Darts With The Lid Off

A splendid defensive uniform made in the home

I've never given too much thought to darts unlike Alan and Geoffrey d'Egville or Dr. Patrick Chaplin. I found Patrick's site while tangled in the World Wide Web and discovered a 1983 review of Darts With The Lid Off (Alan and Geoffrey d'Egville, Cassell, 1938) by Mat Coward.

The last time I can remember playing darts I think I had probably already spent too much time and money in a pub and my opponent and I picked craters in the plaster on the kitchen wall in a rented basement flat. My opinion of darts as a sport would have been influenced by the Not The Nine O'Clock News sketch which is now as much a part of the history of darts as Alan and Geoffrey's book.  

According to his website, Patrick's "unique thesis focuses mainly on the period 1918 to 1939 and reveals the forces that transformed the humble traditional English pub game of darts into a social phenomenon during the interwar years, forces that laid the foundations for the international sport that we all recognise today." (http://www.patrickchaplin.com/Doctorofdarts.htm 2006, Gerald O’Lapane and Patrick Chaplin). The dust jacket of Darts With The Lid Off has wonderful cartoons of stereotypes we recognise today and probably still associate with that sport.

Darts With The Lid Off (Cassell, 1938)

Patrick also has an article on the Language of Darts which quotes extensively from Darts With The Lid Off. So if you want to know the meaning and origins of the phrase "Euston Road" you must visit his site. This is entirely consistent with a certain discreet ribaldry that is present in Alan's writing.

I'm compiling a bibliography of Alan's work and until I began the task was unaware of how prolific he was as a writer and the esteem with which he is held by sporting enthusiasts even sixty years after his death. Alan's significant contribution to the development of modern winter sports is apparent from the number of skiing guides he published as much as his reputation in Murren.