Roger Squires - 80th Birthday

80th Birthday

Roger celebrated his 80th birthday on February 22nd 2012. He was somewhat overwhelmed with the response to his reaching this milestone. On his birthday the main cryptic crosswords in the Guardian and FT, plus the Telegraph toughie crossword, were all based on his crosswords and personal life. The Guardian and FT also arranged a party at the Guardian London offices - almost a hundred attended; the Telegraph organised a large luncheon party in Birmingham; and bloggers from all over the country gave him a surprise party in his home town of Ironbridge, Shropshire. John Graham, the great setter Araucaria, wrote a personal sonnet for Roger and his work.

(The following is an excerpt from “The Editor’s Musings” – by Tom Johnson, from issue No. 253, March 2012, of “1 Across” magazine. Reprinted by kind permission of “1 Across,The Old Chapel, Middleton Tyas, Richmond, North Yorkshire DL10 6PP)

February 22nd marked the eightieth birthday of Roger Squires, who compiles as Rufus in the Guardian and Dante in the Financial Times amongst many other commitments and guises. Roger is feted as the country’s most prolific compiler, having concocted well over two million clues for crosswords appearing in publications worldwide.

Roger was born in Tettenhall near Wolverhampton. He joined the Royal Navy aged fifteen as a Boy Seaman, later flying in the Fleet Air Arm as a Lieutenant for eleven years and in 1961 survived a ditching off Ceylon, escaping from his aircraft sixty feet below the surface. Whilst at sea, he began setting crosswords, his first appearing in the Radio Times. He left the Navy in 1963 and soon became a free-lance entertainer, as a magician and TV actor. He appeared in shows such as Crackerjack, The Rolf Harris Show, Doctor Who and Crossroads.

In 1978, Roger took up crossword compiling full-time, being editor of the Birmingham Post crossword, and setting for many newspapers, including the FT, Guardian, Daily Telegraph, Daily Mail and Evening Standard. He set puzzles for the Times for ten years from 1995 until 2005, working under four crossword editors, John Grant, Brian Greer, Mike Laws and Richard Browne. He compiled for the Independent from its inception and for the Times Educational Supplement for twenty-five years, until a new editor dispensed with the crossword overnight! Roger holds the record as the World’s Most Prolific Compiler, with over 70,000 published puzzles appearing in almost 600 publications.

On Saturday February 18th John Henderson (aka Enigmatist) and Jane Teather arranged a surprise birthday celebration for Roger and his wife Anna, at a public house five minutes’ walk from their home in Ironbridge, in Shropshire. Family friends, crossword compilers, bloggers and solvers met for lunch and an afternoon of conversation, solving and crossword discussion. I was delighted to meet Dave Tilley, Big Dave of the Telegraph crossword blog fame and many of the bloggers on his site who were also attending. Roger entertained us with some card-tricks and spoke of his life and times. It was a most pleasant occasion.

Soon after 5.30pm on the following Tuesday, many of Roger’s colleagues from the crossword world assembled by invitation at the Guardian offices in London to celebrate once again. Hugh Stephenson and Colin Inman, crossword editors of the Guardian and FT respectively, headed the guest list, along with Enigmatist, Paul, Shed, Boatman, Qaos, Arachne and Pasquale from the Guardian compiling team and myself (Gozo) from the FT team. Richard Browns, crossword editor of the Times was also invited.

During the two-hour party, Alan Rusbridger and Polly Toynbee from the Guardian spoke fondly of Roger’s achievements in the crossword world. John and Jane had once again been instrumental in behind the scenes planning and they had prepared framed copies of the celebratory crosswords and tributes which commemorated Roger’s big day. About half a dozen of us compilers had worked on the birthday puzzles which were to appear in the Guardian and FT the following day, and which included many references to Roger’s compiling history and life. Another puzzle appeared as a tribute in the Toughie series in the Telegraph. Araucaria was unable to attend the Guardian celebrations, sad to say, but he had written a sonnet to mark the event (see below). Many solvers and bloggers had sent their wishes and praises which Jane had transcribed into another huge framed print. Champagne, wine and nibbles were in abundance along with multi-coloured cupcakes each of which was topped with a completed crossword grid on rice-paper – the solution to the Guardian puzzle appearing the following day to mark Roger’s 80th birthday.

Roger and Anna thoroughly enjoyed both these events, the Ironbridge celebrations being far more of a surprise, as they had been told that John and Jane were having a weekend in the area and “Would you like to meet us for lunch on Saturday?”

Roger’s third and final celebration was held on Thursday, March 8th. It took the form of a slap-up lunch at the Hotel Du Vin in Birmingham organised and conducted by Phil McNeill and Daniella Gomes, respectively the Puzzles Editor and Assistant Puzzles Editor of the Daily/Sunday Telegraph.

In attendance, other than the Guest of Honour and his wife Anna, were Val Gilbert, former (and for 30 years+) Crossword Editor of the Telegraph, Jeremy Mutch, and Peter Chamberlain, all of whom, like Roger, have clocked up more than one hundred published puzzles for the paper; Philip Marlow, who is nearing his own century; John Henderson, official wine-taster, who is nearing double figures on the back page; Dean Mayer, who compiled the Telegraph toughie dedicated to Roger on his birthday; and a surprise guest called John Graham, better known as Araucaria, who composed the birthday sonnet below for ‘young master Squires’, but had been unable to attend the bunfight at the Guardian two weeks earlier.

Master magician Roger Squires

For eighty years has graced the land,

And still his mental sleight of hand

Perplexes, conjures, and inspires,

Not his the strained linguistic mires

That only nerds can understand;

His clues, meticulously planned,

Delight us as they cross the wires.

So, as we toast our honoured guest,

Best wishes; thanks, and this behest –

Pray relish and don’t rue the fuss

We make of you, dear Rufus: plus

Remember this, young master Squires:

No cruciverbalist retires.

Roger was presented with a framed copy of his first Telegraph puzzle that had been reprinted on the Monday of his birthday week, an iPad cover engraved with a clue for ROGER SQUIRES written by Dean Mayer (aka Anax) and a birthday cake iced with a Don Manley-designed grid. Dean’s clue read: “Understood foremost of setters, some papers’ Monday Maestro (5,7)”. Apologies were received by Kate Fassett, Val’s successor and Phil’s predecessor; Sunday Telegraph Brian Greer and fellow veteran setter Nuala Considine.

Our thanks to Enigmatist for his report of this third celebration.

Thanks also to Araucaria for permission to reprint his birthday sonnet.