Charis’ Column

Monday, December 26, 2016
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“A Morning Song”

During my visit to St. Martin’s in the Field the choir sang an Advent hymn by Eleanor Farjeon, an English writer who mainly wrote children’s books. Eleanor’s father had been an author and two of her brothers were writers as well while her older brother was …

Monday, December 26, 2016
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Christmas Pudding… and Darts

I doubt most readers will see any connection between Christmas Pudding and darts. But one really can find one – when you are desperate to do so. I’ll prove it!!!

At this time of the year, Christmas Pudding is offered everywhere in the UK, something …

Monday, December 26, 2016
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A birthday!

Drowned in all the darts of the last few days was the fact that Dutch darts player Vincent van der Voort celebrated his birthday on December 18th. Van der Voort is among the participants in the World Championship but he’ll not be on stage until the 23rd …

Sunday, December 25, 2016
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Darts and more Darts… or Platt and Platt

The fourth day of the World Championship was dull day. Muswell Hill was already very busy – it looked like the people, so close to Christmas, are as hectic as they are in Germany. The press room on the other hand …

Sunday, December 25, 2016
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Darts… and Darts

It was foggy when I ascended the steps to Alexandra Palace on my first “long” day of darts. The venue again looked almost fully booked but the press room was quite empty. That had been different during my previous visits, especially on days when players like …

Saturday, December 24, 2016
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Aeronautics and Darts

For all who think those topics are not related in any way – you should perhaps read from time to time the Uniboffin blogs on the Unicorn site. Air drag, trajectory and the improvement of flight characteristics are important when producing darts as well. And aeronautics …

Friday, December 24, 2016
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At St. Martin in the Fields and Alexandra Palace 

As the World Championship would not begin before the evening I took the bus and underground into the City of London. The city is always crowded and even more so such a short time before Christmas. So I concentrated on …

Friday, December 2, 2016
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An interview with Linda Duffy

Linda Batten-Duffy, the #1 in woman’s darts from 1982-1987, started to play darts in her local pub when she was 15. At the time, women had few options to play darts in England – even county ladies darts didn’t exist before 1975. Nevertheless, Linda …

Thursday, September 15, 2016
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The Silly Season?

Well, not exactly a “silly season”… not anymore.

Until some years ago, the period after the World Matchplay in Blackpool used to be the beginning of the “silly season” in darts. Players went on holiday, probably to the Continent to lie on the beaches, recover from …

Tuesday, August 3, 2016
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“Brexit” Darts

This year, I began my trip to Blackpool feeling slightly uneasy. Only a few days before, the UK had voted to leave the EU and one could read everywhere about bursts of hatred against foreigners. Hatred is an attitude that perplexes me. I just can’t understand …