Do you remember your first bet?

[IanDavies]

“Annual income 20 Pounds, annual expenditure 19 Pounds 19 Shillings and 6 Pence, result happiness. Annual income 20 Pounds, annual expenditure 20 Pounds Ought and 6, result misery.”

One of my all-time favourite lines and as true now as it was then.

And very relevant in a credit-driven world.

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[gamble]

Bob Cratchit Scrooge’s woefully paid clerk was paid 15 shillings a week as a citi ckerk. He lived in Camden Town and with no Northern line had quite a commute. Average clerk wages were 11 shillings and sixpence around the Dickensian time so wages were inflated in bankbrokeciti as today. Micawber’s example may then be more illustrative than practical, I suggest.

A yearly betting net profit of 5% snatched from the
preceding example would have have been a hay dream for the Betfair betting combine harvester that used to operate out of Europe (was it Sweden ?) which was taking in about 1.25% if memory serves.

I do not remember my first bet because it was such a daily occupation for me at the tender age of nine. I later worked like Bob and took home circa £10 a week and I bought a cheap suit in Oxford Street for £12. I was shouted at a lot for failing to get orders in on time which meant aircraft were grounded (AOG) aircraft on the ground. ” Australia are shouting blue murder ” Mr Mcmorrow would bellow from behind. It was not hard to give up the Cratchit stressful humdrum to become a simple stoodent again.

On a historical note thanks to Nathan (The Newsman), Jeremy (graysonsnewcolumn) and David ( Sirmack15 ) for helping to settle the old records. The quest remains ongoing. Good to see some old names do a bit of clerking again – including Seabird’s (Colin Phillips) rare droppings.🧐

[Slowly Away]

I was a latecomer and didn’t have my first bet until I was about 30

still, that’s nearly 40 years ago !

It was a weekend meet up of old college mates with various sporting events lined up ….. football on Saturday, snooker club Saturday night, par 3 Golf on Sunday …… and someone suggested betting on the early TV races before going to the match

One of the lads had bet before but the only bet he knew was a ‘patent’ …. so we all did a patent on races at Newcastle. I had a couple of winners . I think one was called Milk Heart and the other might have been something like Tommy Gee. I gradually became hooked having had no interest in racing for the first 30 years of my life. The first Derby I watched was Slip Anchor so I reckon my first bet was probably during the preceding winter

[Author]

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