WHILE researching a story about a former Saints player, I came across a phenomenon that I had not encountered before.

‘Selective memory loss’ is a term we use when people lie. But it is true. Many people can remember a fact independently and all be mistaken.

I had heard that Saints beat Leyton Orient 1-0 away to win promotion to the old First Division in 1965-66. I found an independent Saints Web site that confirmed this and spoke to people at work. Two confirmed the score and one was actually at the game.

They all remember Terry Paine’s header that virtually sealed promotion but all forget that Orient took the lead early on.

Talking of memory, thanks to Ollie Tydeman who remembered that Lee Roling’s last Under-21 Roll-Up final win was a couple of years ago.

I checked back and sure enough it was July 30, 2005, 93 tournaments ago.

I wrote on a snooker Web site at the time a story about a Chandler’s Ford Snooker Club barmaid: 21-year-old Mia was back behind the bar with a bandage on her arm and I managed to have a quick chat. Having only had a bottle of wine to drink but still slightly tired and emotional, she approached a flight of stairs wearing her new pretty high heels but stumbled and took the quick way down, resulting in a visit to casualty. Luckily the shoes suffered no damage but have been confined to a box for now.