, legends and stories. It’s not for nothing that some of the greatest writers of the English language hail from the emerald isle: Oscar Wilde, WB Yeats, James Joyce, Seamus Heaney…
Of course, TT riders need a sense of humour, because you need a special way of looking at the world when you make your living tear-arsing around country roads at 300 kays an hour. We’ve all seen TT riders chatting before the start on Glencrutchery Road. They
