Darts
History
The origins of the game of darts in England can never be firmy established, but it dates back to at least the Middle Ages. It seems that bored soldiers took to hurling arrows at the upturned covers of wine barrels, perhaps seeing who could come closest to the cork bung.
As the pastime grew in popularity, some bright soul decided that a cross-section of a tree would offer a better target. The natural growth rings of the tree provided a built-in means of determining who was closest to the centre, and as the tree dried out the cracks provided radial divisions within the target (the current system of numbers was standardized around 1900).
When winter came and the soldiers spent more time inside, they couldn't hurl full-sized arrows about, so shortened versions of the arrows were used.
So popular did the new game become during the medieval period that it was taken up by nobility; in 1530 Anne Boleyn presented Henry VIII with a set of ornamented darts.
The game maintained a strong military appeal, and the worldwide spread of darts is credited to the British army who brought the game with them to every corner of the Empire as it grew.
Employees at the brewery firm of Hockey & Sons are credited with establishing the standard throwing distance (there are actually two standards - more on that in a moment). It seems that the brewers placed three of their beer crates end to end, drew a line, and threw from there.
Since each crate was 3 feet long, the throwing line was set at 9 feet from the board. Later, the standard Hockey & Sons beer crate was shortened to 2 feet, so 4 crates were lined up, which set the line at 8 feet. This 8 feet standard is still in use in many places, though local variations exist. The general international standard is 7 feet 9 and 1/4 inches. The throwing line was called the "hockey" after the company, though later the name was shortened to "oche" (pronounced "ockee").
Most dart boards today are made from highly compressed bunches of sisal - the same material used to make heavy ropes.
The survival of darts as a pub game can be pretty accurately dated. Throughout the Victorian period legislation prohibited "games of chance" (i.e. gambling) in pubs. In 1908 a pub owner named Anakin in Leeds, Yorkshire, was taken to court for permitting darts to be played in his establishment. He offered to prove that darts was a game of skill.
A board was set up in the courtroom, and there Anakin threw 3 darts in the 20. He challenged any of the magistrates to duplicate his feat. When they could not (darts is, after all, not as easy as it looks!), the court was forced to accept that darts was indeed a game of skill, not chance, and the laws were eventually changed.
From the turn of the century to WWII darts grew in popularity as a pub game. Regular leagues were organised, and competitions took place on a regular basis. The most prestigious of these competitions was that organised by the News of the World newspaper in 1927. A National Darts Associatin was formed in 1954, and national championships organised. Today it would be hard to find a pub in Britain without a dartboard.
WHY ARE THE NUMBERS ON A DARTBOARD IN THE ORDER THEY ARE?
This is probably the most asked question about the origins of the modern game. Who was the devious person who structured the segments of the dartboard in such a frustrating manner?
The man who is credited with the ‘invention’ of the numbering sequence of the modern standard dartboard is BRIAN GAMLIN. Gamlin was a carpenter from Bury in the County of Lancashire, England and came up with the infuriating sequence in 1896, at the age of 44. He died in 1903 before he could patent the idea.
In those days many working men – and in particular those with carpentry skills – manufactured dartboards out of elm or poplar wood as a sideline. This cottage industry was later prevalent across the North of England, the Midlands and the South East as darts grew in popularity from the mid-1920s onwards. The reason for producing dartboards at home, or more properly in the garden shed, was to sell the boards to local pubs, thereby supplementing the family income. However, more often than not, this income never found its way home at all. Dartboards were exchanged for credit in the local pub or money earned would finds its way back over the bar.
The numbering of a standard dartboard is designed in such a way as to cut down the incidence of ‘lucky shots’ and reduce the element of chance. The numbers are placed in such a way as to encourage accuracy. That’s it. Pure and simple. The placing of small numbers either side of large numbers e.g. 1 and 5 either side of 20, 3 and 2 either side of 17, 4 and 1 either side of 18, punishes inaccuracy. Thus, if you shoot for the 20 segment, the penalty for lack of accuracy or concentration is to land in either a 1 or a 5.
There are 121,645,100,408,832,000 different possible arrangements of the 20 segments on a standard dartboard so it is perhaps a little surprising that Gamlin’s arrangement of the numbers is almost perfect.
Gamlin himself is an enigma. Like the lost court records in the case of William ‘Bigfoot’ Annakin, there is a vital piece of information in the Gamlin story that is missing. Despite the most thorough of searches no record can be found of Gamlin’s death in 1903. Looking three years either side, for both counties of Lancashire and Suffolk reveal no one of that name terminating at that time. However, the answer may be that this is because Gamlin was on the move.
The Daily Mirror in 1992 was asked the question “Who decided the numbers on a dartboard should be so jumbled and why?” The reply read:
"Brian Gamlin of Bury, Lancs, introduced the odd numbering system in our fairgrounds in 1896, boasting "No Skill Required". Drunks had no chance, as a test of sobriety, the darts game 'round the clock' (in which players have to score with darts in numerical order) became a great success".
So this is why his death cannot be traced. If Gamlin was a showman then, sure, he would be on the road for at least six months of the year. It makes a lot of sense for the idea to have come from within the fairground community. They were the primary cause of the importation of so many ‘French darts’ which have, over the years become known as ‘fairground darts’. Darts has been a feature of fairground sidestuff from the mid-19 th century onwards, so who better than a showman – always looking for new ways of attracting punters – to come up with this devious numbering arrangement?
Note: For those new to the game of darts the left-hand side of the dartboard is recommended as there are proportionately more high numbers grouped there, i.e. 16, 8, 11, 14, 9 and 12. No huge scores can be guaranteed with this tactic, but at least you’ll never hit 5’s or 1’s. (At least that’s the theory!) This side of the dartboard is known as the ‘married man’s side’ because married men always play safe!
History
The Masada religious movement took place on top of a rock cliff to the west of the Judean Desert. The steep rock drops on one side 450 meters to the Dead Sea, and on the other side about 100 meters to ground level. To get to Masada, there were four difficult but feasible approaches: "the White Rock," west; "Snake Path," east; and two steep paths from the north and south of the rock. "Snake Path" is still utilized by tourists today. Between 37 and 31 B.C.E, Herod the Great (King of Judea) had the fortress of Masada built for his own personal refuge. The King built two palaces: the Northern Palace, which was three-tiered and highly decorative, and the official palace in the west. Several large storerooms were also constructed and filled with a food and water supply. It is easy to see why he chose this spot for protection from the many Jewish subjects who hated him, because the rock is isolated by deep gorges on all sides.
The events at Masada occurred due to tension between those defending traditional Jewish beliefs and the occupying forces of the Roman Empire. However, Jewish tradition was generally respected until Pontius Pilate came into control (26-36 C.E.). Pontius Pilate was a harsh ruler whose reign allowed the installation of pagan symbols in the holy city of Jerusalem, corrupt use of Temple funds, and the crucifixion of Jesus Christ around the year 30 C.E. At this time, and indeed for the next several decades, many Jewish uprisings were put down. On August 28 of the year 70 C.E., the Roman destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem occurred. This event was extremely significant, and is still commemorated by Orthodox Jews by a day of fasting every August. At this time, thousands of Jews became enslaved and had their property taken away.
According to Josephus Flavius, the only author whose manuscripts ( The Jewish War ) have been found concerning events at Masada, a group of about 1,000 Jewish men, women, and children (Zealots) reacted to their traumatic surroundings by fleeing to the fortress at Masada during the Revolt of the Jews. They found King Herod's buildings stocked with large quantities of food and weapons.
The Romans laid seige to the fortress for a long time before attempting to break through the barricades to reach the Jews. The Roman army, led by the Roman general Silva, set up military garrisons and built walls around Masada to ensure that no Jews escaped. Josephus writes that several destructive machines were used in the attack, including an iron tower from which the Romans threw darts and stones, and also a huge battering-ram. However, as soon as the battering-ram broke through a piece of the protective wall, the Jews quickly constructed an inner wall with a yielding factor that decreased the force of each blow. Silva reacted to this wooden interior wall by setting fire to them. According to Josephus, at this point the Romans retreated for the night and decided to enter Masada the next day.
Eleazar ben Ya'ir decided that, rather than submit to Roman authority, the Jews should burn the fortress and all die for their beliefs. He gave a monumental speech to several of his "most courageous" followers; some of them agreed with him about what they should do, while others felt concerned about their wives and children. To convince those who doubted him, he then gave another speech, this one concerning the immortality of true believers and true devotion and trust in God. The Jewish War states that some Jews even cut Eleazar's speech short to hurry along with their 'duties' of collective suicide. These "Zealots" became zealous about their new resolution, and went through with the killings very courageously. Josephus strongly defended the brutal plan and actions of the Jews at Masada:
"Nor indeed, when they came to the work itself, did their courage fail them, as one might imagine it would have done; but they held fast to the same resolution, without wavering, which they had taken on hearing Eleazar's speech, while yet every one of them still retained his natural passion of love for himself and his family, because the reasoning they went upon appeared to them very just, even with regard to those dearest to them; for the husbands tenderly embraced their wives and took their children into their arms, and gave the longest parting kisses to them, with tears in their eyes. Yet at the same time they completed what they had resolved, as if they had been executed by the hands of strangers, and they had nothing else for their comfort but their necessity to carry out this execution in order to avoid that prospect of the miseries they were to suffer from their enemies."
The manner in which the Jews killed themselves was well organized and thought out. First, they laid out all of their possessions and set fire to it. Ten men were chosen by lot to kill everyone; they then drew lots again and one had to kill the other nine and finally kill himself. Before slaying himself with his own sword, he was to make sure that all of the others were actually dead, and also had to set fire to the palace. Presumably this procedure eliminated the stigma of suicide for all but one person, and retained the honor of the other men by leading to the presumption that they would all have gone through with the same heroic feats had they drawn the last lot.
The plan at Masada was for every Jew there to die for the honor of their God and religious traditions; none were to be left to the beseiging Romans. However, an elderly woman, another woman who was related to Eleazar, and her five children, had hidden in underground caverns and so had avoided the slaughter. When the Romans entered the fortress in the morning, they heard nothing but silence. The women emerged from the cavern when the army officers shouted, and they told them what had occurred. The Romans didn't believe them at first, and tried to put out the fire and find their enemies. However, once they found the massive area of slain bodies, Josephus writes that they were not exultant even though they were the bodies of their enemies. Even the Romans viewed the events at Masada with great respect; thus, it can be imagined how wonderfully these events are regarded by those who follow the same Jewish faith tradition even today.
Zealots may have died for their beliefs at Masada just as Josephus has recorded, or the tale may be twisted and tainted. (See section below). The important thing to realize is that Masada is and forever will be a sacred symbol of the stronghold of Jewish faith. This is significant not only in Jewish history, but also in the history of Christianity, which has its roots in Judaism. Christian rites and ceremonies such as the traditions of baptism, the celebration of the Last Supper, and the building of the New Testament onto the Jewish sacred texts all date back to Judaism. Without the sacrifice and determination of so many early Jews, the history of the world would be drastically altered.
