National treasures Toyah Willcox and Robert Fripp have returned to action in a rare new episode of their internationally praised series of Sunday Lunch performances.
In the latest clip, the King Crimson man and his post-punk playmate perform a lively cover of evergreen sporting anthem The Best, originally a minor hit for Bonnie Tyler in 1988 before Tina Turner turned it into a worldwide chartbuster the following year after it was released as the lead single from her Foreign Affair album.
“You are the best!” exclaims Robert, at the song’s eventual denouement.
“You are the best!” repeats Toyah, as if to underscore the importance of Fripp’s statement.
Coincidentally, in 2004 Willcox captained a team of sports fanatics from Birmingham on an episode of Simply The Best, an ITV show that attempted to replicate the success of the BBC’s earlier It’s A Knockout.
Hosted by cricketer Phil Tufnell and broadcaster Kirsty Gallacher, the show included games like 60-Second Screamer, in which contestants had to answer a general knowledge quiz while riding a rollercoaster, and Airkick, which required players to throw balls at their teammates after being tossed skyward by a compressed air catapult.
“I’ve been training so hard,” Willcox told Gallagher. “I’ve been running up mountains, but nothing can prepare you to what’s going to happen tonight. And as you can see I’m not the tallest person in the crowd, but I’m quick and I can nip through small gaps and things like that. So it’s gonna be good and Birmingham is gonna win!”
Willcox’s team duly beat the representatives of Belfast in the first round, but their winning score was not enough to advance them to the final, where the city of Leeds emerged triumphant. A second series was not commissioned.
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