BINGO!

Time for fun (41)! Make a cup of tea (number 3) and join us for a wander through the hallowed bingo halls of Britain to find out why the game is still getting plenty (number 20) of new fans

Words: IONA BOWER

Every nation has something it is proud to be the world’s best at. The French cornered the market in romance, the Americans in entrepreneurship. The British? Give us a slightly naff game with a ridiculous moniker and we’ll create an almost indecipherable language and baffling sub-culture for it and then run with it. Like bingo. Thought to have its roots in 16th-century Italy, the game found huge popularity among working class women and in the slums of the 18th century. By the First World War, it was positively encouraged in the trenches as a diversion. It seems that when the going gets tough, the British turn to bingo. Dr Carolyn Downs is a senior lecturer at Lancaster University’s Centre for Consumption Insights, and a bit of a bingo guru, having written her…

You're reading a preview of

The Simple Things (Digital) - 1 Issue, January 2020

DiscountMags is a licensed distributor (not a publisher) of the above content and Publication through Zinio LLC. Accordingly, we have no editorial control over the Publications. Any opinions, advice, statements, services, offers or other information or content expressed or made available by third parties, including those made in Publications offered on our website, are those of the respective author(s) or publisher(s) and not of DiscountMags. DiscountMags does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, truthfulness, or usefulness of all or any portion of any publication or any services or offers made by third parties, nor will we be liable for any loss or damage caused by your reliance on information contained in any Publication, or your use of services offered, or your acceptance of any offers made through the Service or the Publications. For content removal requests, please contact Zinio.