Unusual Sunday kids TV serial from 1983 remains elusive- but you can read the book.
Before the National Lottery was invented there were the Football Pools (actually I think they’re still going). This was a palaver that involved densely printed forms listing all the scheduled football matches across four Divisions and Scotland from which you’d select about 12 and predict which would be a score draw or something. Anyway some people used to take this very, very seriously studying form and previous matches whereas others would randomly put crosses in squares knowing next to nothing about football. Either approach was as likely to win you a cash prize. Pools entrants would then sit glued to the football results as they came in on the `teleprinter` to see if they’d scooped a fortune. Writer Gerard McDonald used the Pools as the basis for a book later adapted into a 10 part Sunday afternoon tv series shown in 1983 whose title explains exactly what it was about- The Boy Who Won The Pools. In this case 16 year old Rodney Baverstock was the lucky recipient of £758,000 (and 27p) courtesy of his Aunt. As money is now something like three and a bit more times the value it was in 1983 this would be like winning about two and a quarter million now.
Before the National Lottery was invented there were the Football Pools (actually I think they’re still going). This was a palaver that involved densely printed forms listing all the scheduled football matches across four Divisions and Scotland from which you’d select about 12 and predict which would be a score draw or something. Anyway some people used to take this very, very seriously studying form and previous matches whereas others would randomly put crosses in squares knowing next to nothing about football. Either approach was as likely to win you a cash prize. Pools entrants would then sit glued to the football results as they came in on the `teleprinter` to see if they’d scooped a fortune. Writer Gerard McDonald used the Pools as the basis for a book later adapted into a 10 part Sunday afternoon tv series shown in 1983 whose title explains exactly what it was about- The Boy Who Won The Pools. In this case 16 year old Rodney Baverstock was the lucky recipient of £758,000 (and 27p) courtesy of his Aunt. As money is now something like three and a bit more times the value it was in 1983 this would be like winning about two and a quarter million now.
