How '60 yards of knicker elastic' created the greatest farce in Aintree history

Just as legs are made for kicking footballs, flags are made for waving. In wartime, the losing side waves a white flag; in football, assistant referees wave coloured flags; in motor racing, officials wave chequered flags; and in horseracing, Captain Keith Brown waved an unfurled red flag but only for the first of the 1993 Grand National’s two false starts.

Curiously, just as old soldiers never die, so army officers, although long retired, never lose their military rank. So it was that Captain Brown, who had left the army 35 years previously, pulled the ancient lever that released the 60-metre-long, sagging elastic tape to start the 147th Grand National.

Unfortunately, some of the 39 waiting horses, delayed and agitated by an animal rights demonstration, were standing too close to the starting tape. The Jockey Club's senior starter would have been well advised to insist on the contestants turning around and lining up again. Sadly, when the elastic went 'twang', the tape became entangled with several horses.