Our hat-trick hero? Gen Z think Jeff Bezos scored in England's 1966 World Cup victory

By ELIZABETH IVENS FOR THE MAIL ON SUNDAY Published: 01:08, 14 June 2026 | Updated: 01:29, 14 June 2026 They think it's all over and it is now... at least as far as Generation Z's knowledge of England's greatest ever sporting triumph is concerned. In a pitiful display, an astonishing one in five of those aged 14 to 29 did not even know that England had ever lifted the World Cup trophy. Some 17 per cent of them thought the hat-trick hero that day was Amazon founder Jeff Bezos rather than Sir Geoff Hurst, the last surviving member of the side.  A third were so clueless that they thought cockney sitcom star Alf Garnett – rather than the great Sir Alf Ramsay – was the England manager who steered the team to victory in 1966. And another 6 per cent even thought it could be the ninth-century British king Alfred the Great who managed the team. One in four could not identify the year of the historic victory. And a shocking 40 per cent had no idea it was West Germany that we beat 4-2 after extra time at Wembley Stadium. And, in a head-in-hands moment for most of us, when it came to completing commentator Kenneth Wolstenholme's famous quote, 'They think it's all over...', one in four guessed 'It's just beginning' rather than 'It is now'. Boom Radio – whose core audience is the post-War boomer generation – carried out the poll to coincide with the start of this year's World Cup. Jeff Bezos (pictured) was just two years old when England won the world cup in 1966. But Gen Z think he scored a hat-trick in the final Sir Geoff Hurst, the last surviving member of the 1966 England squad, at a football memorabilia auction in London on June 3 They plan to mark July 30, sixty years after England's greatest footballing day, with a special day of programming and memories from the era, called 'Boom 66'. Co-founder David Lloyd said: 'We hope Boom 66 will reignite the passion and, who knows, perhaps by then England will have forged a new set of memories by storming to victory 60 years on.' No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.