QUESTION What are some once-popular schoolyard games that are no longer played?
I would be surprised if the games we played at school were still played today as they’ve probably been banned for health and safety reasons.
From age five to 13 (1947 to 1955), I went to school at Croft-on-Tees in North Yorkshire. The school was started in 1845 by the Rev Charles Dodgson, the father of Lewis Carroll, author of Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland.
The school nearly became famous for another reason in January 1951, when a Meteor jet aircraft crashed into a field next to the school.
In the infants’ playground, we played what we called ‘Tiggy’ but the rest of the world seemed to call ‘Touch’. Someone would be ‘It’ and have to catch one of the others; then they’d be ‘It’, and so on.
Two schoolboys playing conkers. Two opponents would face each other: one would hold up his conker suspended by a string, the other would attempt to hit it with his conker. Then it was the other person’s turn. You’d keep going until one of the conkers was destroyed
As a variation, we played ‘Tiggy on the wall’ as there were a couple of low walls. If you were on the wall, you were ‘safe’. The person who was ‘It’ would patrol between the walls trying to catch anyone who made a dash for the other wall.
In the large playground, we had a more sophisticated game called ‘Chainey’. Here, when the person who was ‘It’ caught someone, they had to join hands to form a chain. Each time they caught someone they were added to the chain. Eventually, there would be an unwieldy chain of 20 kids charging around the playground trying to scoop up the few survivors. One snag with this game was that when you were caught, you were liable to end up having to hold the hand of a girl!
There was no danger of this happening when we played with whips and tops, of which there were two types. The standard one was a wooden cylinder, pointed at the lower end where a nail was inserted to give it a hard point on which to spin.
Once you’d mastered the art of whipping it correctly to keep it going, it got a bit boring, so you moved on to jumping tops — which were lethal. They were shaped like a small mushroom: the stem was about half the diameter of a standard top, so when they were hit by the whip, they spun much faster. If you hit them hard enough, the whip would wrap itself around the stem and cause the top to jump the length of the playground.
Not quite so dangerous was conkers. Two opponents would face each other: one would hold up his conker suspended by a string, the other would attempt to hit it with his conker. Then it was the other person’s turn. You’d keep going until one of the conkers was destroyed.
Girls’ games usually involved skipping. One girl would skip by herself using a short rope; three or more girls would use a longer rope, one at each end twirling it as the other girl, or girls, skipped. The more who joined in, the more chaotic it got.
My wife remembers playing something called ‘two-sy ball’. She’d stand facing a wall and throw a ball towards it so the ball would bounce back towards her. While it was in the air, she’d throw a second ball at the wall, then catch the first one and repeat, effectively juggling.
Denis Sharp, Littlehampton, West Sussex.
Ronnie Drew, leader of the Irish folk group The Dubliners. Mr Drew was drinking a gin and tonic in a bar when a stranger commented on his choice of drink (usually Guinness), to which Ronnie replied: ‘Yes, G&T helps to stop me from interfering in other people’s business. Can I buy you one?’
QUESTION What’s the most effective rebuff of a nosy person you have ever heard?
Years ago, my mother worked in a bingo hall. She was well-liked, always talkative and jumping in to help people without being asked. One night a gentleman said to her: ‘I know you.’
‘Oh?’ she said, not recognising him. ‘Yes’, he said. ‘I’ve seen you on my telly.’
‘Really?’ my mother replied, thinking she must look like an actress. ‘Yes, you’re known as interference,’ he said.
Luckily, she took it with good humour.
Susan Renaut, Sunderland.
I recall working in an office with one such offender. The internal post was in unsealed envelopes, so he would look at post placed in the in-tray of the office secretary. Aware of this, she cut out a finger making a rude sign and placed it in an envelope. He got the message — much to the amusement of the office.
Lesley Stock, Saffron Walden, Essex.
The best I heard was when Ronnie Drew, leader of the Irish folk group The Dubliners, was drinking a gin and tonic in a bar. A stranger commented on his choice of drink (usually Guinness), to which Ronnie replied: ‘Yes, G&T helps to stop me from interfering in other people’s business. Can I buy you one?’
Jack Butterworth, Royton, Oldham, Lancs.
Horse racing at the Cheltenham Gold Cup which is a Group 1 British horse race. The system was implemented in 1971 with the following three groups: Group 1 – Classics and other races of major international importance. Group 2 – Races of international importance but below championship standard. Group 3 – Primarily domestic races regarded as preparation for the higher groups (such as Classic trials)
QUESTION How, why and when were British horse races divided into groups 1-3?
Pattern or group races are the ‘creme de la creme’ of flat racing. These consist of a series of races for the top horses, at all ages and at different distances, thus ensuring top-class racing throughout the year on a worldwide scale.
The idea was first thought of in the mid-1960s to alleviate concerns about a lack of balance between British and French racing. Recommended in 1965, a system to include England, Ireland and France (Germany and Italy joined later) was set up with the aim to grade racing in such a way as ‘to ensure that a series of races over the right distances and at the right time of the year are available to test the best horses of all ages’.
The system was finally implemented in 1971 with the following three groups:
Group 1 – Classics and other races of major international importance.
Group 2 – Races of international importance but below championship standard.
Group 3 – Primarily domestic races regarded as preparation for the higher groups (such as Classic trials).
Group 1 races are without penalties on a weight-for-age and sex basis, whereas penalties can apply in Groups 2 and 3.
So a four-year-old, ten-furlong specialist might have the season mapped out around three Group 1 peaks: the Eclipse Stakes at Sandown Park in July; the Juddmonte International Stakes at York in August; and the Champion Stakes at Newmarket in October.
David Urquhart, Burntisland, Fife.