Graham Dixon
A book for all those who have played, still play and would consider playing along with an essential requirement for all colleges, schools and libraries.
The vast majority of badminton players have a rather limited knowledge of the game which is usually restricted to the confines of their local club and league. Sadly the few books that were of any help in this respect are now long ago out of print. So here at long last is an insight into the wonderful world of the sport of Badminton.
An insight into the game of Badminton as found on the pages of a great variety of books and magazines.
Graham Dixon has used his collection of badminton books and magazines along with the resources of the National Badminton Museum to produce a remarkable insight into the game of badminton as recorded by players and writers over the last 120 years. Fifteen chapters deal with such facets of the game as;- The history and development – Books and magazines – The All England Championships – Veteran players – How to play – Shuttles – Rackets – Clothing – Courts and Equipment – Some serious facts – Some ‘funny’ stuff – Some of the great players and a most comprehensive bibliography.
The book is in full colour and fully illustrated with some classic, informative and amusing illustrations from a variety of sources.
Steven Baddeley, Director of National Sport, Sport England, in his forward to the book says, ‘If you enjoy a weekly game of badminton with family or friends or if you play in a local league, you will enjoy reading this informative account of badminton past and present’.
The majority of books written on the sport of badminton have been the work of leading players wanting to pass on their skills to others or journalists writing about a sport for which they have a passion. Graham Dixon is neither of those. However he does play badminton and has done so for 58 years at club, county and veteran international level and he does have a passionate love of the game which has taken up such a large part of his life.
A ‘Geordie’ and proud of it, he was introduced to badminton by his parents in Gateshead and played in the local churches league and for Durham University before moving to Cheshire where he played in two leagues and served on the County Association committee. Then to Lancashire to play for Pilkingtons in three local leagues.
In 1986 Graham moved to Cumbria with his second wife and badminton partner and took up a new career in Outdoor Development Training. This new healthy lifestyle saw a refocusing on badminton and a greater involvement in the game as the Veteran Co-ordinator for Cumbria and an avid collector of badminton books. As a result of his involvement at veteran level, Graham was invited to become a founder member of the national Veteran Policy Group at the Badminton Association of England. This level of involvement at the highest level of veteran badminton both nationally and internationally gave him an insight into the sport which was then augmented by his interest in its history and development. Meetings with Pat Davis and access to the National Badminton Museum were the final parts of the jig-saw that led to the production of his book, “Badminton Between the Covers”.
A book based on his interest, involvement and passion.
Chapter One
“In the beginning”
“The past is a foreign country, they do things different there.”
“To a rainy day, and a house-party seeking some new diversion,
belongs the honour of evolving Badminton…”
There is no hard evidence that Adam played badminton (possibly due to lack of a competent opponent), nor is there any suggestion that we are all descended from the two badminton players that Noah invited for a weekend on his yacht.
Primitive man was too busy chasing food and raising large blocks of stone into circles to bother with the game.
So where did it all begin?
The origin of the ancient game of battledore and shuttlecock is something of a mystery and what I don’t want to do, is to get involved in historic indulgences, but simply to work with the written word as found in books, magazines and other publications that refer to badminton.
The Encyclopaedia Britannica identifies the game with Greek drawings (which depict people at play using racquets and shuttlecocks), then states that it was popular in the far East and has known centuries of play by children in Europe.
However, according to Jean-Yves Guillain in his ‘Badminton an Illustrated History’ (Published by Publibook, Paris, 2004) , ‘The first traces of a game involving the use of a shuttlecock can be found in Asia, and specifically in China in a game called Ti-jian-zi about 2500 B.C.’ This shuttle kicking then seems to have spread throughout Asia when those masters of technical innovation, the Japanese added wooden bats known as Hagoita. These ‘bats’ became increasingly elaborately decorated and appeared as essential ornamentation for young girls.
One of our American cousins devoted a few paragraphs to the history of the game in 1982. ‘Overwhelming evidence of racquets being used to strike shuttles is found throughout the whole world.’ In a book entitled ‘Games of the Orient,’ published in 1958 we find that ‘these games (Badminton like) have been traced back to the 5th. Century B.C.’ They also lay a claim for the existence of racquets and shuttlecocks in the Americas. ‘For instance, the Indians of the Northwester portion of North America used small wooden racquets to keep a shuttlecock in the air. Evidence of this game goes back to pre Columbian times. Racquets have also been found on the
