darts

History

The dartboard may have its origins in the cross-section of a tree. An old name for a dartboard is a 'butt', which might imply that the bottoms of wine barrels were the original dartboards; but the word in fact comes from the French word butte, meaning target. In particular, the Yorkshire and Perrigo Manchester Log End boards differ from the standard board in that they have no treble only double and bullseye, The Perrigo Manchester board being of a smaller diameter, with a playing area of only 25 cm across with double and bull areas measuring just 4mm. The London Fives board is another variation. This has only 12 equal segments numbered 20,5,15,10,20,5,15,10,20,5,15,10 with the doubles and triples being a quarter of an inch wide.

There is speculation that the game originated among soldiers throwing short arrows at the bottom of the cask or at the bottom of trunks of trees. As the wood dried, cracks would develop, creating "sections". Soon, regional standards emerged and many woodworkers supplemented bar tabs by fabricating dart boards for the local pubs.

The standard numbering plan with a 20 on top was created in 1896 by a Lancashire carpenter called Brian Gamlin.[4] However, a great many other configurations have been used throughout the years and in different geographical locations. Gamlin's layout was devised to penalise inaccuracy. Although this applies to most of the board, the left-hand side (near the 14 section) is preferred by beginners, for its concentration of larger numbers. Mathematically, removing the rotational symmetry by placing the "20" at the top, there are 19!, or 121,645,100,408,832,000 possible dartboards. Many different layouts would penalise a player more than the current setup; however, the current setup actually does the job rather efficiently. There have been several mathematical papers published that consider the "optimal" dartboard.

Height and distance

In the standard game, the dartboard is hung so that the bullseye is 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) from the floor: eye-level for a six-foot (183 cm) person. The oche (IPA: /'ɒki/)—the line behind which the throwing player must stand—is generally 7 ft 9¼ in (2.369 m) from the face of the dartboard measured horizontally. This is the recognized world standard as set by the World Darts Federation and is used in most areas.

The London 5 board or narrow 5's board set up is slightly different from the standard board. The height is set at 5 feet 6 inches to the centre of the bull and the oche is at 9 feet from the face of the board.

Dartboards

Before the First World War, pubs in the United Kingdom had dartboards made from solid blocks of wood, usually elm. They had to be soaked overnight to heal the holes made from the darts, and it was a messy business for the publican, although darts was a popular game. This changed when a company called Nodor, whose primary business was making modeling clay (which has no odor, hence the name Nodor) made a dartboard. Their model of dartboard was not a great success until someone came up with the idea of making a dartboard from sisal fibres. Small bundles of sisal fibres of the same length were bundled together. The bundles were then compressed into a disk and bound with a metal ring. It was an instant success, as the darts made little or no damage to the board—they just parted the fibres when they entered the board; this type of board was more durable and required little maintenance.

Modern dartboards are made of sisal fibers; cheap boards are sometimes made of coiled paper. However, several types of sisal fibre are used in dartboards today, originating from East Africa, Brazil and China.

A regulation board is 17¾ inches (451 mm)[2] in diameter and is divided into 20 radial sections. Each section is separated with metal wire or a thin band of sheet metal. The best dartboards have the thinnest wire, so that the darts have less chance of hitting a wire and bouncing out. The numbers indicating the various scoring sections of the board are also normally made of wire, especially on tournament-quality boards, but may be printed directly on the board instead.

chef of the month

about me
I was born in May 1975 and straight into the business, really. My dad runs a lovely pub-restaurant, The Cricketers, in Clavering, Essex, where I grew up. I remember being fascinated by what went on in the kitchen. It just seemed such a cool place, everyone working together to make this lovely stuff and having a laugh doing it.

When I was about seven or eight, they let me peel the potatoes and pod peas, that kind of thing. By the time I was 11, I wasn't half bad at veg prep and I could chop like a demon! A lot of the boys at school thought that cooking was a girlie thing. I didn't really care, especially as I could buy the coolest trainers with what I'd earned from working at the weekend.

When I was 16, I didn't really have the results to stay on at school - besides, I knew by then that I wanted to be a chef. So I went to Westminster Catering College and then did some time in France, learning as much as I could, before coming back to London to work as head pastry chef for Antonio Carluccio at The Neal Street Restaurant. I was really fortunate to have the chance to work at such a renowned restaurant so early on in my career and I made the most of it.

After The Neal Street Restaurant, I worked for Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers at the River Café for three and a half years - what an amazing experience that was. Those two ladies taught me all about the time and effort that goes into creating the freshest, most honest, totally delicious food.

It was there that I first got in front of a TV camera. A documentary about the restaurant was being filmed and the editors decided to show a lot of this cheeky kid who was so into the cooking that he'd answer back to the crew. The day after the programme was shown, I got calls from five production companies all wanting to talk about a possible show. I couldn't believe it and thought it was my mates winding me up!

The result was The Naked Chef and that's where it all kicked off I guess. Have a look around my website and you can find out a bit more about the books and TV shows I’ve done and you keep up with the latest stuff by checking out my diary. Right now I've never been busier in my life! It's a complete whirlwind - and the only thing I wish I had more time for is my family - my lovely girls Jools, Poppy, Daisy and Petal. Although we now have a place in the country to spend our weekends at, so I really look forward to Friday nights when we can pack up and spend the weekends together. That's what it's all about!