Friday, January 15, 2010

Pub Games on TV in the 1970's


Its funny how a chance remark on a radio or in a pub can bring back something long forgotten, and how that remark can nowadays send you to Youtube to suddenly recapture your long lost youth.

In this case it was the words were "Freddie Trueman's Indoor League."

Fred was a total Yorkshire Hard Nut ( like my father ) who was the best and most dangerous Fast Bowler that Cricket in this country ever produced.

The Yorkshire TV company had a hare brained idea to try and bring Pub Games to TV audiences, and to introduce this they chose none more hard, beer drinking Fred, the poster boy of Pub night life.

As TV outside broadcasts were in their infancy and cameras were huge, they forewent the atmosphere that would be gained in a small beery pub and held five types of games : Darts , Skittles, Shove ha'Penny, Bar Billiards and Table Football in what appears to be a school Gym.

The whole thing tanked after one series, simply because of the complex nature of the games... and that they were, apart from darts, really only interesting to the people taking part. Darts of course survived to the fine sport it is today.

So here below are the 4 installments of the show I could find online... to bring back memories of the Lamb and Fountain...and to help Bowie in his quest to make a Table Skittles set.





Sir Dayvd ( who is now off to the Pub for real ) of O...

4 comments:

dkWells said...

Perhaps it's time for the KMSA to produce their own "Authentic Pub Games" show. Hell, if people will watch idiots playing poker for two hours, this should be a slam dunk. Plus, now we have the technology to take it to the Pubs, something the original series could not do.

Mick could be our spokesperson! LOL! Sponsored by Old Hooky and Cheddar Valley Scrumpy Cider!

And here comes Cricket again...I want that pull over sweater that Fred is wearing.

Sir Hook the Game is A Foot of Warrick

Sir Bowie of Greenbriar (a.k.a. David A. Kuhn) said...

I couldn't get the first link to play (said it was unavailable) but the others are priceless.

We used to have a series here in the States called ABC's Wide World of Sports with all kinds of unique games.

I noticed that the Shove ha'Penny was a wooden board. Do you think those lines are groves cut in? There is a paint now that gives a chalk board finish that would be perfect for the scoring. Damn, another thing to put on my list!



And, I LOVE the idea of PUB games on TV. Why not?

Sir Bowie "Off to find official dimensions of Shove ha'Penny board" of Greenbriar

dkWells said...

Not sure why the first one won't play. I have repasted and linked several times, it is the correct address.

You can copy it into your browser and see it that way, or once you watch one of the others you can access it from You Tube there as Inside League #1

Cheers!
Hooky

Anonymous said...

yeah probbaly the thing to do is just get them on Youtube as you go.. yeah they are priceless...not least the pub goers fashions of the 1970's.

Thought you'd like it Bowie lol....the one we played on in Frome was slate and absolutely priceless... the more common ones i played on as a young man were all polished wood with a faint groove line ciut in it...so the halfpenny would float over it, I imagine you could use blackboard paint to put along the edge :)

I see plenty of dimensions on wikipedia and other sites and i am happy to draw you up a precise drawing of a board like the one on wikipedia.

My amusment is at the picture of Young fred in his playing days...when it was OKay to be a sportsman pictured with a Pint of good beer and a Cigarette in your hand LOL...

As for the short sleeve cable Jumper Hooks....I think you'll find you have to be a member of the English Cricket team to get one like that.. so ger practicing your run up..

Certainly videos of you guys playing pub games on the KMSA youtube would be fun.:))

Sir D