Colonel Mustard, in the Library, with the Candlestick….

Dear all,

I hope you managed to have a nice half-term break, which may or may not have included playing a board game with your children….

You probably won’t have ever heard of Anthony Pratt. Very few people have. He was born in 1903, lived in Birmingham for most of his life, and died in 1994 at the age of 90. He was laid to rest in Bromsgrove Cemetery where few have ever visited his grave, other than his only daughter Marcia Davies.

However, those who do wander past his gravestone will see a clue about why he should have been more famous. It reads:

A Very Dear Father. Anthony E Pratt. Born 10 August 1903. Died 9 April 1994. Inventor of Cluedo. Sadly missed.

Cluedo is one of the most well-known and successful board games of all time, in the same league as Monopoly or Scrabble. It has sold over 150 million copies in 40 countries and has been turned into both a film and a musical theatre production. There have even been Cluedo competitions in various countries with fans competing for the title of World Cluedo Champion.

But its origins are very humble – Anthony Pratt dreamt up the game during the bombing raids of World War Two when he was stuck at home unable to leave his house. He thought up the idea having played as a musician at murder mystery parties in the homes of the wealthy. His wife, Elva, designed the board, and he came up with the characters and different murder weapons. The 10 characters originally envisaged by Anthony Pratt were reduced to 6 with Colonel Yellow being renamed Colonel Mustard, and the weapons were amended too, for example, a bomb was replaced by a candlestick and a syringe by some lead piping. Otherwise, the version that went into production was as it had been designed by Anthony Pratt – the house was called Tudor Hall and the unfortunate victim was named Mr. Boddy.

They applied for a patent for the game in 1944, which was granted three years later, after which the game was sold to the company Waddington’s. An American company bought the rights to sell the game in the US, where they shortened the name to Clue. It remained incredibly successful for many years and was given a reboot in 2008 when the US owner Hasbro decided to update it with a more modern feel. The murder now takes place at a celebrity party, with rooms including a spa and a theatre, whilst the characters and some weapons were changed too: Colonel Mustard was turned from a military man to a footballer and Professor Plum became an internet billionaire. Eight years later, Mrs White, the sometimes murderous housekeeper was replaced by a new character, Dr. Orchid, a deadly scientist, the first time a character in the game had ever been permanently retired.

Sadly, initial sales were slow and in 1953 Anthony Pratt signed over the rights to all overseas royalties for a sum of £5,000. If he had not done so, he would have made millions given the success of the game around the world. In the story of a game based on surprising twists, perhaps this is the biggest twist of all.

The story of Cluedo is a fascinating one – from its creation during World War Two to its extraordinary success over almost 70 years – but perhaps one of its most notable features is the way Anthony Pratt talked about missing out on a personal fortune. In 1990, he was tracked down by Waddinton’s and gave an interview in which he expressed no bitterness over this fact. ‘A great deal of fun went into it,’ he said. ‘So why grumble?’ Perhaps a lesson that in the end, what matters most are the things we do make of our lives, rather than the things we miss out on along the way.

Have a great weekend

Best wishes

Michael Bond