WIGBHP: Frequently Asked Questions

These are somewhat infrequently asked questions about What If Gordon Banks Had Played?

What is this?

WI Gordon Banks... is an alternate history of the United Kingdom in the 1970s. The only difference between this and real history is that England beat Germany in the World Cup Quarter Finals, it is the repercussions of this event that transform history. GBHP started out as an extended timeline on soc.history.what-if.

Have you any plans to publish What If Gordon Banks Had Played?

Nope — firstly it is already available for free online, and more to the point it is probably libelous. I take the view that the characters in WI Gordon Banks are not the same public figures that are alive today, but entirely different people from an alternative universe different to our own. Their words and actions should in no way be taken as representative of real life people who happen to have the same names. Having said that, I'm not going to gamble on the courts taking the same view. Hence there are no plans to do anything with WI Gordon Banks... other than leave it here for people to read.

What happened to {insert name here}?

If you drop by to soc.history.what-if where WI Gordon Banks... started out and ask me, I'm sure I'll be able to tell you. On the assumption that I know who they are. At some point I am going to include biographies of all the characters in WI Gordon Banks... and others on this website, which should answer some of those questions.

Who exactly is [insert name here} what did he do in our own time line?

All of the characters in WI Gordon Banks... are alternative time-line versions of real people — there are no entirely invented characters, aside from those who are fictional in the WI Gordon Banks... timeline itself and some of the alledged authors of clippings and extracts. In time I will put up a biographies of all the political characters in WI Gordon Banks... including links to biographies of their real life counterparts. Until then you'll have to rely upon Google.

Are you going to add anything else to the story?

Probably not — I don't plan on making any major changes to the story. I am going to have to go back through the story to mend some problems (not least the vast number of typos and Robin Chichester-Clark who insists upon morphing into his brother at various times during the story) and I may add a scene or two, but it will only be small things.

This is wrong/implausible, isn't it?

Well — it might be in your opinion! :) In all seriousness, US politics is not my strong suit, so some of the US politics in GBHP may be a bit dodgy. Hopefully there aren't any major problems with the British politics, although how plausible you find it is a matter of opinion!

Where can I read more alternate history?

Ian Montgomerie maintains a list of online alternative history scenarios here, sadly there is a shortage of modern British political what-ifs — the only one I can heartily recommend is Syd Webb's Thaxted — a version of histroy where Margaret Thatcher became a staunch socialist.