Bill has written a volume chockfull of fascinating info interspersed with 120 puzzles. The earliest collection of puzzles was compiled – probably – by Alcuin of York – an early reformer of the Christian church and adviser to Charlemagne. After Alcuin died in 804, the world of puzzles remained dormant for about four centuries until Leonardo of Pisa came about.
Naturally, it was a bit difficult to have too many number puzzles because Europe was using Roman numerals and it was Len who was responsible for the introduction of Arabic numbers which we still thankfully use.
Len is better known to history as Fibonacci who gave us the celebrated sequence 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34… etc in which each number is the total of the two preceding it.
The earliest reference to the sequence appears in 1202.
In a very early form of the pub quiz, Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II held maths contests and his favoured team regularly won thanks to the inclusion of the ringer Fibonacci.
Bill devotes sections or chapters to the history of each kind of puzzle – numbers, word ladders, alphanumeric puzzles, crosswords (originally called word-cross), chess problems and recounts some fascinating tales of how they developed, who was responsible and how they have evolved into modern puzzling or disappeared without trace.
In every industry, there are seers who predict the imminent demise of innovations and invariably get it wrong – Thomas Watson, the president of IBM, is one example.
He said: “I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.”
You will be pleased to know the world of puzzles is not immune from such wrongheadedness.
In 1925, the New York Times editorialised: “The craze evidently is dying out fast and in a few months will be forgotten.”
Fortunately for puzzle lovers everywhere, the Gray Lady was wrong.
Indeed it was our Sunday Express that began the popularity of crosswords when we ran the first in a newspaper in Britain in 1924.
The book contains 120 puzzles for you to solve – and the last could win you £500 – enough to keep even the most ardent puzzler in pencils, paper and puzzle books.
To be honest, I was tearing my hair out trying to solve them.
I now look like Telly Savalas.
By the way, if you read the book you will find out what a ditloid is and why Bill Hartston is so proud of them.
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