The Highest 10 Transfer Fees in Football History

Amazingly, only 2 of these Transfers do NOT involve an Italian club.

1. Zinedine Zidane, From Juventus to Real Madrid For £45.6m in 2001
2. Luís Figo, From Barcelona to Real Madrid For £37.0m in 2001
3. Hernán Crespo, From Parma to Lazio For £35.5m in 2000
4. Gianluigi Buffon,From Parma to Juventus For £32.6m in 2001
5. Christian Vieri, From Lazio to Inter For £32.0m in 1999
6. Andriy ShevchenkoFrom AC Milan to Chelsea For £30.0m in 2006
7. Rio Ferdinand, From Leeds to Man United For £29.1m in 2002
8. Gaizka Mendieta, From Valencia to Lazio For £29.0m in 2001
9. Ronaldo, From Inter to Real Madrid For £28.5m in 2002
10.Juan Sebastián Verón,From Lazio to Man United For £28.1m in 2001

Depending on what Currency rate is applied while making such lists and factors like performance related clauses, a couple of players might be different in other similar Top 10 Lists.

Source: Wiki

The Top 10 English Premier League Transfer Fees

Either In or Out of the English Premiership :

1. Andriy Shevchenko - Milan to Chelsea, £30m (2006)
Value-for-money rating: Too early to say, but £30m for someone who turns 30 next month would be a huge risk for anyone but Chelsea

2. Rio Ferdinand - Leeds United to Manchester United, £29.1m (2002)
Value-for-money rating: Ferdinand's played well for United, but not worth 29 million quid. And then there were those eight months out for forgetting to attend a drugs test.

3. Juan Sebastian Veron - Lazio to Manchester United, £28.1m (2003)
Value-for-money rating: A disaster from almost beginning to end. Has to be the worst signing ever. Another Fergie Blunder.

4. Wayne Rooney - Everton to Manchester United, £27m (2004)
Value-for-money rating: Top Class. Once when Fergie got it right.

5. David Beckham - Manchester United to Real Madrid, £25m (2003)
Value-for-money rating: Though Real hasnt won a trophy since Becks arrived, Off the pitch, Beckham has swelled Real's coffers like never before and on it, he's earned consistently good reviews.

6. Didier Drogba - Marseille to Chelsea, £24m (2004)
Value-for-money rating: Hes good but £24m ?? Nah , not that good.

7. Nicolas Anelka - Arsenal to Real Madrid, £23.5m (2000)
Value-for-money rating: A flop in Spain. Undoubtedly, one of Arsène Wenger's best deals.

8. Marc Overmars - Arsenal to Barcelona, £21.6m (2000)
Value-for-money rating: Never delivered for Barcelona. Another astute Wenger move.

9. Ricardo Carvalho - Porto to Chelsea, £19.85m (2003)
Value-for-money rating: Solid and usually unflappable but again worth £20m ?? No.

10. Ruud van Nistelrooy - PSV to Manchester United, £19m. (2001)
Value-for-money rating: Was sensational for three seasons, and won the Premiership almost single-handedly in 2003. One of the best deal in this Top 10 List, me thinks.

This List was taken from The Guardian but I do have doubts about it. For example, Michael Essien was bought from Lyon to Chelsea in 2005 for £24.4m , if I remember right but he is missing from the list. As stated in the post above, a lot of the details depend on the performance related aspects of the fees and so its tough to actually know what the clubs ended up paying for that player.

The 10 Most annoying Things in the UK

By an Opinion Poll done by Lactofree (???). Source : The Metro

1. Cold Callers - Toally Agree with this one. Its a quiet, nice evening, U decide to watch the classic movie on DVD you have been waiting for months, You create the environment, Get the Beer , get the food, draw the curtains , start the movie and are getting into the groove - Trring Trring , Trring Trring, Trring Trring.
Hello
Sir , Can I talk to Mr S Patel
Yes Speaking
Are you Mr S Patel, the owner of the telephone line at this address
No, I am fucking Robinhood and am just living in this house illegally - I like to say
Yes, Whos this - What I actually say
Sir , I am calling from Global Network Solutions. How are you doing today?
..... You know the script. Spoilt the flow of the movie - Damn.

2. Caravans - Never been bothered by them. Whats the worse they can do to you? Slow you down a bit on a single carraigeway road for a few minutes ? I can live with that. Maybe they meant Gypsies who drive together in groups and squat illegaly on public grounds, Known for their violent and drunken life-styles, Snatch style.

3. Queue Jumpers - They must go to India to understand what those 2 words really mean. Amitabh's famous dialogue in Kaalia comes to mind by this time : "Hum Woh Hain Jo Kisi Ke Picche Khade Nahi Hote, Hum Jahan Khade Hote Hain Line Wahi Se Shuru Hoti Hain". I havent been lucky enough to see this movoie in a Cinema Hall but can imagine Claps and Whistles going full blast.

4. James Blunt - Yes there was a time when all you could hear on any radio station were his songs. Too Much of anything IS annoying.

5. Traffic Wardens - A necessary evil. Over-zealous ones can be really annoying.

6. Tailgaters - No Comments. I have done this enough times myself.

7. Brown Nosers - Not just a UK Thing, I guess. They are annoying the world over.

8. Chantelle and Preston - Exactly. WHAT ?? But the question should be Who ? I had to Google them up to know that they were Big Brother contestants last year. Enough Said.

9. Ex-smokers - Now this is a weird one. I can imagine smokers as annoying but ex-smokers ????

10. Noisy Neighbours - Again, Ask my neigbours as usually I am the one whos watching 3 back-to-back all nighter movies with the Cinema Sound at max volume.

Greatest Movie Kisses Ever

Again based on an opinion poll, nicked from The Metro, looks a bit suspect (What kind of good list wud only have 8 items), but what the hell :

Audrey Hepburn and George Peppard in Breakfast at Tiffany's


Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore in Ghost


Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh in Gone with the Wind


Tobey McGuire and Kirsten Dunst in Spider-Man


Julia Roberts and Richard Gere in Pretty Woman


Gene Kelly and Rita Moreno in Singin' in the rain


Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman in Casablanca


Renne Zellweger and Colin firth in Bridget Jones


And to make it a decent Top 10 list, here are 2 of my favorites:

Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall in The Big Sleep


Sarah Michelle Gellar and Selma Blair in Cruel Intentions

BBC's Top 50 Things to Eat Before You Die

Based on an opinion poll conducted by BBC in 2004, here are the top 50 things which one shud eat before they die. The ones in bold are the ones which I havent had yet.

1. Fresh fish
2. Lobster
3. Steak
4. Thai food
5. Chinese food
6. Ice cream
7. Pizza
8. Crab
9. Curry
10. Prawns
11. Moreton Bay Bugs
12. Clam chowder
13. Barbecues
14. Pancakes
15. Pasta
16. Mussels
17. Cheesecake
18. Lamb
19. Cream tea
20. Alligator
21. Oysters
22. Kangaroo
23. Chocolate
24. Sandwiches
25. Greek food
26. Burgers
27. Mexican food
28. Squid
29. American diner breakfast
30. Salmon
31. Venison
32. Guinea pig
33. Shark
34. Sushi
35. Paella
36. Barramundi
37. Reindeer
38. Kebab
39. Scallops
40. Australian meat pie
41. Mango
42. Durian fruit
43. Octopus
44. Ribs
45. Roast beef
46. Tapas
47. Jerk chicken/pork
48. Haggis
49. Caviar
50. Cornish Pasty

Vh1's Top 30 Songs of the Century

I had written these down a few years ago while watching VH1 - So not sure how it was compiled. And like the last list it does looks skewed towards British composers, so wudnt be surprised if its a result of a UK Opinion Poll or Most Requested Songs on MTV,etc. Coldplay stands out as a glaring omission which makes me think that it must be quite an old list.

1.Bohemian Rhapsody,Queen
2.Imagine, John Lennon
3.Hey Jude, The Beatles
4.Dancing Queen, Abba
5.Like a Prayer,Madonna
6.Angels,Robbie Williams
7.Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields Forever, The Beatles
8.Wannabe , Spice Girls
9.Yesterday , Beatles
10.Let it Be, beatles
Smells like teen spirit, nirvana
dont look back in anger, oasis
nothing compares to you, sinead o connor
suspicious minds, elvis
billie jean, michael jackson
losing my religion , REM
hotel california, eagles
everything i do , bryan adams
a whiter shade of pale, procol harum
with or without you , U2
candle in the wind, something about the way you look tonight , elton john
i will always love you , whitney houston
baby one more time , britney spears
vogue, madonna
heartbeat and tragedy, steps
thriller , jackson
never ever, all saints
my heart will go on , celine dion
i turn to you , melanie C
wonderwall oasis

BBC - The Big Read - Top 100 Books

Compiled in 2003, based on the results of BBC's Opinion Poll - So might be skewed in the favour of British writers.

1. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien
2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman
4. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling
6. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
7. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne
8. Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell
9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis
10. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë
11. Catch-22, Joseph Heller
12. Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë
13. Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks
14. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier
15. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger
16. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame
17. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
18. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
19. Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres
20. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
21. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
22. Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone, JK Rowling
23. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, JK Rowling
24. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, JK Rowling
25. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien
26. Tess Of The D'Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy
27. Middlemarch, George Eliot
28. A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving
29. The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck
30. Alice's Adventures In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
31. The Story Of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson
32. One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez
33. The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett
34. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens
35. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl
36. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
37. A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute
38. Persuasion, Jane Austen
39. Dune, Frank Herbert
40. Emma, Jane Austen
41. Anne Of Green Gables, LM Montgomery
42. Watership Down, Richard Adams
43. The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald
44. The Count Of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
45. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh
46. Animal Farm, George Orwell
47. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
48. Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy
49. Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian
50. The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher
51. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
52. Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck
53. The Stand, Stephen King
54. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
55. A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth
56. The BFG, Roald Dahl
57. Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome
58. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell
59. Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer
60. Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
61. Noughts And Crosses, Malorie Blackman
62. Memoirs Of A Geisha, Arthur Golden
63. A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
64. The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCollough
65. Mort, Terry Pratchett
66. The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton
67. The Magus, John Fowles
68. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
69. Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett
70. Lord Of The Flies, William Golding
71. Perfume, Patrick Süskind
72. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell
73. Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
74. Matilda, Roald Dahl
75. Bridget Jones's Diary, Helen Fielding
76. The Secret History, Donna Tartt
77. The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins
78. Ulysses, James Joyce
79. Bleak House, Charles Dickens
80. Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson
81. The Twits, Roald Dahl
82. I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith
83. Holes, Louis Sachar
84. Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake
85. The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
86. Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson
87. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
88. Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons
89. Magician, Raymond E Feist
90. On The Road, Jack Kerouac
91. The Godfather, Mario Puzo
92. The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Jean M Auel
93. The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett
94. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
95. Katherine, Anya Seton
96. Kane And Abel, Jeffrey Archer
97. Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez
98. Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson
99. The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot
100. Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie

Film 4's 50 Films to See Before You Die

Film4 is a free British digital television channel, owned and operated by Channel 4, which screens 'high-quality' films.

This is their list of 50 Films To See Before You Die. As is the case with most of the lists of this kind, its quite controversial and open to debate but they have not focussed on the more popular ones but paid attention to those which gives the viewer a different experience. I agree to quite a few of them. Credit goes to them to not keep the list to only English movies - So in come movies like Lagaan and City of God(along with quite a few French movies) which most similar lists miss ou.t

Here's the List (Starts from Number 50, and ends in the Numero Uno - Just to Build up the suspense):
#50 Badlands - Martin Sheen at his best in his younger days
Secrets and Lies
Aguire - The Wrath of God
Brazil
This Sporting life - The Only Movie in the List related to Sports
Cabaret
Raising Arizona
Princess Mononoke - The Only Animated movie in the list
Dawn of the dead - The Only Horror movie in the list
Manhunter
The king of comedy
The ipcress file
Mulholland drive
The searchers
Fight Club - One of the best endings in Hollywood, Satire on 21st Century Consumerism
The ladykillers - Not the recent one but the original made in 1955
The royal tenenbaums
Three colours blue - Another French clasic
Terminator 2 - This one surprised me. Why Number 2 instead of the Original one?
Scarface - Al Pacino at his best
All About eve
Pink Flamingos - What the Hell ????
Fanny and Alexander
The breakfast club
Hero - The only movie with Martial Arts but what stunning visuals
Trainspotting - Though the movie is in "English" , u will still need the English sub-titles to understand it
Erin Brockovish
A night at the Opera
Heavenly creatures
Come and See
The Player
Boyz n the hood
Black Narccissus
Walkabout
Touch of Evil
Pulp Fiction - Tarantino's Masterpiece
Lagaan - Hats Off to Ashish Gowarikar and Aamir Khan
The Shawsank Redemption - The Number One movie in most other lists
Lost in Translation - The most boring movie I have ever seen , What did I miss
Alien - Classic Alien stuff
#10 Manhattan - Woody Allen's ode to New York
#9 Donnie Darko - Another one which I havent figured out why its regarded as a classic
#8 A bout de souffle
#7 North by NorthWest
#6 2001: A Space Oddyssey - The movie which started the entire "outer space" genre
#5 Sexy Beast - Ben Kingsley as a British Gangster
#4 Chinatown
#3 City of God - Brazil's Slums and Underworld brought to life
#2 The Apartment
#1 Apocalypse Now - Coppolla's classic which many believe the Best War movie ever made, Many others find it boring and incomprehensible beyond words. Hats Off to Martin Sheen who started this list(At Number 50) and ends the list(At Number 1)

Welcome to List Mania

This is a Blog About Lists. Lists of everything. Best 100 Books of the Century , Best 100 Songs of the 90s, 100 Films to See before you die , 20 Best Sporting Holidays , and so on and so forth.