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Leyton Orient are nicknamed The O’s, which gives them the best name for cheerleaders in the whole of the Football League (if not the world) – the girls are known as ‘The Cheery O’s’.
The O’s nickname isn’t just a shorter version of Orient, when the club started they wore shirts with a big white ‘O’ on their backs and supporters would shout ‘play up the O’s’.
The club’s most famous cheerleaders/supporters are the Lloyd Webber brothers, Phantom of The Opera composer Andrew and cellist Julian.
Julian is regularly seen at Leyton Orient’s ground, Brisbane Road, and he’s performed concerts wearing an Orient top.
Andrew has often been asked to invest some of his multi-million musical fortune in Orient, however showing a level of common sense that would become his trademark on reality TV show searching for new musical starts he has said:
“The only advice I was ever given about money was never invest it in a football team.”
Leyton Orient was named after the Orient Steamship Navigation Company as the company kept their workers fit during winter months by playing football.
The club has always had a strong team spirit. Before the First World War, 41 members of the team and staff joined enlisted to fight in the trenches after a recruitment rally at the ground. This was the highest number of people to sign up from any football team. They became part of the 17th Battalion Middlesex Regiment, known informally as The Footballers’ Battalion.
After the war the Prince of Wales, recognising the sacrifice the club had made, became the first member of the royal family to attend a Football League match.
If the Queen visited Brisbane Road today even she, not known for her love of football or music, would recognise the song the club plays as the team walks out – and it was all the result of a bet between Andrew and Julian Lloyd Webber.
Andrew had promised Julian he would write a cello piece especially for him. During an end of season match between Orient and Hull City Julian bet his brother than Orient would avoid relegation by drawing or beating Hull. As an incentive, Julian bet that if they did, Andrew would finally have to write that cello piece for him. Orient drew and Andrew’s cello piece appeared on the album ‘Variation’. It is played before ever Orient home game but is now more famously known as the theme tune to the long running ITV and now Sky TV arts programme ‘The South Bank Show’.
Julian is such a huge fan he even named his daughter after the club – she is known as Orienta. When asked about the name he said:
“Well she is part oriental, so it’s the two things combined. It’s better than being called Arsenalla isn‘t it? That sounds like you’ve got some bacteria up your bum.”
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About the Author
After too many years as season ticket holder at Parkhead, Andy Todd renounced the SPL three years ago to support Queens Park. One team is a rank bunch of amateurs who play in a state of the art stadium and the other is…(I think we can all see where this is going).
Andy has been performing comedy for 18 months but is currently ‘between gigs’ while he writes a book on Scottish property law to be published in Summer 2012. Its potential audience will be less than 300 but his mum will be very proud.
Follow Andy on Twitter: @toddandy
Check out Andy’s website: www.toddandy.com
I think you will find it is Herb Alpert’s Tijuana Taxi tune played before every home match, not Julian’s ‘Variation’ tune.
Hi Chris, thanks for this, I must have got the wrong source for this. I’m happy to be corrected.
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