Cambridge University Tiddlywinks Club founded at Christ’s College celebrates its 70th anniversary on 16 January.
Alumni - Professor Bill Steen, Lawford Howells and Peter Downes - marked the anniversary at Christ's reminiscing about the early days of the modern game.
In January 1955 a group of undergraduates, realising that some were ‘hopeless’ at sport and ambitious for a ‘Cambridge Blue’ – the highest accolade at Oxford and Cambridge for sporting achievement – hit upon the Victorian parlour game of tiddlywinks.
Bill and Lawford with alumnus Brian Tyler and others, founded the Cambridge University Tiddlywinks Club (CUTwC) on 16 January 1955. The Senior Treasurer was Christ’s chaplain, Rev J Brown. Peter, 86, joined a couple of years later.
Bill, 91, who studied chemical engineering, said:
"The real joke is that we started this for the fun and to try and get a blue at Cambridge – and it turns out to be a really nice game."
The first Varsity tiddlywinks match took place in 1958, when Cambridge beat Oxford.
The game involves flipping small plastic discs or ‘winks’ into a pot by pressing one piece against another to make it fly through the air. The Cambridge students made it a competitive ‘sport’ by introducing strategy and tactics, as well as devising their own vocabulary.
'Squidging' was playing a wink and Lawford, 90, who also studied chemical engineering, said:
"If you covered an opponent’s wink, it couldn’t be played - that’s squopping.”
The group had fun writing a thesis on ‘The Science Of Tiddlywinks’, designing their own club tie – showing the wink and the cup - and approaching carpet companies, biscuit and drink manufacturers including Babycham for sponsorship, but the real challenge was finding opponents as their new version of the game wasn’t widely known.
They challenged other universities, nearby airbases, newspapers, and even the House of Commons, without success.
Two years later, inspired by an article in the Spectator, they wrote to the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Philip, and were surprised to receive an answer from the husband of the late Queen Elizabeth II.
Prince Philip nominated the Goons in his place, saying he had hoped to join his champions. ‘But unfortunately whilst practicing secretly I pulled an important muscle in the second or tiddly joint of my winking finger,’ he wrote.
The Goons, a popular comedy group, starred Spike Milligan, Peter Sellers and Harry Secombe. Peter, who studied modern languages, recalls receiving a leather gauntlet at Christ’s Porters’ Lodge with a note accepting the challenge signed by ‘Sir Spike the Milligan’.
Excitement around the contest grew, and it soon became a national news story covered by much of the UK media.
The Royal Tournament on 1 March 1958 at Cambridge Guildhall sold out in two hours and the event received national media coverage. Despite Prince Philip saying he hoped his champions would win a 'resounding victory', Cambridge won 16 games to nil.
"It was like living a fairytale story," said Bill. "We had huge fan mail, including from Prince Philip and the Archbishop of Canterbury's Secretary. The match was reported in just about every newspaper. It was also reported during news bulletins on BBC television, and on Pathe and Gaumont News in the cinemas".
The game flourished, with The English Tiddlywinks Association (ETwA) founded in 1958 and clubs springing up around the world.
The first British Universities Championship took place in 1961 and this time, the Duke of Edinburgh presented the trophy he had gifted - the Silver Wink - which universities still compete for today.
Today, the original ‘Tiddlywinks Anthem’ to the tune ‘Men of Harlech’ is still sung regularly and tiddlywinks remains a hotly-contested sport with contestants in Varsity matches awarded a ‘quarter blue’.
Lawford said:
“We could never have imagined it would take off the way it did – it’s incredible! The real spark was the Royal Tournament, that put us on the map.”
Bill said:
“If you happen to have the right quality of mat or blanket you can start ‘squidging’ winks into a pot. You'd be surprised how it just fills your mind.”
Read more at University of Cambridge News and on the BBC.
View the Royal Tournament on YouTube
Cambridge University Tiddlywinks Club
Listen to Lawford and Bill on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme (at 2 hours, 56 mins) - available for 30 days.