by Phil Mason
The pitchman said he had seen the game in Germany, where it was called ‘Lotto’. He had called it Beano because, in the South, beans were readily available to use as markers. Lowe described the crowd as impenetrable. Everyone seemed addicted, and slightly overcome by the tense excitement. One small girl caught Lowe’s ear. She was jumping up and down having completed her line and realising she could claim her prize of a small doll. But she shouted not ‘beano’ but ‘B-B-Bingo’.
‘I cannot describe the strange sense of elation which that girl’s shriek brought to me,’ Lowe later wrote. ‘I was going to come out with this game – and it was going to be called Bingo!’ (Sources disagree whether this episode took place that night, or later when Lowe was trying out the game with friends back in New York.)
What is certain is that Lowe did not make a fortune. He could have tried to copyright the name ‘Bingo’ but chose not to. He realised that, as the game itself was already in the public domain, trying to restrict competition would have been futile and legally costly. Curiously, he was able to be satisfied that one deserving cause benefited. In the early years, the game was adopted principally by the Catholic Church in America as a money-raising venture for poor parishes.
Index
10 (film)
10 Downing Street
2001: A Space Odyssey
3M company
999 (telephone, emergency services), origin of
Acheson, Dean
Ackerman, Jack, golfer
Adams, Richard
Adamson, Jimmy
Adidas
Advertising, television
Aircraft accidents
Aircraft, heavier-than-air flight, invention of
Alaska
Alexander II (Pope)
Ali, Muhammad (Cassius Clay)
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
Alpher, Ralph (astronomer)
America, discovery and naming of
American Telephone and Telegraph Co (AT&T)
American War of Independence
Andrews, Julie
Andrex puppy, origin of
Andropov, Yuri
Anne, Queen
Antarctica
Anti-communism
Apollo 11
Apollo 12
Apollo 13
Apollo 14
Apollo 16
Arbroath FC
Arbuckle, Fatty
Archery
Armada, Spanish
Arsenal FC
Aspirin, creation of
Asquith, Herbert
Astor, Lady
Athletics (track and field), Olympic
Attlee, Clement
Audi, origin of name
Australia
Avengers, The
Avon cosmetics
B&Q, origin of name
Baekeland, Leo (inventor)
Baker, Howard
Baldwin, Stanley
Balloon plague bomb, Japanese
Band-Aid plaster, invention of
Bank of England
Barnard, Darren (footballer)
Baseball
Battle of Britain
Baxter, Irving (Olympic athlete)
Beard, consequence of shaving off
Beatty, Warren
Beer Hall putsch
Beer, influence of
Bees, influence of in war
Bell, Alexander Graham
Benin
Bennett, Arnold
Bergerac
Bergman, Ingrid
Berlin Wall
Berlin, Irving
Berwick Rangers FC
Beverly Hills Cop
Big Bang theory, discovery of
Biggs, Ronnie
Bikini, origin of name
Bingo, invention of
Biological warfare
Black & Decker
Black Adder
Blackmore, R.D.
Blair, Tony
Bletchley Park
Blu-Tack, invention of
Boer War
Bogart, Humphrey
Bolivia
Bomber gap scare (Cold War)
Bon Accord FC
Bonaparte, Louis-Napoleon (Napoleon III)
Bond, James
Booth, Hubert Cecil (inventor)
Booth, John Wilkes
Bourdillon, Tom (mountaineer)
Bowling, overarm (cricket), origin of
Boxing
Boxing, Olympic
Bradford Park Avenue FC
Bradman, Don
Brandywine Creek, Battle of
Breathalyser errors
British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)
British Museum
Brodie, Chic (footballer)
Bronson, Charles
Brunel, Marc Isambard (inventor)
Brzezinski, Zbigniew
Bunau-Varilla, Philippe Jean
Bunbury, Sir Charles
Burger, Reinhold (inventor)
Burgess, Guy
Butterfield, Alexander
Butts, Alfred (inventor)
Caan, James
Cabinet system (politics)
Cagney, James
Caine, Michael
Calendar, confusion over, Olympic Games
Callaghan, James (Jim)
Canada
Canizares, Santiago (footballer)
Cardiff City FC
Cardigan, Lord
Carlisle United FC
Carrière, Bob (inventor)
Carroll, Lewis
Carter, Jimmy
Caruso, Daniel (boxer)
Carvel, Robert
Casablanca
Cash dispenser, invention of
Castro, Fidel
Cat’s eye, invention of
Censor, allowance by
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
Chadwick, James (nuclear physicist)
Chamberlain, Neville
Champion (movie horse star)
Charge of the Light Brigade
Charity feats, accidents
Charles I
Chester City FC
Chicago Cubs (baseball)
Chickens, use of in nuclear weapons
Chile, loss from speculation
China
Christie, Agatha
Churchill, Clementine
Churchill, Winston
Cicero (German spy)
Cigar smoke, influence of
Civil War, American
Civil War, English
Civil War, Spanish
Civilisation, influence of beer
Clarke, Arthur C.
Clifford, William Kingdon, Theory of Relativity
Clive, Robert
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Coca-Cola
Coe, Sebastian
Cold War
Coleman, Johannes (athlete)
Coleridge FC (Cambs)
Coleridge, Samuel Taylor
Columbus, Christopher
Communism
Communist Party of America
Computer, development of
Confession to murder, unnecessary
Connery, Sean
Conservative Party
Constantine the Great
Contact lens, invention of
Coolidge, Calvin
Cooper, Henry
Cotton gin, invention of
Courthope, Nathaniel
Crawford, Joan
Creasey, John
Credit card, invention of
Cricket
Crippen, Dr
Croissant, origin of
Crosby, Bing
Cuba
Cuban Missile Crisis
Cycling
Cycling, Olympic
Czech crisis (1938)
Dad’s Army
Daily Express
Daily Mail
Daleks
Dalton, Hugh
Darrow, Charles (inventor)
Darwin, Charles
Das Kapi
tal
Davis, Bette
Davis, Jefferson
Davis, Steve
Davison, Emily
Day, Doris
Day-Glo fluorescent clothing, invention of
D-Day invasion
de Coubertin, Baron Pierre
de Gaulle, Charles
De Haan, Sidney (entrepreneur)
de Mestral, George (inventor)
De Mille, Cecil B.174
de Saint Arnaud, Gen Jacques Leroy
de Vincenzo, Roberto
Derby (horse race)
Dewar, James (inventor)
Dickson, Earle (inventor)
Diet, consequences of
Digicode door lock, invention of
Diners Club, creation of
Diogo, Paulo (footballer)
Disney, Walt
Disraeli, Benjamin
DIY, origins of
Doc Martens (boots)
Doenitz, Admiral
Donation of Constantine
Dostoevsky, Fyodor
Douglas-Home, Alec (Lord)
Dr Who
Dreser, Heinrich (inventor)
Drummond, Edward
Dunant, Henri
Dunkirk, evacuation from
Durbin, Deanna
Dynasty
Early, Maj. Gen. Jubal
Eaton, Adam (baseball player)
Edison, Thomas (inventor)
Edwards, Blake
Eiffel Tower,
Einstein, Albert
El Gordo (lottery)
El Salvador
Eleanor of Aquitaine
Election, General (UK)
Election, Presidential (US)
Electric lighting, invention of
Engels, Friedrich
England national football team
Enigma code
Equestrianism, Olympic
Eric the Red
Essajas, Wym (Olympic athlete)
Evans, Charles (mountaineer)
Everest, conquest of
Everton FC
Evinrude, Ole (inventor)
Fairbanks Jnr, Douglas
Fangio, Juan
Fawlty Towers
Fencing, Olympic
Ferdinand, Archduke Franz
Fermi, Enrico (nuclear physicist)
First World War
FitzRoy, Capt. Robert
Fleming, Alexander
Fleming, Ian
Flo werpot Men, The
Flynn, Errol
Foot (imperial measure)
Football
Football, American
Ford, Harrison
Ford, Henry
France, proposed union with Britain
Franco, Francisco
Frankenstein
Franklin, Trevor (cricketer)
Frederick, Crown Prince (of Germany)
French Revolution
Freud, Sigmund
Fry, Art (inventor)
Fulbright, William
Gable, Clark
Gaitskell, Hugh
Garfield, James
Garland, Judy
Garson, Greer
Genesis space probe
George I
George II
George III
George V
George, Susan
Germany, East
Gettysburg, Battle of
Gibson, Mel
Gillingham FC
Gladstone, William
Glaspie, Ambassador April
Glenn, John
Goering, Hermann
Golden Gate Bridge
Goldman, Sylvan, inventor
Golf
Gone with the Wind
Goodyear, Charles (inventor)
Graduate, The
Grand National
Grant, Cary
Grant, Ulysses
Grapes of Wrath, The
Grauman’s Chinese Theatre (Hollywood)
Gravesend (Kent)
Gray, Elisha (inventor)
Green Eggs and Ham
Greene, Sir Hugh
Greenland
Grenada,
Grey, Earl
Grey, Sir Edward
Guinness Book of Records
Guinness, Heather (Olympic fencer)
Guncotton, invention of
Haggard, Henry Rider
Hahn, Otto
Hamilton-Brown, Thomas (Olympic boxer)
Harding, Warren
Hardy, Thomas
Harrison, George (gold prospector)
Harrison, William Henry
Heidi
Heisenberg, Werner
Henry I
Henry II
Henry VIII
Henry, Prince of Prussia
Heroin, creation of
Herschel, William
Heston, Charlton
High Sierra
Hill, Glenallen (baseball player)
Hillary, Edmund
Hiroshima, nuclear attack on
Hitler, Adolf
Hoffman, Dustin
Holdsworth, Dean (footballer)
Holiday Inn, origin of name
Hollerith, Herman (inventor)
Holloshaza (Hungary)
Hollywood, origin of
Home, (Lord) Alec Douglas-29
Honduras
Horch, August
Horse racing
House of Commons
Hubble space telescope
Huddersfield FC
Hudson, Rock
Hughes, Charles Evans
Hundred Years’ War
Hunt, Walter (inventor)
Hussein, Saddam
IBM
Ice cream, influence of
I Claudius
India (British Raj)
India, legal delays
Industrial revolution, influence of tea
Intelligence, American
Intelligence, British
Intelligence, French
Intelligence, German
Intelligence, Russian
Iraq
Ireland
Irwin, Hale (golfer)
Israel
It Happened One Night
ITV (independent television)
Jackson, Andrew
Jacuzzi, invention of
Jaguar (car)
Jazz Singer, The
Jefferson, Thomas
Jekyll and Mr Hyde, The Strange Case of Dr,
Jet engine, invention of
Johnson, Jack (boxer)
Johnson, Lyndon
Jolson, Al
Joseph, Anthony (boxer)
Joynson-Hicks, William
Kafka, Franz
Kaplan, Fanya
Karloff, Boris
Katz, Solomon
Keaton, Buster
Kennedy Martin, Troy
Kennedy, John F.
Khrushchev, Nikita
King Solomon’s Mines
King, Martin Luther
Kipling, Rudyard
Klein, Martin (Olympic wrestler)
Korean War
Kroc, Ray (entrepreneur)
Kubla Khan
Kuwait
Kyle, Kevin (footballer)
Labour Party
Laennec, René (inventor)
Lamarr, Hedy
Lara, Brian
Laundry, use of in spying
Lea & Perrins
Leaning Tower of Pisa
Lee, John (execution survivor)
Leigh, Janet
Lenin, Vladimir
Lennon, John
Leo IX (Pope)
Licence to Kill
Lincoln, Abraham
Lindsay, Mark
Liverpool FC
Liverpool, Lord
Lloyd George, David
Lollobrigida, Gina
Lombard, Carol
London A-Z
Lorna Doone
Louis VII
Louis XVI
Lowe, Edwin (inventor)
Lucan, General
/> Lucan, Lord
Lugois, Bela
Luther, Martin
M (James Bond), origin of
M*A*S*H
Mablethorpe, Lincs, possible site UK nuclear tests
Mackenzie, Sir Morell
Maclean, Donald
Macmillan, Harold
Mad Max
Madison, James
Maertens, Dr Klaus (inventor)
Malory, Sir Thomas
Maltese Falcon, The
Manchester police
Mannerheim, Marshal Carl
Marathon, Olympic
Marie Antoinette
Mariner I space probe
Marks and Spencer
Mars Climate Orbiter space probe
Mars, Forrest
Marshall, Gen. George
Martin, Marcos (footballer)
Marx Brothers
Marx, Karl
Matchbox toy cars
Mathematical miscalculations, influence of
Matthews, Stanley
Mayer, Louis B
McCarthyism
McDonald’s
McGoohan, Patrick
McKinley, William
McQueen, Steve
Melbourne, Lord
Mengele, Joseph
Meucci, Antonio (inventor)
MI5
MI6
Mickey Mouse
Microwave oven, invention of
Mini-golf, invention of
Mistranslation, influence of
Mitchell, Margaret
Modena (Italy)
Mohammad, Hanif (cricketer)
Monocacy, Battle of
Monopoly, invention of
Monroe, Marilyn
Montgomerie, Colin (golfer)
Montreal, legacy of Olympics
Moon landings
Moon rock, Olympic Games bribe
Moore, Dudley
Moore, Roger
Morte D’Arthur
Motor racing
Mousetrap, The
Mrs Miniver
Munich conference (1938)
Murphy, Eddie
Music, recorded, invention of
Mysterious Affair at Styles, The
Nagasaki, nuclear attack on
Naipaul, V.S.
Napoleon vii,
Nation, Terry
Nationwide (BBC TV)
Nettles, John
New Orleans, Battle of
New York
New York Times
Newcastle United FC
Newman, Paul
Nicaragua
Nicholson, Jack
Nike ‘waffle’ trainer
Nixon, Richard
Nobel Prize
Noël, Jules (Olympic athlete)
Nome (Alaska)
Nose, size, influence of
Nuclear attack, false alarm
Nuclear chain reaction, discovery of
Nuclear defence in UK, influence of cricket