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The history is divided into two sections - How It All
Started and Behind the Scenes. The first plots the route from
Top Town to It's A Knockout, while the second begins with a piece
of advice that implies that IAK doesn't always run to Queensbury
rules... "You've got to be crafty in It's A Knockout." It goes on to
describe how "rule bending" has helped teams win games in the past, including
this classic: "A game involving mini-tractors led to a protest in rehearsals
from the British team. who alleged that the German mini-tractor was better
than the rest because it was always going faster. Nonsense, they were told,
all the tractors were identical. During the night, certain members of the
British team crept into the games site and swapped the 'D' sign on the German
tractor for a 'GB' sign. Sure enough, the British tractor romped home way
ahead of the rest." There are lots more where that came from, too! It's worth
hunting down a copy of the book for this chapter alone. Copies often appear on
eBay.co.uk.
Before the main section of the book, there is one last page of
information, this time giving brief biographical details about The
Presenters - Arthur Ellis, David Vine and Eddie Waring. Fascinating facts:
in 1971, former football referee, Arthur Ellis was working as a brewery
representative and lived in Halifax; David Vine was apparently too busy
commentating on sports events and presenting It's A Knockout and A
Question of Sport to see much of his Berkshire village home; and Eddie
Waring had by then made seven round-the-world trips and had "appeared on
television in Australia, New Zealand, the United States and Bermuda".
The rest of the book concerns itself with ideas for games that
can be played at home or staged in the open. Each features brief instructions
and rules, along with a line drawing depicting how it should be played. There
are 35 games described and illustrated in all, and if Barney Colehan's
introduction is accurate in its claim, all these had by 1971 been used on
It's A Knockout. With names like Fireball, Your Life in their
Hands and Log Sawing, perhaps Colehan's friendly warning about
risks in his introduction was entirely expedient!
A fascinating read and an essential part of an It's A
Knockout memorabilia collection.
by Alan Hayes |
