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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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pools
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(short for football pools) Britain's nearest equivalent to a national *lottery, prior to the introduction of an actual lottery during the 1990s. Coupons for betting on the results of football matches were on sale before World War I, but the present nation-wide postal system dates back to the 1920s when both the leading pools were founded. Littlewoods began in 1923 when three young Manchester telegraph operators printed 4000 copies of a coupon and succeeded in selling just 35 of them outside Manchester United's football ground. At the end of a gloomy first season only one of the three persevered, John Moores (b. 1896); his own name is now more widely known through the *John Moores Exhibition. Vernons, the other leading firm, also began in Lancashire – it was founded in Liverpool in 1925 by A.E. Sangster.
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