Coverage of the Empress match Club match with Cambridge University

Tiddlywinks is the most upper-class of games in England. Its patron is the Duke of Edinburgh, and its players include the intellectual cream of the universities, titled young men, and the Goons.

The first Tiddly Winks Congress ended yesterday at Cambridge University. Delegates from the major universities agreed on a set of rules for all future tournaments. The first English tiddly winks association was also set up.

Photograph.

Photograph.

Phil certainly thinks that Mr. Mooney should go after the $100,000 question tonight, doesn‘t he, Mrs. Finn?

Yes! But I hope Philip keeps out of it Flossie! It's something that Mr. Mooney should decide for himself!

Don't listen to Clancy, Mooney! Take my advice and shoot the works!

But Phil, if I'm not able to answer it, I'll lose the $75,000 I've already won!

I'll read the question once again, Mr. Mooney! "Name the man who invented the game of tiddlywinks and state where the first game was played!"

?

Photograph.

STAR THEATRE

THIS WEEK—MATINEE DAILY.

I. H. HERK'S BIG SUCCESS

TIDDLEDY WINKS

A BURLESQUE FABLE with HARRY S. LEVAN AND 20 CLASSY WINKERS.

"Tiddlywinks is a game for four players, those who play opposite each other being partners. The aim of the game is to flick the winks into the pot"

In the quick wake of the sceduling of the tiddlywink match between the undisputed champion of the British Isles, Cambridge University, and the University of Chicago, a number of significant reactions have been recorded in the Windy City.

For one, the university's student paper has devoted a half page of its paper to printing the international rules of tiddlywinks—from which the aforementioned definitoin of the game is taken.

At the same time, Rochelle Dubnow, editor of the paper—The Maroon—hinted at the type of unexpected opposition the Cambridge aggregation may have to face here next September.

"We find nothing in the rules that prohibits young women from taking part, Miss Dubnow said.

"Although sporting codes are customarily thrown to the winds in tiddlywinks competition," she said, "we suspect the long tradition of British gallantry toward women may prove too much for even these battle hardened veterans.

"And one show of gallantry may cost them the match."

At the same time the university's director of athletics, Walter L. Hass, scoffed at the idea that tiddlywinks is a "sissy's sport." He grimly pointed out that there were "split thumbnails, flying winks which threaten players and spectators alike." He said that "thse are the considerable hazards of the game."

AND what was so interest? … a ding dong tiddlywinks competition at Trinity College, Dublin, yesterday. And battling grimity for the honours were students from Trinity and Queen's University, Belfast. First champions—Queen's, by 72 pts. to 40.

EIGHT physically and mentally weary schoolboys watched a tiddlywink flip at 9.30 last night and dazedly claimed a new world record.

The boys—at the Quintin Kynaston School, Marylebone, London—had been ‘potting winks’ since New Year's Day.

As minute hands on watches passed the 9.30 p.m. mark it signified that the two teams, each made up of four boys, had broken the previous 84-hour record.

But they kept going for another hour and set the record at 85 hours.

About £199 us expected to be raised for Oxfam.

Each boy was sponsored along the same lines as charity walkers.

The boys have been kept going by crisps, sandwiches, peanuts, pies—and two giant tins of coffee donated by Oxfam.

Sanity was preserved by continual pop music and chats with a supervising master and a scorekeeper.

The players tried to get home for one decent meal a day and took turns to rest on camp beds at the school.

marathon

An American Tiddlywinks team announced in New York last night that it had begun training for a possible match with the Duke of Edinburgh's team. The Goons.

The U.S. team, made up of members of the cast in an Ibsen play “Enemy of the People” at a Greenwich village district theatre, lamented the fact that Tiddlywinks is a vanishing art in America.

Mr. Arthur Reel, director of the play, said a notice had been sent to the Duke challenging The Goons.

Goons

challenge

Miscellaneous

ANNUAL Sale.—Flipperty Flop, new popular game, same as Tiddledywinks; Six-Handed Game for 1s, at Oakey's Variety Bazaar.

WINTER GAMES.

[...] Tiddledy Winks. ... ... 1s

[...]

T. WAGSTAFF, BOOKSELLER & STATIONER, TIMARU

Mr. Waugh is making a nice display of new novels, children's birthday and presentation books, parlour games, tiddledy winks, albums, birthday cards, toys etc, and invited a visit of inspection.

GAMES. GAMES. GAMES.

Tiddledywinks, Halma, Flirting Cricket, Flirting Football, Stanley's March, Reversi, Pagodah [,] Endless Chain Puzzle, etc.

H. I. JONES AND SON, BOOKSELLERS AND STATIONERS, PRINTERS & BOOKBINDERS, WANGANUI

MISS CARD

HAS received a New Supply of Fancy Goods and Toys, new Games, including Renersi [sic; correct= Reversi], Naval Manœvres, TIddledy-Winks, &c. [...]

MARKET STREET, NORTH

GAMES.—Immense variety, including Palmistry, Fortune Telling, Flirting, Tennis, Cricket, Football, Bogie Man, Chess, Halma, and Tiddledy Winks.

OAKEY'S BAZAAR.

Flitterkins, [...] Jumpkins, Tiddley Winks

Flitterkins, [...] Jumpkins, Tiddley Winks

Flitterkins, [...] Jumpkins, Tiddley Winks

WINTER FIRESIDE GAMES

All at 1/6, and played with a board.

Snakes and Ladders, Steeplechase, Hare and Tortoise, Hunt Cup, Lotto and Bowlette (Table Bowls).

VARIOUS GAMES.

Tiddledy Winks, 1/6; Word Making, 1/–; [...]

WILDMAN AND AREY, BOOKSELLERS, STATIONERS, AND PROPRIETORS AUCKLAND PICTURE POST CARD SHOP, VICTORIA ARCADE, SHORTLAND ST., AUCKLAND.

JAQUES' GAMES.

FOR WINTER EVENINGS

AN Immense Variety—Halma, Snap, Tiddledywinks, Reversi, Kono, Pirouette. Of all the Leading Fancy Dealers Throughout the Colonies.

Published by JAQUES and SON, LONDON.

See that Goods Bear the Name or they are not Genuine.

To pass long evenings we used to play tiddlywinks together

"Bertie," said the Queen to the Prince, "you do gamble. I have proof. Here, sir, is a poker chip I found in your pocket." "Nonsense, ma," said the Prince. "I've been playing tiddledywinks with Battenberg's babies."

Ladies Bicycle fitted with the patent emergency tube, which is admitted as the greatest and most userful invention ever introduced in connection with the Bicycles; also the popular indoor games—Ping Pong, Ludo, Tiddledy Winks, Dargai, Klondike; also agent for F. Howell and Co's celebrated English pianos. Terms easy. Inspection invited. G. INGALL, Red House—ADVT.

Article about the game, kusiko. The article appears in a women's column.

Coverage of the Northern Junior Tiddlywinks Championships

Coverage of the 1st World Singles match.

Refers to Kidley Wink (see Notes & Queries 4th S. x 5)

Description of undergraduates advocating more relaxed lifestyle by playing tiddlywinks (see Guy Consterdine's On the Mat)

John Evans of Wales sending Prince (Charles) of Wales a box of winks.

Photograph of the Cambridge University Tiddlywinks Club vs. Goons match held on 1 March 1958.

Brian Tyler, of Christ's College, Cambridge, who attended Wellingborough Grammar School, appeals to umpire Chris Brasher as Spike Milligan is about to infringe a rule in the tiddlywinks match between Cambridge University Tiddlywinks Club and the Goons, who were appointed by the Duke of Edinburgh to represent him. In spite of the Duke's instructions to "fiddle the game", the Goons lost the match. Proceeds were for the National Playing Fields Association.

Potting speed record mentioned.

Reports on Harry Secombe (one of the Goons) being Honorary President of ETwA

6th Northern Junior Tiddlywinks Championship.

Coverage of the Bombay Bowl match.

Coverage of the Third World Tiddlywinks Congress

Coverage of the England vs. Wales match.

Coverage of the Northern Junior Tiddlywinks Championships

Coverage of the First Irish Tiddlywinks Convention

Coverage of the Northern Junior Tiddlywinks Championships at Manchester

Coverage of ETwA's 1971 Tiddlywinks Congress

Coverage of the Northern Junior Tiddlywinks Championships

Coverage of the 1978 American tour of England (?)

Coverage of the World Singles match, Jon Mapley vs. Dave Lockwood, held in Cambridge, England.

PRINCE PHILIP has taken up arms over a criticism by Cambridge students that he ''sometimes cheats at tiddlywinks."

He is challenging the university to a "fight to the last tiddly," I learned last night.

The Prince will not take part himself in the contest, which will be held shortly at Cambridge. Instead, he has appointed the Goons to represent him—with Spike Milligan as skipper.

Confident

Milligan told me: "We shall certainly take the pants off the Light Blues. Prince Philip is expected to be there to sit in the jousting-box.

I have thrown down the gauntlet in no uncertain fashion. I bought a 17s. 9d. leather glove, real hide. It has gone by registered post to the captain of the Cambridge team." I am told Cambridge take their tiddly-winks seriously. But we shall win—with ease."

The tournament will raise money for the Prince's favourite charity, the National Playing Fields Association.

SO—Cambridge University tiddly-winks te am have taken up the gauntlet thrown down by Spike Milligan to a right to the last tiddly.

The match, for the National Playing Fields Association, comes in response to a conversation between Prince Philip and Milligan.

Milligan will captain the Goons—chosen as his champions by Prince Philip.

Yesterday Cambridge replied to Milligan:—

"Hear Ye. Spike Milligan. Be it known, mate, that ye Cambridge University tiddly-winks team taketh up ye gauntlet and will join battle with ye Royal Champion Goons early in the New Year."

The acceptance was signed "Earl Anundale," and the registered letter received by Milligan was tied with light blue ribbon and sealed with a light blue tiddly-wink.

A GUARDSMAN carried a heavy case into a West End office yesterday.

It contained two dozen bottles of Guinness and a message from Prince Philip. This read: "This should help your training diet for the contest Goons versus Cambridge University at tiddly-winks."

The recipient was Spike Milligan, who will skipper the Goons team of eight, nominated by the Prince as his champions, for the contest which will take place at Cambridge.

THE Yanks at Cambridge are taking over control of "Varsity," the university's weekly newspaper. on Saturday.

JONATHAN SPENCE, the present editor, explained yesterday: "It's only for a week—we wanted an educational supplement from the American angle, so fifteen American undergraduates will take over."

They are the most intelligent and vocal people in the university."

Educational supplement? The Yanks' first assignment…. a tiddly-winks match on Saturday between a university team and the B.B.C. Goons.

THERE'S trouble, I hear, between the men of Oxford and Cambridge all over who holds the world's tiddleywinks championship. Cambridge claimed the title after, beating the Goons, but lost a contest with Oxford yesterday.

So Oxford team captain Elliott Langford announced: "We are definitely claiming the title from Cambridge. We beat them 89 points to 87, playing to their rules during the first part of the contest, and drew 24 games each playing to our rules."

Indignant Cambridge secretary Peter Downes told me: "Oxford are beine small-minded about this. It was only an experimental game and we did not have out our strongest team."

Before the squabble the referee had said: "Tiddleywinks is extremely conducive to friendliness and develops rsportsmanship."

Apparently the teams didn't hear him.

Danny Blanchflower, Tottenham Hotspur's transfer-seeking footballer, is to be, one of umpires at the first official Oxford-Cambridge tiddly-winks match at Cambridge on February 26. The match is in aid of the National Playing Fields Association.

Cambridge University tiddlywinks team, which meets Oxford today in the first official match between the two universities, has been insured at Lloyd's. The policy: £250 a thumb.

Britain's tiddly winks players now have their own anthem I learned at last night's inter-university finals between Oxford and Edinburgh In Chelsea.

It has a strongly patriotic flavour, and is sung to the tune of "Men of Harlech." Sample verse:—

• Through this game of skill and power.
• Britain knows her finest hour.
• And her stronghold, shield and tower must be tiddly winks.

The composer is the former secretary-general of the Tiddly Winks Association, the Rev. E. A. Willis.

"The anthem is not all," said Undergraduate, Peter Freeman who captained the winning Oxford team." We have just applied to the blues committee at Oxford for authority to award a quarter-blue for all those who play for the university."

ONCE more they are squidging and squopping at Cambridge. And that means the tiddly-wink team is practising for its fourth annual match with Oxford. An extraordinary mystique seems to surround this event. Roger Hand, 22-year-old engineering student who captains this year's team, says: "We are training on carrots as an aid to eyesight and foolproof flipping." After that, who can laugh at Oxford's torpedo-boat attempt on the Boat-race?

Eight students from University College. London, flew off yesterday to compete against an Edinburgh University team—at tiddlywinks.

Reporing on the Silver Wink finals at Manchester (Winking World 6, page 1).

Reporting on the CUTwC-Goons match.

THE student protest movement, it seems, is now beginning to invade those bastions of conformity, the public schools.

The mode of protest is polite, but none the less positive. Pupils at a large public school in the Midlands rebelled against the "games cult" by holding a meeting identical to that used to confer sports colours—but the colours they awarded were for tiddleywinks.

Photograph of Jon Mapley (Winking World 32, page 6).

JONATHAN MAPLEY is the kind of man who's quite capable of nurdling you, boondocking your wink right off the mat, and then following up with [sic original="Carnouski" correct="Carnovsky"].

He's the British national tiddlywink champion, and—like the other devotees of this impressive game—he talks a language all his own.

"A [sic original="Carnouski" correct="Carnovsky"]?" he said when I talke to him during practice. "Well, [sic original="Carnouski" correct="Carnovsky"]is a bit of a legend among winkers. He was an American winker who put four out of six winks into the pot on his very first attempt. Never played again… said it was too easy."

Mapley—a 33-year-old chartered accountant from Withan, Essex—showed me his set of squidgers. "A squidger is the disc—plastic, bakelite, ivory—which a player uses to fire his circular winks. It's pressed down on the edge of the wink, to sent it various distances at varioius angles.

Simple

"Most winkers make their own squidgers," he said. "They're like a set of golf clubs—you like to have one for every possible shot. Each squidger must be between one and two inches in diameter."

One of the seven squidgers with which he recently won the British championship—at Southampton University was once a gaming chip. Another was an adapted button, and another a filed-down top from a drinks canister.

The remaing itddlywinks equipment is simple. There's a white felt mat, six feet by three, with a small pot in the centre. And there are four sets of six disc-like-winks, each set coloured green, yellow, red and blue.

You can win in two ways—with a series of successful squidge-offs in which you squidge all of your winks into the pot before your opponent does, or by playing your winks into a controlling position on top of your opponents winks so that he's paralysed.

This manoeuvre, a sort of winker-snooker, is called a squop.

"Each game has an umpire," said Mapley, "and no there's no winker Nastase. Mind you, one or two players are noted for hot temper.

"It can get tense if somebody gets boondocked—that's when you're squidged right off the mat. Or nurdled—that's when you're too close to the pot to do anything with your wink."

Mapley reckons there are about 500 really serious players in Britain—about 50 of them women.

They tend to belong to the brainy professions—chartered accountants, mathematicians, computer programmers. The runner-up in Mapley's championship was a lecturer in German.

Mapley himself has been playing for 19 years.

Scientific

"Of course it's more scientific now, at this level," he said. "There are shots played today that weren't dreamed of then."

Is there money in tiddlywinks?

"All, you win is a silver cup," said Mapley. "I think there's a bit of betting but it's strictly unofficial.

"Only in Britain and the United States play top tiddlywinks at the moment, but we'd welcome players from other countries.

Wait till the Chinese come with their exquisite d[...] jade squidgers and winks.

Its going to be a whole [new] squidge-off.

BRITAIN was flicked out of the world tlddlywinks" championshlps with a resounding squop yesterday.

The man who did the damage was America's Larry Kahn, who used his squldger to such great eflect that he retained hls title.

Countertng Larry's challenge, was Britain's [sic original="John" correct="Jon"] Mapley, a 37-year-oId chartered accountant from Witham, Essex.

And the two of them proved, if nothing else, that the game is Britain's worst spectator sport.

The total gate tor the event was eight. And most of them were public relatlons executives, who looked as If they would have preferred 40 winks.

But the lack of a good crowd did not deter [sic original="John" correct="Jon"] and Larry, a 31-year-old oceanographlst.

It was, after all, the 1984 Helneken World Tiddlywlnks championship and they were anxious to show what their right arms were really for.

Despite the brewer's backing, the emphasis was on the wink rather than the tiddly.

Using their squidgers with deft flicks of their supple wrists the two winkers attempted to "squop" each other's winks—to cover them with their own counter, preventing their opponent from having a clear shot at the "pot."

Then they would attempt a "desquop"—a shot which released one or more winks which had been previously squopped.

The turning point came In the third and fourth of the seven games when Larry built up a commandihg lead. The championship was 'hit, for nod and a wink.

But then the referee's stopwatch knocked over the pot, and the winks, In the sixth.

"What next?" exclaimed an exasperated and obviously put-out [sic original="John" correct="Jon"] Mapley.

The answer, with a neat plastic "schllp", was another of Larry's winks in the pot, and the beginning of the end for [sic original="John" correct="Jon"].

"I'm, not bitter about it really," he said afterwards.

The Americans have always been better winkers. They've held the title now for the past 11 years.

Coverage of Christine Barrie.

Charles is not the only Royal fan of The Goons. Back in 1958, students at the University of Cambridge challenged Prince Philip to a tiddlywinks match.

The Duke of Edinburgh appointed The Goons as his royal champions and they played the game on his behalf.

Refers to Kidley Wink.

Photograph of Stew Sage

Then I see that boxes are sold containing all the necessary materials for a game of "Tiddledy Winks," which is amusing enough, and consists, as most of us know, of a little round basin or cup, a number of counters, and two or four large round discs or counters, called "fliippers," for with these the little counteres are to be flipped into the basin, and those who flip in the most get the game. Just now we are all charmed with an enlarged and improved "Tiddledy Winks," introduced to us from Oxford by a certain "don," who says grave and reverend seigneurs delight in thus excercising their skill when unobserved by undergrads or scouts.

About CUTwC sherry party.

This Club aims at creating history for this much-neglected yet skilful game, a game which requires self-control, dexterity, and a keen sense of direction. It is a new venture and it will be difficult to find opponents

About World Single 51.

After the death of Spike Milligan

Local historian Mike Petty takes a look at a celebrated day of reckoning in Cambridge with protagonists fuelled by Babycham and Guiness University 'winkers' in action THE headlines last week were dominated by the news of the death of Spike Milligan, the last of the Goons, and the tribute paid to him by one of his greatest fans, Prince Charles. Then came the furore caused by a flippant remark in Australia about Aborigines by Prince Philip, who is among other things Chancellor of Cambridge University. But there is a connection between the university, the Prince and the Goons that seems so far to have gone unrecorded and it concerns the ancient sport of tiddlywinks The pastime was first patented in London in 1888. It essentially consists of teams competing to squidge winks into a pot, players take turns and the first one to get them all in wins. Not much to it, you might think. But then in 1955 great academic brains did begin to think about the technicalities and at Cambridge University a group of undergraduates got together to form a club for the sole purpose of playing tiddlywinks. It was the first in history but being the first they had great difficulty in finding other groups to play against.

Report that Patrick Barrie and Ed Wynn are the tiddly wink world pairs winners.

TIDDLYWINKS champions will squidge off in an attempt to score the most tiddlies in Cambridge this weekend.

The city responsible for bringing the game out of the nursery and turning it into a "serious" sport will host the tiddlywinks national singles championship on Saturday and Sunday.

American Larry Kahn will be defending his world title in face of fierce opposition from Britain's Andy Purvis in the world singles match tomorrow, before the country's best players battle it out over the following two days.

January is the 50th anniversary of modern tiddlywinks. Although the first patent for the game was taken out in [sic original="1879" correct="1888"], today's version was invented by Cambridge University students Bill Steen and Rick Martin in January 1955.

The students wanted to play a game at which they could represent the university in a Varsity Match against Oxford, explained Charles Relle, from the English Tiddlywinks Association.

"In those days people thought that you had to have a degree and a Cambridge Blue at some sport and Bill Steen thought he was hopeless at all games so he thought he'd invent one of his own," he said.

The Cambridge University Tiddlywinks Club was formed and took off—at its peak it had more than 200 paid-up members.

"Many take it up as a joke and find they like the company and that it's a worthwhile game," said Mr Relle, who started playing when he was a student at Trinity.

"A lot of us play bridge or chess or Go and we just find tiddlywinks rather more relaxing! It is meant to be sociable and it is meant to be fun."

He said players were mostly university teachers, students, computer professionals, accountants, and people with a maths or science background.

Sadly the numbers belonging to the Cambridge University Tiddlywinks Club have dwindled to about 25 today.

"It was most popular during the 60s, less so now, I think, because it is students who tend to get into it and they are all burdened with debt and can't travel for matches," said Mr Relle.

* Anyone wishing to watch the championships can do so at the Bowett Room, Queens' College, Cambridge, on Saturday from 10.15am-6pm and Sunday from 12.15-6pm.

BRITAIN has taken the world title in singles tiddlywinks.

Brit Andy Purvis went head to head against American Larry [sic original="Khan" correct="Kahn"] who was defending his world title. Andy won by 30 and a third to 11 and two thirds.

Yesterday's big match, staged at Queens' College, Cambridge, was played before the country's best players battle it out in the national singles championships this weekend.

Andy, a lecturer at Imperial College London, became hooked on the game almost 20 years ago as a student at Cambridge University, where today's version was invented.

"It's a brilliant game which deserves to be taken seriously. It is complex and quite creative. There is a lot of strategy but it is not frustrating like chess because you can recover from mistakes, or like professional snooker which is impossible for a mortal to play," said a triumphant Andy.

Larry [sic original="Khan" correct="Kahn"] has also been playing for 20 years but unlike his British opponent, spends at least an hour a day practising in the run up to a big game.

"If I don't practise there's no point in me playing," said Larry. "I want to show up and play well but I always really enjoy it." Many serious players, like Larry, have their own squidgers, which vary for different shots. Larry makes his own. "It is a bit like golf, you have different clubs for different shots," he said.

* January is the 50th anniversary of modern tiddlywinks, invented by Cambridge University students Bill Steen and Rick Martin.

TWO teams battled it out in Cambridge to celebrate the 50th anniversary of tiddlywinks.

England took on the United States at Queens' College, Cambridge, yesterday in a match involving some of the world's top players.

And the home team emerged as the clear winners by a resounding margin of 149 2/3 to 74 1/3.

Patrick Barrie, England team captain, said: "It is a tremendous performance for the England team to win by such a margin."

The match, held in the Bowett Room of the college, was part of a week-long series of matches organised to mark the anniversary of a sport invented in Cambridge.

Two former Queens' College students, Bill Steen and Rick Martin, invented the modern game in 1955 when they decided they needed a game they could beat Oxford University at.

Stewart Sage, senior treasurer of Cambridge University Tiddlywinks Club, said: "The international matches are like the Ryder Cup in golf.

"They are a mixture of singles and pairs and they are quite rare because they are between teams of eight.

"The public often don't understand it, which is a problem because they mostly associate it with the children's game. They don't appreciate that it is a very complex game.

"It is a tactical and strategic game as well as a game of skill. The children's game is simply about putting the wink into the pot whereas the adult game is much more serious than that."

The international match is the first since 1985 and although American winkers are regularly in Britain to play in tournaments, a team game is very rare.

The National Pairs Championship and World Masters were decided earlier this week and today the Cambridge Open Tournament was being held at Fitzpatrick Hall, Queens' College.

The light-hearted tournament is open to everyone, with partners and opponents drawn at random.

ROYAL champions clashed winks with students once again in honour of when the Goons took on Cambridge University 50 years ago.

Back in 1958, the fledgling Cambridge University Tiddlywinks Club challenged the Duke of Edinburgh to scotch rumours he cheated at tiddlywinks and invited him to nominate champions in his stead if he was unwilling to play.

Those champions were the Goons - Spike Milligan, Peter Sellars [sic correct=Sellers] and Harry Secombe.

Bill Steen, Lawford Howells, Graham Ridge, David Moreton and Peter Downes. They lost but the match inspired an episode of the Goon Show in which Ned Seagoon challenges the tiddlywinks club to a leaping contest in revenge for their defeat.

Bill Steen and Lawford Howells, founder members of the club, were at Emmanuel College for the anniversary match along with Graham Ridge, David Moreton and Peter Downes from the original 1958 team.

Bill said: "There have been a lot of surprises in my life and one is to come back to Cambridge after 40 years and find there is still a club here and it is still thriving."

He described the match against the Goons as "one of the most extraordinary events in my life".

The club challenged Prince Philip after spotting an article in The Spectator entitled Does Prince Philip cheat at tiddlywinks?

Recalling how the original match in the Guildhall came about, Lawford said: "We wrote a letter to the Duke that night.

"We regretted there was some doubt as to his integrity in playing the noble sport of tiddlywinks and we offered the services of our club to help him scotch the rumour once and for all by playing a match with us.

"We also said royalty in the past used to appoint champions to represent them if they didn't want to do whatever it was themselves, and if he wished to appoint champions, we would be happy to play them."

They knew the challenge had been accepted when they received a left- handed leather gauntlet through the post with a letter from Spike Milligan.

As the Goons have since met their demise, new champions had to be appointed for Saturday's match.

This time, Prince Philip sent ambassadors in the form of four members of London's Savage Club, of which he is a member - the gentlemen's club was founded in 1857 "in the pursuit of happiness".

The Cambridge team came out the happiest, winning the match 24-18.

Sarah Knight, captain and ex-president of the club, said: "It's really exciting to be able to recreate such an historic event."

Craig Barrett, captaining the Savage Club team, said: "We don't have a lot to live up to, after the Goons also lost pretty badly."

Flitterkins listed in advertisement.

CHRISTMAS GAMES.—Tiddlediwinks, Ludo, Jack o' Rinks, Chop Sticks, Halma, Flitterkins, Pliffkins, Bumblepuppy, Skipit, Ducdame, Solitaire, Patches, Dominoes, Draughts, and others—all 1s each.

Flitterkins listed in advertisement.

CHRISTMAS GAMES.—Tiddlediwinks, Ludo, Jack o' Rinks, Chop Sticks, Halma, Flitterkins, Pliffkins, Bumblepuppy, Skipit, Ducdame, Solitaire, Patches, Dominoes, Draughts, and others—all 1s each.

Flitterkins listed in advertisement.

CHRISTMAS GAMES.—Tiddlediwinks, Ludo, Jack o' Rinks, Chop Sticks, Halma, Flitterkins, Pliffkins, Bumblepuppy, Skipit, Ducdame, Solitaire, Patches, Dominoes, Draughts, and others—all 1s each.

About Jon Mapley in the English National Singles.

Letter in reply to 17 February 1988 article.

Regarding Christine Barrie as the first female ETwA Chairman.

About the hamlet in Wiltshire called Tiddleywink.

Cambridge University Tiddlywinks Club may have been founded in 1954, but King's College played Newnham 10 years earlier (Pass Notes, G2, October 26). King's lost. I know, because I had to engrave the King's College crest on the commemorative wink they were presented with.

David Turner

Derby

Patrick We met at a tiddlywinks tournament. It's very strategic, tactical, not just flicking plastic discs around. It's tense—some matches depend on the very last shot. Now we have a two-year-old son, there might some day be another tiddlywinks player in the family. We'll get him started on easier games like bridge and chess.

Christine He is a great partner to play with. I was a good potter, which means I was good at getting the winks in the pot. But he's good at everything—squops, potting, strategy, boondocking—and he has such concentration. He knows exactly which move to play, and he practises after dinner. We won the National US Pairs in 1998. We make a good team.

Squop, scrunge and wink

Juliet Rix

My family has just rediscovered tiddlywinks. I'm not sure why sending little coloured discs of plastic plinking into a pot - or not as the case may often be - is quite so amusing, but it is.

Tiddlywinks goes back to Victorian times (patented as Tiddledy Winks in 1888) but the modern game began with some unathletic 1950s Cambridge undergraduates in search of a sport at which they could represent the university. The official game (yes, there are national and international tournaments!) is played on a felt mat 1.8m by 0.9m with a pot in the middle and base lines at each corner. There are four colours (blue, green, red and yellow) and you can play in pairs or singles. The idea is to use a squidger (large plastic disc) to flick winks (small plastic discs) into the pot, or to squop - ie wreck your opponents chances by landing your wink on top of his.

We play obstacle tiddlywinks, where glasses, books, mobile phones or whatever else happens to be on the kitchen table stays put and we have to flick our winks over or round them. We are very good at the scrunge (where the wink bounces out of the pot) but haven't quite worked out the boondock!

The national tiddlywinks pairs championship is on April 28-29 at Selwyn College, Cambridge. The English Tiddlywinks Association: etwa.org

Coverage of the Manchester Open tournament.

Reprint of the article that appeard in the Manchester Guardian, 14 May 1958.

Spoof, Tiddledy Winks, Flitterkins, etc. in an advertisement

Tiddledy Winks, Flitterkins, etc. in an advertisement.

T. E. BOX & CO., COMMERCIAL AND FANCY STATIONERS, PRINTERS, BOOKBINDERS, &c.

PLAYING CARDS FROM 8d. PER PACK. BEZIQUE, CHESS, DOMINOES, DRAUGHTS, HALMA, TIDDLEY-WINKS, REVERSI, KHAN-LOO, And all the Newest Games for Indoor Amusement.

T. E. BOX & CO., COMMERCIAL AND FANCY STATIONERS, PRINTERS, BOOKBINDERS, &c.

PLAYING CARDS FROM 8d. PER PACK. BEZIQUE, CHESS, DOMINOES, DRAUGHTS, HALMA, TIDDLEY-WINKS, REVERSI, KHAN-LOO, And all the Newest Games for Indoor Amusement.

T. E. BOX & CO., COMMERCIAL AND FANCY STATIONERS, PRINTERS, BOOKBINDERS, &c.

PLAYING CARDS FROM 8d. PER PACK. BEZIQUE, CHESS, DOMINOES, DRAUGHTS, HALMA, TIDDLEY-WINKS, REVERSI, KHAN-LOO, And all the Newest Games for Indoor Amusement.

USA 2010 World Championship bid made possible for England team by an Isle of Wight business.

Isle of Wight Eco-clothing company, Rapanui, have sponsored the England team heading to the World Tiddlywinks championship.

Rapanui Sponsors UK Tiddlywinks World Championsip Team

Rather than sponsoring the over-glossy world of some sports, the boys behind Rapanui, Rob and Martin Drake-Knight, decided to get more real about it.

They say they wanted to, “find honest, real people who are passionate about their sport in a way that reflects an honest approach business, the environment and life.”

Boffins galore

The brothers found Dr Patrick Barrie, a Chemical Engineer from Cambridge University and multiple Tiddlywinks world champion, then recruited the rest of the English Tiddlywinks national squad, who happen to be some of our country’s brightest scientific minds.

Along with Dr Stew Sage, Patrick worked with Rapanui to develop some cutting-edge performance eco-wear for the tournament, design a new logo and tactical formation.

The England team flew out to America for the world championships in the USA this week.

Last match a “comfortable win”

The last tournament, in 2005, ended with a comfortable win over the Americans by the England team, and it’s likely that the World-tiddly-trophy will be returning to England in the hands of some eco-textiles wearing Englishmen soon.

Rob Drake-Knight said, “They’ve won more times than they’ve lost – this makes them the most successful England team in all international sport.”

US vs UK – “Classic grudge match”

Multiple world champion and Rapanui ambassador, Dr Patrick Barrie, explains the feeling in the English camp, “England vs US is a classic grudge match. It’s the oldest rivalry in tiddlywinks history and we’re all excited to fly the flag for England – I would cross my fingers but we can’t risk an injury.”

PARLOUR GAMES. By F. G. Green.

An entirely new book for Winter evenings, The Games dealt with include Halma, Chivalry, Race Games, Campaigning, Ludo, Checkmate, Tiddledy-Winks, Colorito, Reversi, Go-Bang, Khanhoo, Penchant, etc., etc.

London: DEAN and SON, Limited, 160a, Fleet-street, E.C.

PARLOUR GAMES. By F. G. Green.

An entirely new book for Winter evenings, The Games dealt with include Halma, Chivalry, Race Games, Campaigning, Ludo, Checkmate, Tiddledy-Winks, Colorito, Reversi, Go-Bang, Khanhoo, Penchant, etc., etc.

London: DEAN and SON, Limited, 160a, Fleet-street, E.C.

Despite their defeat at Cambridge last week, I hear that the Goons, official tiddlywinks champions of Prince Phillip, may have another match on their hands… with an American team

Members of a New York stage play, lamenting the fact that tiddlywinks is a vanishing art in America, have begun training, and a challenge has been sent to the Prince and the Goons.

The U.S. coach, Arthur Reel, said one of his team has developed a grid-table which makes it possible to measure where a wink falls.

This information can be transmitted accurately by telephone or cable.

"It's as easy as reading a map," he said.

The way I imagine the Goons would read a map, Mr. Reel, doesn't make it quite so simple.

Pale and nervous by the decision she must face, Bobo Sigrist sought my advice: "Should I squop with my squidger?"

"I should pot if I were you," I said. "The general is too good at winking."

It was all very serious—this practice session for the world tiddlywinks championship.

Prince Phillip's team were in training for tomorrow's game against Cambridge University, who, need I say, are already champions of the universe.

General Sir Hugh Stockwell, captain of the Prince's team, marshalled his men in the Empress Club yesterday for a final practice.

"I brought my own winks," he said. "They're loaded."

Lord Strathcarron was there. So was 21-year old Lord Valentine Thynne, who said: "The last time I played was with my nursemaid. I think I won."

Terry-Thomas, very properly, was serious about the whole business, and film producer Kevin McClory arrived. with Bobo Sigrist.

This was an event not strictly on the schedule because tiddlywinks, as played under international rules tomorrow, will be a strictly stag affair.

Bobo and I were roped in because three of the eight-man team could not make it.

* To squop—to cover up an opponent's wink. Squidging—the action of firing the wink towards the pot.

Twenty-year-old Mary Otto, of St. Hilda's College, is the only woman in the undefeated Oxford University tiddlywink first team which meets Cambridge University in the all-England championship at Oxford today.

Captain of the winks Rodney Sutton, of Hertford College, said: "We have strict equality of the sexes in tiddlywinks. Mary has won her place on merit. She is a very sensitive winker.

Quote from Pam Knowles (cited in Winking World 36, page 1)

About Christine Barrie being the first female ETwA Chairman

NOW READY, NEW EDITION.

AQUES and SON'S LIST of NEW GAMES.

JUST PUBLISHED.

Ducdamé, Corkitts, Halma, Pliffkins, Bumble Puppy, Flitter- kins, Reversi. Patchesi, and Tiddledy Winks, 1s., 2s. 6d., 5s., and up. Chopsticks, 3s. 6d., 5s.; and many others. May be seen at all Fancy Dealers'.

London: Jaques and Son, 102, Hatton-garden.

NOW READY, NEW EDITION.

AQUES and SON'S LIST of NEW GAMES.

JUST PUBLISHED.

Ducdamé, Corkitts, Halma, Pliffkins, Bumble Puppy, Flitter- kins, Reversi. Patchesi, and Tiddledy Winks, 1s., 2s. 6d., 5s., and up. Chopsticks, 3s. 6d., 5s.; and many others. May be seen at all Fancy Dealers'.

London: Jaques and Son, 102, Hatton-garden.

NEW GAMES. JAQUES and SON'S CATALOGUE post free. Ducdamé, Corkitta, Bumble Puppy, Pliffkins, Halma, Tiddledy Winks, Flitterkins, Reversi, Patchesi, &c. From 1s. upwards. Of all dealers.-JAQUES and SON, Hatton-garden,

NEW GAMES. JAQUES and SON'S CATALOGUE post free. Ducdamé, Corkitta, Bumble Puppy, Pliffkins, Halma, Tiddledy Winks, Flitterkins, Reversi, Patchesi, &c. From 1s. upwards. Of all dealers.-JAQUES and SON, Hatton-garden,

NEW GAMES. JAQUES and SON'S CATALOGUE post free. Ducdamé, Corkitta, Bumble Puppy, Pliffkins, Halma, Tiddledy Winks, Flitterkins, Reversi, Patchesi, &c. From 1s. upwards. Of all dealers.-JAQUES and SON, Hatton-garden,

—Somewhat further East, in Hatton-garden, Messrs. Jaques show all that is new for indoor games. There are no shop-windows to indicate to the passer-by the stores of ingenious inventions by which a long evening may be whiled away in the dining or drawing room. We have now not only parlour billiards and lawn bowls, but a parlour curling pond which permits the game of curling in drawing rooms or corridors on prepared cloth over which the stones slide. The "Moorish Fort" is a new round game, played on an ordinary table, the players aiming their balls with a small rest to the centre of the citadel. Some of the old- fashioned games are in as much demand as ever. Bumble Puppy, Tiddledy Winks, and Parlor Tema losing none of their popularity. Halma also holds its own side by with Fletterkins [sic correct=Flitterkins] and the Butterfly Hunt. The latter is a comparatively new game, and it requires a good deal of skill to net five butterflies out of six.

About the Duke of Kent interest in tiddlywinks

[page=198 column=3]No, that is not my sort of quiet, healthful Saturday afternoon. I prefer to [page=199 column=2] stick to tiddlywinks, which I see has been brought into prominence as an athletic sport by Oxford and Cambridge. It is not, however, the only manly sport in which they engage. They are a little more strenuous on the Thames, and the whole of London (entertainment tax or no entertainment tax) turns out to see how strenuous they are.

About the debate on changing of game's name

Depicts various teams in the lobby of the Hotel Continental Geneva, Switzerland.

HOTEL CONTINENTAL GENEVA

Rooms

SOVIET QUOITS TREAM

RUSSIAN TIDDLYWINKS SQUAD

VOLGA DARTS LEAGUE

THE WEST

CCCP CRIBBAGE GRAND MASTER

About CUTwC's challenge to play the Goons.

Frivolous account of the CUTwC-Goons match.

What is the origin of the tiddlywinks term 'nurdled'?

The word 'nurdled' has a mixed pedigree. The Longman Register of New Words records its usage in cricket as meaning 'to score runs with small pushes and deflections', usually implying a rather boring accumulation of runs, generally used in alliterative tandem with words like 'nick' and 'nudge'. I have also seen it used in snooker reports, especially in relation to Steve Davis and the meticulous percentage game in which he still excels, and in rugby union, when a team plays a very tight game in order to capitalise on opponents' errors. - Harry Smyth, Newcastle upon Tyne.

The Goons were loyal to Geldray and, in 1958, when the BBC proposed to drop him from the next series, Sellers said he would not participate if they did. He won the day. Although Geldray was given the occasional line, he was no actor. He did represent the Goons' team at a tiddlywinks championship in Cambridge in 1959.

Next Wednesday could have been a significant date in the history of this country. And we are not talking about the Budget. March 16 was scheduled to be the final meeting of the Cambridge University Tiddlywinks Club.

Next Wednesday could have been a significant date in the history of this country. And we are not talking about the Budget. March 16 was scheduled to be the final meeting of the Cambridge University Tiddlywinks Club.

This venerable institution has fallen on hard times. Membership has collapsed and apathy reigns among those "winkers" who remain. The inter-college championship has not been contested since 1998. Many say that the natural next step is to disband the club. Such a drastic move has - thankfully - been declared unconstitutional, but the threat that Cambridge winking may soon die out remains.

Cambridge has been the spiritual home of tiddlywinks since it was invented in its modern form half a century ago. If the Cambridge Club falls into desuetude, the whole fragile edifice could come crashing down.

This cannot be allowed to happen. Someone of stature must step in to save this noble sport. What better way for the Chancellor to open his Budget speech next week than to announce a tax break for British tiddlywinks?

Cambridge University Tiddlywinks Club, founded in 1955, is facing closure due to apathy.

The name of a horse.

Name of horse - age - st[one] - lb

Tiddledy Winks.. a 11 0

Some Cup Holders 1917

British Ping-Pong Champion

British Puff Billiards Champion

British Tiddley Winks Champion

British Golf Croquet Champion

British Table Polo Champion

The moral of all this is that we must either make up our minds to take our lives in our hands when we indulge in sport, or we must devote ourselves to its sedentary forms. It is evidently in games where you move about that the danger comes in, but we do not remember to have heard of anyone receiving injuries of, a fatal or even a serious nature while playing draughts, tiddledywinks, or beggar-my-neighbour. Stilt there is always an opponent’s temper to be reckoned with, and, perhaps, bearing this in mind, games for one are. the safest.

Patience, which has many attractive forms, and solitaire may be recommended as amusements to those who wish to avoid the element of danger in sport, but we doubt whether they will make any serious inroads on other recognised forms of recreation. Perhaps after all It is as well that the nation should retain in its character something of the dare-devil strain.

PROGRESSIVE GAMES.

“How do you eat it—with cream and a spoon?” asked the boy.

“Dick !” said his aunt reproachfully.

“Well, there, are a lot of game arranged at different tables,” she explained. “Fish-ponds at one, the race game at another, spellicans at a third, tiddley winks at a fourth, puff-and-dart at a fifth, wall quoits , at a sixth and so on, and you each have a programme given you for your score.

“The score?”

“Yes, you get marks at each table proportionate to the amount of success you attain at each game, and the prize-winners are those girls and boys who receive the greatest number of marks for the whole series.”

But do we all start at the same table ?”

“No, you enter in pairs and draw lots for the table you start at. Suppose you two started at the fox and geese table (No. 8), you would, of course, go on to table nine, which might be bagatelle, and so on, working round until you got back to where you started. By having just twice as many guests as there are games there is no waiting, and plenty of opportunity of suiting all tastes.

”Margie, get out the speilicans ! I must get some practice with the niblick.”

”And so must I, Dick.”

We leave the children happy in the thought of this progressive game party, a successful blend of many toys.

I 'd just finished sorting out this rubbish business when Liz came in with a letter: "Looks like another invitation," she said. "Open It,"" says I. "It may be about one of these big sporting junkets taking place next week."

"Liz read it ,and a slow smile curled itself round her [sic pan]; "Yes—, it's a sporting invitatlon," she said. ""Just your line of country, too."

"I reached for it, suspiciously."

"It was from the Cambridge Unjversity Tiddleywinks Club, ask­ing me if I could knock up a team to play them."

"PerIshing Impertinence!" I roared. What makees them think I am the chap to get in touch with on the matter of tiddleywlnks?What Is thls—a conpiracy?"

"Take it easy," grinned Liz.. "They p r o b a b l y play it the strenuous way."

Account of CUTwC's first tiddlywinks match, against the Daily Mirror's Whitcomb's Winkers.

WHAT with all the fuss about Gordon Pirie beating the Hungarian runners Royal Ascot being postponed a notable sporting event this week has so far gone unnoticed.

I refer to the terrific tiddlywinks match—a thrilling struggle—between the World Champions, Cambridge University Tlddlywinks Club, and Whltcomb's Winkers—an up and coming team In the tiddly world.

The match was fixed when science-student Bill Steen, President of Cambridge University Tlddlywlnks Club, rang me early in the week.

OLD CLUB TIE

" We're an official club," said Bill. " In fact, we're applying to the University authorities for a quarter-blue, and we have club writing-paper and a specially designed club tie—a gold ' C.U.Tw.C' on a blue background.

"We're world champs at the moment because we can't find any challengers," said Bill. " Not even the Americans will play us. And Oxford simply can't knock up a team."

"I'll fix that." says I. "How about bringing the team to London for a World Championship match against my own tlddlywink experts, the Whitcomb Winkers?"

So we arranged it. With Machiavellian cunning I fixed the day after the end-of-term ball at Cambridge, when I figured the lads would be pretty tired.

I then cast around for some other ploy of gamesmanship to ensure victory for our side. At last I hit upon it, " I'll have eight smashing girls in my team," I said to myself. "So that when they get down on the floor to play, the Cambridge lads will be so put off their tiddles hey won't get a wink in edgeways.

" At the same time I will organise a cocktail party for the lads—before and during tihe match—which should take care of the World Championship for Whitcomb…"

ALAS! Even the best laid sporting strategies can go awry. We lost— but what a battle. (And what a helluva good party, too !)

I rang up all! the girls I could think of who looked as though they'd be good at such indoor sports as tiddly-winks, and gathered a team that the Folies-Bergere would have been proud of.

'The title hoiders nearly lost

There was Margot Holden, from the Windmill ("We, Never Clothed") Theatre;

Jackie Collins and Christina Lubicz, a couple of Bill Watts's most promising young starlets;

Film star Pat Dainton and cabaret star Yana, from the Pigalle, and two "daughters of Eve"—Pat Gibson and Jay Hart, from the Eve Ciub—who usually appear clad in bright smiles.

Also Colleen Pexter, just over from South Africa, after winning the Hibiscus beauty competition, as a prize for which she is staying at the Savoy for a month while she works as a model for Norman Hartnell…

IN HOT PURSUIT

And last—but by no perishing means least—Teri Harrison, a honey-brunette from British Guiana, who is over here studying acting and dancing.

As the sun set on a perfect June evening. Whitcomb's Winkers—looking smashing in model gowns—arrived at Ye Olde Cock Tavern in the heart of London's newspaperland, and repaired to the tiddlywinks room.

They were hotly followed (and I'm not kidding) by the eight young champions from Cajnbridge—wearing their elegant blue and gold " C.U.Tw.C." ties—who were already beginning to lose interest in tiddlywinks.

"Do all your team know how to play " I was asked. suspiciously, by Rikki Martin, Cambridge club secretary.

"They're all tiddly experts," I nodded, bringing over Teri Harrison. "You can play tiddlywinks, can't you, Teri ? I asked.

"If you can, I can," grinned Teri. "What is it?"

To avoid any further awkward questions I declared the bar open, and the visiting team laid down their four championship mats—very smart Cambridge-blue jobs, specially designed for tiddlywinks. "We split up Into four pairs, now," beamed a young undergraduate called John Rilett, collecting pint with one hand and Margot Hoiden with the other. "Then we all get down on the floor and lay out our winks!"

Teri Harrison looked at me doubtfully.

"Not to worry." says I, "The winks are the little round counters, and the big round ones are called squidgers.

FLICK 'EM!

"You flick the little 'uns with the big 'uns, and try to get them into the cup in the centre of the mat."

"Half a moment," cut in David Arundale, from Cambridge. "You've got ten on your side. The proper team is eight."

"Two reserves," I explained, "in case some of us find it too exhausting."

Margot Hoiden whispered in my ear: "Ever since I played in cabaret at Cambridge University I've rooted for Oxford in the boat race. I hope the tiddlywinks team aren't so rough as the other lot."

They weren't, by golly! In fact. they were such perfect young gentlemen that Whitcomb's cunning strategy nearly came off— they helped the girls to get their winks in first.

Only just in time—as I sent the waiter round again—did they discover that some of the girls were secret tiddlywinkers and that the champions were in danger of losing.

After Margot Holden won two games straight off—she has a fine eye for a wink—and Pat Dainton showed a clean pair of heels to Roger Parker and Brian Tyler, they rallied just ih time.

And by the time the Marquis of Milford Haven wandered in with painter Vasco Lazzolo, Whitcomb's Winkers were vanquished —nine games to three.

THE MASCOT

But—as the waiter went round again, and the visiting team chaired Teii Harrison as their future mascot—everyone agreed that (even though skipper Whitcomb himself is no smart flicker), it was the tiddliest game of winks that the world champs had ever played.

L. M. HOWELLS, Cambridge University Tiddly winks Club. Christ's College. C a m b r i d g e, writes:

We appreciated that mention of tiddlywinks In your column recently.

We started our club three years ago and carried out research into such factors as the flight, spin and roll of a tiddlywink.

We have a set of rules. but these differ from those used by Oxford University and some boys' clubs in the Bristol area.

It is to correct this state of affairs which threatens the progress of this noble—nay, royal!—sport that we are holding the First World Tiddlywink Congress in Cambridge in June.

Happy, winking to all delegates sir!

Report on CUTwC to challenge the Goons.

I HEAR that the GOONS have been dropped as the DUKE OF EDINBURGH'S tiddleywink champions.

The reason: Their crushing defeat last year by the Cambridge University Tiddleywinks Club by sixteen games to two.

The Duke's new champions, who will meet Cambridge in a charity contest in aid of the National Playing Fields Association, come from a Berkeley-street luncheon and dining club. They are training—on champagne.

RESPLENDENT in Royal Marines dress uniform and White pith helmet, Lance-Corporal GORDON CARTER bugled the "alert" to a titled dinner-jacketed audience at London's Empress Club last nlght.

It was the start of the World Championship Tiddleywinks Match between the holders, Cambridge University, and the Empress Club, challengers.

Said Carter: "I feel a proper 'nana&hellips; I thought tiddleywinks was a children's game."

He mopped his brow, took off his helmet, swallowed a double shot of rum, and added: "To think that my General, SIR HUGH STOCKWELL… I served at Suez under him… should be playing tiddleywinks."

Tactics

THE corporal, on a special assignment from Eastleigh Barracks, near Portsmouth, glanced at the shirtsleeved general sporting crimson braces, crouching over the tiddleywinks table, and said:

"Well, I'll get a night's leave out of it at home in Welwyn Garden City."

Sir Hugh Stockwell, G.O.C. Ground Forces in the Suez operation three years ago, who captained the Club team, fingered a green tiddleywink and told me:

"You have to use tactics in this game, my boy. I practised here very seriously on Sunday.

"I'm rather good at squopping:—it means landing your wink on top of your opponent's…"

Philip's Cable

WHILE the general's team including LORD STRATH-CARRON, LORD VALENTINE THYNNE, DENIS COMPTON, the EARL OF KIMBERLEY, and TERRY-THOMAS battled against a determined Cambridge, a cable arrived from the Royal yacht Brittania.

It was from PRINCE PHILIP—whose pet charity the Playing Fields Association got last night's proceeds.

It said: I expect this contest to be played in the usual thoroughly unsportsmanlike, manner of all great tiddieywink matches.

"I chose the Empress Club as my champions because they are capable of an even dirtier game than the Goons.

"They had better win or I shall withdraw their winking licence."

Cambridge winked home easily. Over to you, sir!

WELL, squop me! If this isn't the craziest idea in international relations yet…

Squopping, of course, is a tiddlywinks expression for [sic original="stymying" correct="stymying"] your opponent by covering his wink with your wink. And here is a new idea—which might be called "Togetherness with Tiddlywinks"—by eight British youngsters who set off next month on a world trip.

Their idea Is to unite people everywhere in common understanding through the simple sociable game of tiddlywinks.

Best Way

THE group's leader, tall, ex-Army officer GERRY HUGHES, Master of Arts, Oxford, who has no particular job at the moment; told me:

"This is the best way for making contact with people, from ambassadors to Aborigines.

From remote jungle villages to cities, we will make friendly contact by playing tiddlywinks.

Even if we can't speak their language."

Girls

THE group consists of three girls in their twenties, and five young men, who foregather in London's Fulham.

They have already raised £2,700 for the trip, and they have converted two Land Rovers into travelling homes.

"The Twinkers," as they call themselves, have all given up their jobs for adventure.

They include secretaries, surveyors, a travel agent, a farmer and a schoolteacher

Practising

Two of the team are getting married tomorrow before they leave. They are pretty blue-eyed teacher DEBBIE COUTTS, who Is twenty-four. and Worcestershire round farmer TONY CARR, who Is twenty-five.

Debbie told me yesterday: "We have been practising hard at tiddlywinks.

"I'm sure we'll help world understanding."

Well, the way things are the world, Ike and Mr. K. perhaps could do worse than play tiddlywinks.

JOE LOSS and orchestra have been busy squidging and squopping between dance sessions. Translation: Playing tiddlywinks. "We play Cambridge University on Saturday," Joe told me.

PETER DOWNES, chairman of the English Tiddleywinks Association, plans a major reform in the game. He feels the word "tiddley" puts people off. So his association Is asking all players to call the game "Winks."

THE squidgers and squoppers were worried. All the bite had gone out of their game.

As an exciting spectacle the pastime of tiddly winks was dying…

Time after time games ended without a wink in the pot. And the squoppers were the flrst lo admit—it was their fault, they were too good.

For the squoppers' job is tn stop their opponents from aiming for the pot by covering their winks as the little counters are called.

When a wink is covered by an opponent's wink, it is impossible to squidge—that is, to shoot— for the pot.

So a world congress was called. The aim was brighter tiddlywinks. It was essential that there should be more shots at the pots.

The experts decided that the only way was to give a points incentive to players who got all their winks in the pot within twenly minutes.

"It was rather like a blanket defence in football," explained Mr. Peter Downes, Manchester schoolmaster and vice-president of the English Tiddlywinks Association, last night.

"Defensive play was threalening to spoil the game as a spectacle.

"Matches ended without a wink in the pot because players covered their opponents' winks and prevented them making; shots.''

Next week, the first championship under the new rules will be held in Manchester.

Eighty competitors from schools and youth clubs will fight for the Northern Tiddlywink Crown.

CAMBRlDGE University defeated Iheir archrivals, Oxford, at the week-end in a three-hour tiddlywinks battle.

It was the first win In three years for Cambridge In their annual tiddlvwinks contest—and the biggest victory by any team in six years.

Cambridge followed up their success yesterdav bv beating Sussex in the Prince Philip Silver Wink competition between thirty of Britain's universities.

ROYAL ENGLISH OPERA, COVENT-GARDEN.—The pantomine here is by Mr. Henry J. Byron, and is entitled, ”Harlequin Beauty and the Beast; or The Gnome Queen and the Good Fairy”—a subject well known to the juvenile world. [...] Square Tiddlywinks and his manservant, Muddlehead, are returning home in the family gig, when a high wind drives them into an enchanted wood [...]

ROYAL ENGLISH OPERA.—“Harlequin Beauty and the Beast; or, the Gnome Queen and the Good Fairy” comes from the inventive brain of Mr. H. J. Byron. [...] In the introductory passages of the pantomime Mr. W. H. Payne greatly distinguishes himself by his grotesque impersonation of a certain Squire Tiddlywinks, than which nothing more extravagantly odd has of late been seen upon the stage.

And very nice too, if it weren't for the way in which Mr. Keable does it. He intimidates one with intimacies. He is jauntily at his ease with the most sacred emotions. He puts one in mind of the inkly-winkly tiddlywinks.

The only just reason I can see for this film's existence is the excellent acting of Charles Boyer as the Eurasian hero, and Loretta Young's cool voice and persistently decorative appearance as the society bud. The scenes between them are physically so good to look at and listen to that they give a far greater authority to the picture than the subiect warrants. M. Boyer and Miss Young might be talking gibberish and playing tiddlywinks with the passions, and we should still take pleasure In their encounters. Which is possibly just as well, for much of the time they are.

PLAYERS WITH A THIRST.

There is also the evil connected with refreshments brought onto the field between the ordinary intervals. Occasionally, perhaps, the entrance of the man with the tray and glasses Is justified—on an afternoon of abnormal heat, for example. But it has recently beeome the practice on some grounds for drinks to be brought out even on a mild morning at the end of every hour. Ot course, everybody realises that cricket is a very thirsty and tiring business, but endurance should be one of its tests. It is not a parlour game. Cross-country running is a thirsty and tiring business, but we should not think much f the competitors if they made a gentlemen's agreement to stop for a drink and a short rest at the end of every two miles. A cricketer who cannot stand up from half-past eleven to half-past two without liquid refreshment should turn to a gentler game. There is always tiddlywinks. "WATCHMAN.''

The world is now looking to tiddlywinks in its need to get back to the primeval simplicity of life.—Rev. E. A. Willis, General Secretary, English Tiddlywinks Association.

The world is now looking to tiddlywinks in its need to get back to the primeval simplicity of life. Rev. E. A. Willis, General Secretary, English Tiddlywinks Association.

The Rev. E. A. Willis, whom we quoted in our Sayings of the Year (December 20). describing him as "General Secretary, English Tiddlywinks Association," asks us to say that he has never held this office, and that to the best of his knowledge no such Association exists. He regards the whole thing, including the statements attributed to him, as "a harmless student prank."

Sir,—

The remark of mine which you included in your "Sayings of the Year" was quite authentic.

My term of office as secretary has now expired and the present secretary is Mr. W. M. Steen, B.A., of Windyridge, Crawley, Sussex—a former member of the Cambridge University Tiddlywinks Club, and a member of the English International team. The English Tiddlywinks Association has affiliated clubs in many Universities and schools.

Possibly there is another gentleman, less knowledgeable than he ought to be about this noble sport, with the same name as myself.

Richmond, Surrey, E. A. Willis

The disclaimer we published was from Mr. A. E. Willis, of London, S.W.1. He had evidently suffered annoyance from being confused with Mr. E. A. Willis, of whose existence and office he was not aware.

THE Cambridge Masonic Hall was the scene of an important occasion in the history of tiddlywinks yesterday, There Oxford won the third annual inter-Varsity match by 59½ points to 52½.

It was the first time that Cambridge, unofficia!ly recognised as the world champion squidgers, have lost a match since the club was founded in 1954.

Experts inform me that Oxford are now hot favourites for the Duke of Edinburgh's trophy, a silver wink presented annually to the winners of the all-England inter-university competition (proceeds to the [acronym short="N.P.F.A." long="National Playing Fields Association"], of course.)

THE chairman of the London University Union Tiddlywinks Club tells me that this problem actually arose when, not so long ago, two English universities challenged each other to a tiddlywinks match. According to the rules for such matches each team is made up of four pairs. (We shall call the four pairs representing the Home Team A, B, C, D, and the four pairs representing the Visiting Team a, b, c, d.) During the match each pair on one team plays every pair on the opposing team. The match itself is divided into four rounds with four games played simultaneously in each round.

Now the Home Team possessed four mats, the surfaces of which varied quite considerably and, as Tiddlywink enthusiasts will be well aware the surface of the mat considerably affects one's playing ability. In order to be absolutely fair, it was therefore decided that each pair should play one of its games on each mat. A chart was drawn up and this is how the captains started allocating the teams:—

                Mat 1  Mat 2  Mat 3  Mat 4
Round 1   Aa        Bb       Cc
Round 2   Bc
Round 3   C
Round 4

How should the remainder of the chart be completed? There is only one possible solution./p>

Solutions on postcards, to arrive not later than first post Thursday and marked "COMP" in the bottom right-hand corner, to Brain-Twister 31, The Observer 22, Tudor Street E.C.4.

Go as a group to America. Save up to £66.10 each!

[...]

*Qualified members of civic, religious, business or social club, clan, tiddlywinks and marbles society, or whatever the name of your organization.

WHILE IN NO WAY claiming to have narrowed Britain's trade gap, writes Ben Wright, tiddly winks players in the Manchester area point out with some pride that more than 45O tiddly wink's sets have been exported to America since Oxford University's recent tour of that country.

Despite all efforts to discredit it—and the natural reaction to the man who claims prowess at this sport ia a hearty belly laugh—tiddly winks is catching on in a big way.

One young man who was described in the official organ of the game as the "W. G. Grace of tiddly winks," recently emigrated to India, where. as sccretary of the newly founded Indian Tiddly Winks Association, he reported that the finger joints of the people there made them particularly suited to the game.

Our own northern junior tiddly winks championship, to be ,staged in the Lesser Debating Hall of Manchester University's union on January 2 and 3, 1964, has attracted a record ect:ry of 70 pairs.

These are the schoolboys from whose ranks the future aces of the game will come. Twenty couples from Manchester Grammar School are competing and two boys will be travellimg from Heanor, in Derbyshire, to play in this event. Proceeds will go, as usual, to the National Playing Fields Association which has already received over £1,700 from the game's authorities.

Tiddly winks is played on pile-free felt, measuring six feet by three feet. The object of each match is for each side to flick six winks, or small plastic counters, into a cup one and a half inches high and one and seven eighth inches across its top. The first player to do so with his six winks gains four points, the second two points, the third one point.

But there is more to it than that. One member of each team attacks the cup—his team mate's duty being to stop a member of the opposition from doing that very same thing. This he does by covering his opponent's wink with his own, thus putting It out of action until freed by another wink&mdash:from his own side—landing on top of the heap.

Ken Vietch, a student ol history at Manchester University, who promotea the northern championship, told me : "There are some extraordinary pile-ups. l iike to compare the game with chess in the intricacy of its strategies.".

Tiddly winks has small vocabulary—just two words of its own—squidging and squopping. To squidge is to play a shot. To squop is to cover an opponent's wink.

David Miller and Cristopher Hull, 17-year-old pupils ot Altrincham Grammar School and holders of the northern junior trophy, are favorites to win again but dislike being so highly fancied. Win or lose, they are certain to spread further the appeal of this charming and pleasant game which began humbly in its present form at Cambridge University in 1955 and has a firm fan in the Duke of Edinburgh.

Veitch, who play for eight-times unbeaten England against Wales at Bristol on March 7, told me: "l hate the gimmicks and gamesmanship that are creeping into the sport, however."

It seems that not even the most apparently innocent sport can escape corruption for long in this era of tougher·than-ever international competition.

If you meet a Sir Petcairn Terrier you can't guess whether his ancestor slipped a bit to James II or his father to Lloyd George; whether his great-grandfather quelled natives for Queen Victoria or whether he himself won an Olympic medal for tiddlywinks or ran his post office with unblinking devotion for 67 years.

No doubt it's the oldest truism in the business, but you can't help marvelling at the hypocrisy of the outcry over a **** on television when comedy show (at least in radio) are loaded with clumsy sexual innuendos that go as near as they dare and make the audiences whoop with delight.

For instance, Larger than Life (Light), in a sketch about sex education, had the line: "When a boy meets a girl, the first thing he feels is, ah… a feeling of embarrassment." Gales of laughter. Now for Nixon (Light), built around David Nixon, squeezed the last sad drop out of a joke about a tiddlywinks tournament, and he had the audience in hysterics with lines like "take your tiddly in your hand." Presumably no one will go running to the Director-General.

NOTES on University College, Aberystwyth, where Prince Charles begins his one-term course in Welsh language, history and culture tomorrow.

Described to us as a 'chip university based on a pub culture.' Drink, sport and religion are the most popular pastimes. The tiddlywinks team is one of the most formidable in the British Isles.

It's a dastardly blow for tiddlywinks that British justice should have decided neither to nod nor wink at tiddling in a pub for personal gain. 'It falls within the Betting and Gaming Act,' said York police, po-faced. The sporting landlord who had offered a crate of beer for the best player in the house has had to replace the contest with one for puffing at peas through a straw. There's logic for you: not allowed to tiddle, but peas are quite in order.

Column 2McNab was Column 3 the next to display his precocity with a pass inside to Duncan, which he appeared to flip as if the ball were a tiddlywink.

Column 8The games are: [....] Column 9 a set of tiddlywinks [...]

What next? Inter-galactic tiddlywinks?

The fish ran for the cover of the lilies, but the Expert didn't earn his nickname playing tiddlywinks and he turned in from the refuge with the apparent case of an acrobat.

There is always the argument that a learned society such as the World Psychiatric Association should not mix in 'politics'—as if the psychiatrist were as distant from social life as a tree surgeon, and as little involved in political and ethical issues as a tiddlywinks champion.

Their opponents are both household names from sport: Crusher Jones, veteran central defender for Watford Reservers and Fred Smith, who recently retired undefeated after holding the southern area tiddlywinks title for 20 years, no less.

Winning Snooker with Eddie Charlton (Pan, £2.50). One of Pan's very good Sports/Pastimes instructional paperbacks which cover virtually everything from Intermediate Tiddlywinks to Underwater Macramé.

TIDDLYWINKS: When to tiddle and what to wink is as far as most of us go, but to some this is a serious business. Yesterday England faced the United States across a pot at Wadham College, Oxford; last Sunday an American, Larry [sic original="Khan" correct="Kahn"], had the effrontery to take the English national title; and tomorrow he and Nottingham teacher Alan Dean battle for the world crown.

TIDDLYWINKS: Cambridge pair Barrie and Budd's cup overflowed yesterday. They scored a perfect 21-0 win as their team retained the Varsity trophy, beating Oxford 73-11.

TIDDLYWINKS: Never mind the Today League. The real stuff starts next weekend at Lincoln College, Oxford, when the new tiddlywinks season 'squidges' off. According to the English Tiddlywinks Association, the activity is enjoying something of a revival, with capacity crowds no doubt swelled by more refugees from Saturday soccer hooliganism. A nod's as good as a wink.

More fun is to be had from a consideration of the life of the late Baron Wodehouse, whose sad death was reported last week. The 4th Earl of Kimberley had six wives, played championship tiddlywinks, bred prize pigs and was sacked from the Liberal benches in the Lords for urging people to vote Tory. He knew his first marriage was a mistake but couldn't stop it because, he said: 'The King and Queen were there - and I was in my best uniform.'

But in England, whatever the sport, there will always be some who take it seriously. For all we know, there may be persons who scorn delights and live laborious days in reducing the parlour game of "Tiddlywink" to its ultimate possibilities.

Messrs. C. W. Faulkner & Co., Jewin Street, please the youngsters who rejoice in table games with some fresh inventions for their amusement in the shape of the indoor quoiting pastime dubbed "Tiddley Winks"' likewise "Skitto," also an up-to-date variation of chess, called "'House of Commons," with Ministers and Leaders of Opposition to play at cross-purposes precisely as they do in the real Parliament.

About the Goons-Cambridge match on 1 March 1958.

ORIGINAL GAMES.

• "REVERSI." By J. W. Mollett, B.A.
• "INVASION." By Lieut. Chamberlain, R.N.
• "NAVAL BLOCKADE." By Ditto]
• "DAAMA;" or Turkish Draughts.
• "SPOOF."

Manufactured by F. H. AYRES 111. Aldersgate-street, London. To be had from all Stationers, Fancy Goods Dealers, &c.

ORIGINAL GAMES.

• "REVERSI." By J. W. Mollett, B.A.
• "INVASION." By Lieut. Chamberlain, R.N.
• "NAVAL BLOCKADE." By Ditto]
• "DAAMA;" or Turkish Draughts.
• "SPOOF."

Manufactured by F. H. AYRES 111. Aldersgate-street, London. To be had from all Stationers, Fancy Goods Dealers, &c.

NEW GAMES

Manufactured by F. H. AYRES.

• INVASION SPOOF
• REVERSI DAAMA
• HALMA ASSEGAL
• NAVAL BLOCKADE.
• STAUNTON CHESSMEN.
• (Club Pattern.)
• FOLDING BAGATELLE BOARDS.
• MINIATURE BILLIARD TABLES.
• DRAUGHT BOARDS AND MEN.
• ROCKING AND HOBBY HORSES.
• &c., &c.

From all dealers, or No. 111 Aldersgate-street, E.C.

TIDDLEDY WINKS.—Just Out, a splendid NEW GAME, price 1s. Watermans Reversi, and Patchesi, the most popular Games of the day, 1s., 2s. 6d., and 5s. each, of all dealers—JAQUES and SON, Hatton-garden, E.C.

TIDDLEDY WINKS.—Just Out, a splendid NEW GAME, price 1s. Watermans Reversi, and Patchesi, the most popular Games of the day, 1s., 2s. 6d., and 5s. each, of all dealers—JAQUES and SON, Hatton-garden, E.C.

TIDDLEDY WINKS.—Just Out, a splendid NEW GAME, price 1s. Watermans Reversi, and Patchesi, the most popular Games of the day, 1s., 2s. 6d., and 5s. each, of all dealers—JAQUES and SON, Hatton-garden, E.C.

TIDDLEDY WINKS.—Just Out, a splendid NEW GAME, price 1s. Watermans Reversi, and Patchesi, the most popular Games of the day, 1s., 2s. 6d., and 5s. each, of all dealers—JAQUES and SON, Hatton-garden, E.C.

TIDDLEDY WINKS.—Just Out, a splendid NEW GAME, price 1s. Watermans Reversi, and Patchesi, the most popular Games of the day, 1s., 2s. 6d., and 5s. each, of all dealers—JAQUES and SON, Hatton-garden, E.C.

TIDDLEDY WINKS.—Just Out, a splendid NEW GAME, price 1s. Watermans Reversi, and Patchesi, the most popular Games of the day, 1s., 2s. 6d., and 5s. each, of all dealers—JAQUES and SON, Hatton-garden, E.C.

TIDDLEDY WINKS.—Just Out, a splendid NEW GAME, price 1s. Watermans Reversi, and Patchesi, the most popular Games of the day, 1s., 2s. 6d., and 5s. each, of all dealers—JAQUES and SON, Hatton-garden, E.C.

TIDDLEDY WINKS.—Just Out, a splendid NEW GAME, price 1s. Watermans Reversi, and Patchesi, the most popular Games of the day, 1s., 2s. 6d., and 5s. each, of all dealers—JAQUES and SON, Hatton-garden, E.C.

TIDDLEDY WINKS.—Just Out, a splendid NEW GAME, price 1s. Watermans Reversi, and Patchesi, the most popular Games of the day, 1s., 2s. 6d., and 5s. each, of all dealers—JAQUES and SON, Hatton-garden, E.C.

TIDDLEDY WINKS.—Just Out, a splendid NEW GAME, price 1s. Watermans Reversi, and Patchesi, the most popular Games of the day, 1s., 2s. 6d., and 5s. each, of all dealers—JAQUES and SON, Hatton-garden, E.C.

TIDDLEDY WINKS.—Just Out, a splendid NEW GAME, price 1s. Watermans Reversi, and Patchesi, the most popular Games of the day, 1s., 2s. 6d., and 5s. each, of all dealers—JAQUES and SON, Hatton-garden, E.C.

NEW GAMES.

JAQUES and SON'S CATALOGUE post free.

Ducdam C[ ]rkitt[ ], Bumble Puppy, Pliffkins. Halma, Tiddledy Winks, Flitterkins, Reversi, Patchesi, &c. From 1s. upwards. Of all dealers.—Jaques and Son, Hatton-garden, London.

NEW GAMES.

JAQUES and SON'S CATALOGUE post free.

Ducdam C[ ]rkitt[ ], Bumble Puppy, Pliffkins. Halma, Tiddledy Winks, Flitterkins, Reversi, Patchesi, &c. From 1s. upwards. Of all dealers.—Jaques and Son, Hatton-garden, London.

NEW GAMES.

JAQUES and SON'S CATALOGUE post free. Ducdamé, Corkitta, Bumble Puppy, Pliffkins, Halma, Tiddledy Winks, Flitterkins, Reversi, Patchesi, &c. From 1s. upwards. Of all dealers.—Jaques and Son, Hatton-garden, London.

JAQUES AND SON'S CATALOGUE post free. Ducdamé, Corkitts, Bumble Puppy, Pliffkins, Halma, Tiddledy Winks, Flitterkins, Reversi, Patchesi, &c. From 1s. upwards. Of all dealers—JAQUES and SON, Hatton-garden, E.C.

Scene in Parliament. Grave Disorder

In one corner of the smoking-room one may see George Lansbury and Sir Alf Mond playing tiddlywinks.

Low howls down another theatrical production.

Political Midget Golf Demonstration

Speaking as one who has just returned after many years, I say that what this country needs is a vigorous policy of tiddlywinks.

Naw! Ping pong

Amazing sporting development during Low's absence.

THE shops may be full of Harry Potter merchandise ranging from small figurines to hitech—and high-cost—computer games, but the humble game of tiddlywinks is staging a comeback this Christmas.

Department stores group John Lewis said tiddlywinks sales are up 18% this year as the market struggles to find its champion seller this festive season.

'There is no toy of choice this Christmas,' said Vanessa Lodge, assistant toy buyer for the John Lewis Partnership.

While Harry Potter games have been in short supply, last year's favourites - scooters and anything to do with the Pokemon characters - are in decline and falling in price. It may not necessarily be that parents are turning to tiddlywinks as stocking-fillers because they are cheaper than other games. John Lewis's own-brand Mischief tiddlywinks, for example, retail at £5.25.

'Snakes & ladders, draughts and chess are doing well, too,' Lodge said. 'You could say traditional games are coming back this year. After all, they are harder to break and they are less noisy.'

Trying to flip counters into a receptacle by pressing them with another counter became popular in late Victorian times. As a commercially available game, it was patented by its British inventor, publisher Joseph Fincher of London, in 1889 as Tiddledy Winks.

If we are to have interesting cricket this season, it will be necessary to put some sort of handicap on these Australians.

Supposing we make them play with ping-pong bats -

Or permit the opposition bowlers to use a push-ball

Should they have the bad manners to continue their disgraceful conduct there would seem to be nothing for it but to challenge them to a crochet competition or a tiddlywinks tournament and equalise matters that way.

London seems different these days

About Christine Barrie serving as the first female ETwA Chairman.