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Bab at the Bowster was a 19th century coursing greyhound. She was commonly regarded as the greatest female greyhound ever to course. She was the dual winner of the great Scarisbrick Champion Cup for 128 dogs, the Douglas cup for 64, the Altcar Cup and the Elston Cup. She won a total of 62 of her 67 courses, although was denied a classic victory by Master McGrath in the 1869 Waterloo Cup.
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Baccarat (baccara) is a gambling or banking game of French origin, played by any number of players, or rather bettors, and a banker, and available in casinos worldwide. The aim of the player is to form a hand whose point value is nearer to nine than the hand of the banker. Pip cards count as face value, pictures and tens as zero, and only the last digit of the total counts (so that for example seven plus six is worth three, not thirteen). The banker deals two cards to each player and two to himself, and covers the stakes of each with an equal sum. The cards are then examined, and according to the scores made the players take their own stake and the banker's, or the latter takes all or a certain number of the stakes.
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Backgammon is an old board game also called tric trac, tavla or tables, and is typically played for money. Backgammon is played by two people on a board comprising four sections (tables) each divided into six narrow edges (points) in two alternating colours, the division between the inner and outer tables being called the bar. The playing pieces, called stones, are fifteen white and fifteen black counters, which are moved in accordance with the throw of two dice by each player in turn, the stones being moved from point to point the number of places indicated by the score of the dice, the dice being either counted separately and two stones moved, or together and a single stone moved the indicated number of points.
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Badminton - named after a seat of the Duke of Beaufort, in Gloucestershire - is a game somewhat similar to lawn tennis, played on a rectangular court by two players, or two pairs of players, with light rackets used to volley a shuttlecock over a high net that divides the court in half. Badminton became popular in England as a game for men during the 1960's and developed from the earlier non-competitive game of battledore and shuttlecock.
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Bagatelle is a game played on a long flat board covered with cloth like a billiard-table, with spherical balls and a cue or mace. At the end of the board are nine cups or sockets of just sufficient size to receive the balls. These sockets are arranged in the form of a regular octagon, with the ninth in the middle, and are numbered consecutively from one upwards. Nine balls are used, generally one black, four white, and four red, the distinction between white and red being made only for the sake of variety. In the ordinary game, at starting, the black ball is placed on a point in the longitudinal middle line of the board, a few inches in front of the nearest of the sockets, and the player places one of his eight balls on a corresponding point at the other end of the board, and tries to strike the black ball into one of the sockets with his own. After this his object is to place as many of his balls as possible in the sockets. Each ball so placed counts as many as the socket is numbered for, and the black ball always counts double. He who first makes the number of points agreed on wins. The name bagatelle is also applied to similar variations of the game with a smaller board in which small balls about the size of a marble are propelled along a channel at the side with the object of having them catch in cups or sockets, each of which is numbered with a value of points, arranged over the surface of the board.
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The Baltimore Bays are an American Association Football team playing in the USISL.
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The Baltimore Bullets are an American professional basketball team, playing in the National Basketball Association. Baltimore were original members of the league, and gained championship success in the opening year of the competition, winning the 1948 play-offs.
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The Baltimore Colts are an American professional football team, started in the All America Football Conference in 1946 as the Miami Seahawks and moved to Baltimore the next year. They were one of the three Conference teams absorbed into the National Football League after the 1949 season.
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The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team which had a strong tradition in the National League during the 1890s.
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Bandy is a game similar to hockey, played on an ice-covered football pitch. The players each have a stick with a crook at the end with which they strike a wooden or other hard ball, trying to strike the ball into the opposition goal. Originally an outdoor game, a condensed version known as rink-bandy is played indoors in Holland, but the game lives on mainly in Finland, Mongolia, Norway, Russia, Estonia, Latvia and Sweden.
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The Barbarian F.C. (Barbarians) is a rugby union touring club which was formed in 1890 at Bradford, Yorkshire, by the Blackheath forward Carpmael. Membership is by invitation only and is extended to outstanding players from all countries.
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Barbu is a skilful card game for four players. It uses a standard 52-card pack as for bridge or poker, ranking as usual from highest to lowest Ace K Q J 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 in each of the four suits. In the course of a session, each player will play each of the seven contracts once, so that there are 28 hands played in all. The initial declarer is chosen at random. For the first seven hands, this player will be declarer. The cards will be dealt by the player on the declarer's right, and cut by the player opposite to declarer. After this declarer has done her seven contracts, the player on the original declarer's left will be declarer for seven contracts, and so on, until everyone has done her seven contracts. In each of these contracts, each player is playing for herself. Declarer chooses the contract, but there is no reason for the other players to co-operate against her. The rules about doubling, however, are asymmetrical with respect to declarer
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Barcelona C.F. is a Spanish Association Football club which was formed in 1899 by Gamper.
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Bareback bronc-riding is a rodeo event similar to saddle bronc-riding, but without a saddle, reins or stirrups. The rider must retain his seat for eight seconds, while keeping one hand free and held in the air.
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Barley-Break (Last Couple in Hell) is a game played among the barley stacks of the farmyard. A piece of ground is divided into three parts, the middle portion being called 'hell'. In this a man and woman stand hand-in- hand and try to catch other couples as they advance from the outer sections. Those who are caught have to take their stand in the middle, and the object is to be the last couple caught. A similar game was Prisoners' base, first mentioned during the reign of Edward III.
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Barr-dice was an old term for dice which were specially contrived so as to not readily turn up certain sides. Weighted dice or loaded dice.
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Bartok is a game of the Eights group. The object in these games is to be the first to get rid of all your cards. There is a single discard pile and at your turn you can discard a card which matches the rank or the suit of the previous card. If you cannot or do not wish to play, you draw a card from the un-dealt stock and add it to your hand. Certain card ranks may have special properties. For example changing the direction of play; requiring a different suit to be played; requiring the next player to draw cards; causing the next player's turn to be skipped; allowing the player to play one or more additional cards.
Bartok takes this a stage further by allowing the rules about special cards to be changed by the players as the game goes on. This makes the rules increasingly difficult to remember, and anyone who does not follow the rules has to draw one or more penalty cards. The most successful players will be those who are best at keeping abreast of the changes, and inventing new rules which will confuse the other players.
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Baseball (earlier called base-ball), is a game played with a bat and ball which had by 1900 obtained a sort of national character in the United States, and by the Second World War was the accepted national game of America. It is very similar to the English game of 'rounders', and is played by nine players a side. A diamond-shaped space of ground, 90 feet on the side, is marked out, the corners being the 'bases'. One side takes the field and the other sends a man to bat. When the field side take their places the 'pitcher', standing inside the ground near the centre and in front of the batsman, delivers a ball to the batsman, who stands at the 'home base' within a certain marked space, and who tries to drive it out of the reach of the fielders, and far enough out of the field to enable him to run round the bases, which scores a run. If he cannot run round all he may stop at any one, and may be followed by another batsman. If the ball is caught by an opponent before touching the ground when the batsman is running, or if he is touched by the ball, he is out (also in several other cases), and when three on his side are put out, the field side take the bat. Nine of these innings make a game, which the highest score wins. The bat is of a cylindrical shape, not more than 2.5 inches in diameter nor more than 42 inches long. The ball is about 9 inches in circumference and pretty elastic. Baseball is not a very old game, having attained its present position only since about 1845. By 1900 many professional players were engaged in it. Attempts have been made to introduce it into Britain and Australia, since the 19th century but with little success.
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Basketball is a five-a-side ball game which originated in the USA in 1891 but is now played world- wide. It was invented by Naismith and conceived as a game where one team would attempt to gain possession of the ball and throw it into the opponent team's basket. A goal is scored when the ball enters the basket from above and remains in or passes through the net.
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Basra is a Middle Eastern fishing card game, somewhat similar to the Western game Casino.
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Basset was the name of a game at cards, formerly much played, especially in France. It is very similar to the game of faro.
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Batinton is a game for two or four players based on Badminton with a table tennis scoring system. The game is played indoors or outdoors on any non-slippery surface. The standard court is 36 feet by 12 feet but the width may vary between 10 feet and 13 feet. The game is played with a bat, similar in construction to a table tennis bat, but longer.
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Battledore and Shuttlecock was an ancient outdoor co-operative game for two or more players in which a feathered object, the shuttlecock, is kept in the air by means of batting it upwards with a bat or racket, known as the battledore. The challenge of the game was to score as many hits as possible, with all players scores being added together. The game of Battledore and Shuttlecock is thought to have originated in ancient Greece around 1 BC and spread to the Far East before arriving in England where it was recorded in Mediaeval times. By the 19th century the game of Battledore and Shuttlecock had been taken over by badminton.
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Beaking was an old cock-fighting term for when one of the birds held his opponent with his beak and at the same time struck him with his spurs or gaffles.
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Bear-baiting is the sport of baiting bears with dogs, formerly one of the established amusements, not only of the common people, but of the nobility and even royalty itself. The places where bears were publicly baited were called bear-gardens.
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Beetle is an old indoor family game now popular at fund raising evenings or 'beetle drives'. The game is played by a number of players, using a dice and paper and pencil. The idea is to be the first to complete a stylised drawing of a beetle, each of six components corresponding to a number between 1 (the body) and 6 (the tail). A player must throw a 1 to start the beetle, thereby drawing the ovular body, and thereafter draws which ever part corresponds to the dice throw - 2 the head; 3 the legs; 4 the eyes; 5 the feelers or antennae and 6 the tail. The first to complete their beetle is the winner.
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Beggar my Neighbour is a card game played by two or more players. The deck of cards is equally divided between the players and each player holds his deck face down, laying the top card face up alternatively until an ace or picture card is revealed, when the player who has played it receives from his opponent: four cards for an ace; three for a king; two for a queen and one for a jack (knave). Should an ace or picture card be revealed during payment, payment switches to the other player. As the cards are gained they are placed by the player at the bottom of his deck. The game continues until one player holds all the cards.
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Bela (Cloybosh) is a trick taking card game, the winner of a hand is not necessarily the winner of the most tricks. Each card has a point value, and points are counted for combinations held in the hand before it is played. One particular combination is declared as it is played - the K-Q of the trump suit (called Bela) - and points are also scored for making the last trick. Each player aims to score more points in cards captured during a hand of play and in combinations than his opponent. A complete game takes several hands and is won by the player whose score first reaches or passes a total of 501.
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Belfast Celtic F.C. is an Association Football club founded in 1881.
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The Bellingham Orcas are an American Association Football team playing in the USISL.
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Belmont Park is the leading race-track in the USA. It is in New York and is host to the Belmont Stakes, Coaching Club American Oaks, Withers Stakes and Jockey Club Gold-Cup races.
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The Belmont Stakes is a horse-race founded in 1867 and is the third leg of the American triple crown and the only classic race run over 2400 meters in the USA, placing it above the Kentucky Derby in importance to many people. It is held at Belmont Park in early June.
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Belote is one of the most popular card games in France, although it has been known there only for about 70 years. It is a close relative of Clobyosh (also known as Bela), which is played in Jewish communities in many parts of the world, and of the Dutch game Klaverjas. Belote is a point-trick taking game for 2, 3, or 4 players played with a 32 card deck, the cards from 2 to 6 from each suit being discarded.
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The Benson and Hedges Cup is a one-day competition in English cricket, conducted annually since 1972, which carries a gold trophy and a cash award to the winners. The competing sides are the 17 first- class English counties, two representing the Minor Counties (north and south), and in alternate years, Oxford and Cambridge Universities. The country is split into four geographical zones, each containing five sides, which play on a league basis. The top two teams from each zone go forward to a knock-out stage, the final being staged at Lord' s in July.
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Bezique is a card game. The name bezique is applied to the occurrence in one hand of the knave of diamonds and queen of spades. The game may be played by two, three or four people with two, three or four decks of cards from which have been removed cards with from two to six pips.
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The Biathlon is a combined running and swimming event introduced by the Modern Pentathlon Association of Great Britain in 1968. Men compete over 4000 meters running and 300 meters swimming. Another biathlon involves cross- country skiing and rifle marksmanship, and is employed in military training in some countries.
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Bicycle polo is a form of polo adapted to the use of bicycles instead of ponies. Like polo, it is a team game in which the object is to score goals by driving a ball up field and between the opposing team's goal posts using a long-handled mallet.
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Bid Euchre is the name given to a group of games played in North America which are based on Euchre, but with the trump suit chosen by whichever player is prepared to contract to win the largest number of tricks. There is no standardization of the rules; most of the variation concerns the number of cards in the deck (quite often a double deck is used), and the exact bids allowed.
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Bid Whist is a partnership trick-taking card game that is very popular among African Americans. It is played with a standard 52 card deck plus two jokers, for a total of 54 cards. The two jokers must be distinct: one is called the big joker and the other is the little joker. There are 4 players consisting of two teams of two; each player sits opposite their partner. The game starts with each team at zero, and the object of the game is to reach a score 7 or more points, or force the other team to go negative 7 or more points. Points are scored by bidding for and winning tricks, which in this game are called books.
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Biddy Basketball is the original version of mini-basketball. It was invented in 1950 by the American youth leader, Jay Archer. The game is still played as biddy basketball in the USA with some differences in the rules to the international version.
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Biggly is the name used in Cumbria for the game of Blind Man's Buff.
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Billiards is a formerly well-known game, probably (like its name) of French origin, traditionally played with ivory balls, now plastic, on a flat table. The game of billiards was known in the 18th century, and evolved very quickly over the next one hundred years. Writing in 1768, the Encyclopaedia Britannica described billiards as 'an ingenious kind of game, played on a rectangular table, covered with green cloth, and played exactly level, with little ivory balls, which are driven by crooked sticks, made on purpose, into hazards or holes, on the edge and corners of the table, according to certain rules of the game.' The most striking evolution of the game during the next one hundred years was the replacement of the crooked sticks for straight, tapering sticks, which remain in use to this day.
Various modes of play, constituting many distinct games, were adopted, according to the tastes of the players, some being more in favour in one country, some in another. The common English billiard-table is a rectangle, about 12 feet by 6, covered with fine and very smooth green cloth, on a perfectly level bed of slate, and having a raised edge all round lined with cushions which are made tolerably firm and elastic, much of the skill of the game consisting in calculating the rebound of the balls in various directions from the cushions. Along the edges of the table are six semicircular holes arranged at regular intervals in the cushion, through which the balls are allowed to drop into small nets called pockets, under the sides of the table. The pockets are placed one at each corner of the table, and two opposite each other in the middle of the long sides. Each player is provided with a cue to strike the balls. The cue is a wooden rod from 4 or 5 to 6 or 8 feet long, rounded in form, and tapering gradually from 1.5 inch in diameter at the butt to .75 inch or less at the point, which is tipped with leather and rubbed with chalk to make the stroke smooth.
In the common game two players engage. Each has a white ball, and a red ball is common to the two. In beginning the game the red ball is placed on a spot near one end of the table, and equidistant from the corner pockets. A line drawn across the table at the other end marks off a space called baulk. In this space a semicircle is described, out of which the player, in commencing, must send his ball, either striking the red or giving his opponent a 'miss', that is, playing without striking the red ball, which scores one against him. When the game has commenced the player is at liberty to strike at either his opponent's ball or the red, and continues to play as long as he succeeds in scoring. The whole of an uninterrupted run of play is called a break. There are various modes of scoring. When a player strikes both balls with his own it is called a cannon, and counts two; when he pockets his own ball, after striking another, it is called a losing hazard, and counts two if made off his opponent's ball, three if off the red; when he pockets his opponent's ball it counts two; when he pockets the red, three. When the player fails to strike either ball, it scores one against him; if he goes into a pocket without striking, it scores three against him.
After the ordinary game the most favourite varieties were pyramids and pool. The former is so called from the position in which the balls are placed at the beginning of the game. It is played with fifteen balls; and the object of the players is to try who will pocket, or 'pot', the greatest number of balls.
Pool was also a game of 'potting', but is played somewhat differently. It is a favourite game with those who play for stakes, insomuch that it may be considered almost exclusively a gambling game. It embraces an indefinite number of players, each of whom is provided with a ball of a different colour from any of the others. They play in succession, and each tries to pot his opponent's ball. If he succeeds with one he goes on to the next; if he fails another player takes his turn, playing first on the ball of the last player. There are thus two points which a pool-player has to aim at: to pot as many balls as possible, and to keep his ball in a safe position relatively to that of the following player, as the player whose ball is potted has to pay the penalty prescribed by the game.
The common billiard-table used in France was smaller than the English, and has no pockets, the game being entirely a cannon game. This kind of table was very common in America after about 1900, and there a four-pocket table was also in use. The American term for cannon was 'carom' and in American play two red balls (or a red and a pink) and two white ones were commonly employed.
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In golf, birdie is one stroke less than par.
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Birkenbeinerlauf is a Norwegian ski race. It was instituted in 1932 by the Norwegian Ski Association to celebrate the rescue in 1205 of the two year old Haakon by the Birkenbeiner. The race starts at Lillehammer and ends at Rena, or vice-versa, and is run annually in February or March depending on conditions.
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Birling is a race in which competitors stand astride a floating log and guide it along a course using a pole to steer it. It developed from the skills needed by lumberjacks in steering logs down river.
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The Birmingham Grasshoppers are an American Association Football team based at Birmingham, Alabama and playing in the USISL.
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Blackburn Rovers F.C. is an Association Football club which was formed in 1874 by old boys of Blackburn Grammar School. The club adopted professionalism in 1880 and won the F.A. Cup in 1884, 1885 and 1886.
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Blackfriars Ring was a popular boxing arena in south-east London until it was destroyed during an air raid in the Second World War. The ring was originally an octagonal Nonconformist chapel which had fallen into disuse until it was opened in 1910 for weekly boxing promotions by Burge, a former British lightweight champion, and run after his death by his wife.
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Blackheath F.C. are a Rugby Union football club formed in 1858 by boys of the Blackheath Proprietary School, London and is recognised as the oldest club in existence with open membership.
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Blackjack is a popular American casino game, now found throughout the world. It is a banking game in which the aim of the player is to achieve a hand whose points total nearer to 21 than the banker's hand, but without exceeding 21. In Nevada casinos this game is called 21 rather than Blackjack; '
Blackjack' is the name of the same game played in the home, with slightly different rules mostly associated with the absence of a house dealer. The '
Blackjack' holding of ace and jack is called a ' natural' by all casino personnel.
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Blind Cow is the German and Austrian name for the game of Blind Man's Buff.
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Blind fly is the Italian name for game of Blind Man's Buff.
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Blind Man's Buff (formerly called Hoodman Blind) was originally a boisterous street game played by adults in the Middle Ages with greater emphasis on the buffs received by the blind man than in its later indoor children's party version. A variation was played in ancient Rome under the name of Chalke muia. In all the versions one player is blindfolded and attempts to catch the other players who buff, whip or hit him. The modern family variation of Blind Man's Buff involves a player being blindfolded and then attempting to identify the player he catches by touch alone. Another variant involves the caught player announcing in a disguised voice 'It's me' and the blind folded player attempting to identify them by their voice. A more adult variation involves kissing and identifying the player by their kiss.
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At Oxford and Cambridge universities, a blue is a sporting honour awarded to students representing their university in a game or athletics. It consists of a strip of light or dark blue ribbon and is said to have originated with the second Oxford and Cambridge boat race in 1836.
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The Oxford and Cambridge boat race, originally known as the Putney and Mortlake Race, is an annual eight-oared boat-race held between the universities of Oxford and Cambridge in the Thames.
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Bobsleigh (bobsledding) is a winter sport in which sleds, normally manned by two-man or four-man crews, are guided down a specially prepared track of solid ice with banked bends. The bobsled is a precision-built machine of aluminium and steel. It has two axles, with two rounded runners mounted on each. The rear axle is fixed and the front one turns for steering which is achieved with either a steering wheel or ropes. The brake is a bar made of hardened steel with a serrated edge located between the two rear runners. In competitions the brake can only be used in an emergency as it damages the ice.
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The Boca Juniors are an Argentine Association Football club in Buenos Aires. They were founded in 1908 and turned professional in 1931. During the 1920s and 1930s they won the Argentinean championship eight times and another three times during the 1940s.
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In golf, a bogey is one stroke above par.
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Bologna are an Italian Association Football Club founded in 1909. They were three times Italian champions during the 1930s.
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Bone Ace was an English 17th century variation on the earlier card game One and Thirty.
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Boodle (Michigan, Newmarket) is a card game suitable for about three to eight players. It is a fairly simple stops game in which the aim is to get rid of your cards first, and to win stakes by playing particular cards. There is a variation called Three in One in which before the stops part, each player selects 5 cards from their hand and plays a game of Poker with them. That version is also known as Michigan Rummy, though according the books 'Michigan Rum' is actually rummy game - a version of 500 Rum. A standard 52 card deck is used. The cards in each suit rank from lowest to highest: 2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-J-Q-K-A. During the game stakes are placed on a layout. This can be a board or cloth, or can be made by laying out an Ace, a king, a queen and a jack of different suits from a second deck on which the stakes are placed.
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The Book of Sports was the proclamation made by James I in 1618, that, after divine service on Sundays 'no lawful recreation should be barred to his good people.' such sports being named as morris dances, dancing round the May- pole, archery, May games, vaulting, Whitsun-ales, running, leaping and the like; but such pursuits as dramatic interludes, bear-baiting, bull-baiting, bowling were forbidden.
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The Border Games are a British professional athletics meeting held in the south of Scotland. They reached a peak of popularity in the late 19th century when they were known as the Hitch and Kick because of their variety of jumping events.
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The Boston Braves are an American professional baseball team. Prior to 1900 they were known under a variety of names, and in 1914 became the Miracle Braves, before in 1953 as a result of dwindling attendances transferring to Milwaukee to become the Milwaukee Braves.
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The Boston Bruins are an ice-hockey club of Boston, USA. In 1924 they became the first American professional team in the National Hockey League of North America, winning the title in 1929, 1930, 1939, 1940 and 1941.
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The Boston Celtics are an American professional basketball club with the best record in the history of the National Basketball Association. The club was formed in 1946 and entered the NBA in 1947.
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The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team. They were one of the original members of the American League when it was founded in 1901 and winners of the official world series in 1903 when they were led by the pitcher Cy Young.
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The Boston Renegades are an American Association Football team based at Hvannis and playing in the USISL.
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Botafogo is a Brazilian Association Football club based in Rio de Janeiro and founded in 1904.
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Botifarra is a point trick card game for four players in fixed partnerships; as usual you sit opposite your partner. Only the points in the tricks are important, not the number of tricks, although a trick also has a value by itself. The game is usually played until one team reaches 101 points or more, and this requires several hands. As in other four-player games, it is a widespread practice to play three games, so that each player partners each of the three others for one game.
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In cricket, the bowling crease is a line extending three feet four inches on each side of the central strings at right angles to the line between the wickets.
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Boxing (originally known as glove-fighting) is fist-fighting with gloves worn by two men known as boxers in a roped square. It is both an amateur and a professional sport, in which contenders aim to score points by landing blows on their opponent with the gloved fist, preferably delivering such a blow to the head as to knock the opponent unconscious.
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In archery and fencing, a bracer is a guard worn to protect the warm.
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The Braemar Gathering is a British professional athletics meeting held in the highlands of Aberdeenshire, Scotland, not far from the royal residence of Balmoral Castle.
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Breaststroke is the slowest and earliest of the four swimming styles.
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Bridge is a card game, the origin of which is uncertain, but it is a development of whist, said to have been first played in
England about 1880, under the name of biritch, or Russian whist. A hybrid form was played in Constantinople (Istanbul) in 1860, a variation has long been played in Holland and another known as yeralash in Russia. The present form first appeared in Paris clubs about 1892 and was from there taken to America in 1894. Bridge was introduced to popularity in England by Lord Brougham at the Portland Club in London.
The game is played by two pairs of partners with an ordinary deck of cards. Only three players actually play the hand, the dealer's partner always stands out with his cards exposed as a dummy hand and played by the dealer in partnership with his own. The scoring is quite different from what it is at whist, and is somewhat complicated. Honours do not count towards the game - which consists of 30 points - though they contribute to the final score. The ten ranks as an honour in addition to the four court cards. The rubber counts as 100 points. To win twelve tricks gives 20 extra points, to win the whole thirteen, 40 points. Thus points scored over and above the game are not valueless, as in whist, but count towards the final score. Another difference from whist is that the suits have different values in respect of scoring, which complicates the question of choosing trumps, and the subsequent play. At the end of the rubber the total scores on either side are added up. By 1900 Bridge had become very common in some circles of society, and was the cause of much money being lost and won.
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Brisca is a popular Spanish card game, very similar to the Italian game Briscola.
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Briscola is a trick taking card game - that is, the object of the game is to take cards which gives you (or your team) a high score. It is played with a 40 card deck. It is often played with Italian cards, which have suits of coins, cups, batons and swords, but you may play using a standard card deck, just by removing the Jokers, eights, nines and tens. Briscola may be played with two, three, four or six players.
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Bristol RFC is a leading Rugby Union football club founded in 1888. The home ground is the Memorial Ground in Bristol, and the players colours are blue and white hooped jerseys with white shorts.
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The British Columbia Lions are a Canadian professional football team. They joined the Canadian Football League in 1954 and won the Western Conference Title in 1963 and 1964.
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Brooklands Race Track was a famous motor racing circuit built near Weybridge in Surrey in 1906.
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The Brooklyn Dodgers are an American professional baseball team. They got their name from their fans who used to dodge tram traffic on the way to the ball park.
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Broomball is a Russian game of hockey played on ice with brooms instead of sticks, and without skates. Originally an exclusive game played in Russia, the game was discovered by Canadians in the early 20th century and 'adopted' as a Canadian game - credit for the current world wide popularity of Broomball certainly lies with the Canadians, but the game is of Russian invention. Through the 20th century the game spread around the world, reaching Australia in the early 1980s.
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Budokwai is a judo club in London. It was founded in 1918, and was the first judo club in Europe.
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In patience card games, build down refers to laying cards in descending order of value upon a foundation card.
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In patience card games, build up refers to laying cards in ascending order of value upon a foundation card.
Research Build Up
Bull-baiting is an obsolete sport in which a bull with the points of his horns guarded was tied to a stake and worried to death by dogs. It was made illegal in England in 1835.
Research Bull-Baiting
Bull-fighting is a barbaric and cruel diversion, a favourite of the Spaniards. They are usually held in an amphitheatre having circular seats rising one above another, and are attended by vast crowds who eagerly pay for admission. The combatants, who make bullfighting their profession, march into the arena in procession. They are of various kinds - the picadores, combatants on horseback, in the old Spanish knightly garb; the chulos or banderilleros, combatants on foot, in gay dresses, with coloured cloaks or banners; and lastly, the matador (the killer).
As soon as the signal is given the unfortunate bull is let into the arena. The picadores, who have stationed themselves near him, commence the attack with their lances, and the bull is thus goaded to fury and fear. Sometimes a horse is wounded or killed, and the rider is obliged to run for his life. The chulos assist the horsemen by drawing the attention of the bull with their cloaks; and in case of danger they save themselves by leaping over the wooden fence which surrounds the arena. The banderilleros then come into play. They try to fasten on the bull their banderillas - barbed darts ornamented with coloured paper, and often having squibs or crackers attached. These barbed darts weaken the bull's neck muscles making him less dangerous, and cause him to bleed, also weakening the now terrified beast. If they succeed, the squibs are discharged, and the bull races madly about the arena in terror. The matador or espada now comes in arrogantly with a naked sword, and a red flag to decoy the bull with, and aims a fatal blow at the animal, stabbing him behind the head and cutting the spine. The slaughtered bull is dragged away, and another unfortunate beast is let out from the stall. Several bulls are so cruelly disposed of in a single day for the pleasure of the cruel and senseless crowd.
Research Bull-Fighting
Bull-riding is a very dangerous rodeo sport in which a cowboy tries to remain seated, bareback on a bucking Brahma bull. The only handhold is a loose rope around the bull's girth.
Research Bull-Riding
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Abbreviations
Recreation
