The first lottery

by CD Richards

Now Henry the Eighth was a cranky old chap,
and at times he could be downright mean.
When he got in a mood, things all turned to crap—
it was not a good time to be queen.

The King loved to live an extravagant life,
each day the economy grew worse;
so to keep funds in check, he turned to his wife;
sadly Anne had no head (for commerce).

When this nasty man died, his heir took the crown;
Elizabeth found the pot lacking.
The clever young queen didn't let the side down,
she found widespread financial backing.

"I've discovered a way," the Monarch declared,
"of balancing this country's cashflow.
If your number's drawn, then my wealth will be shared."
And so was invented the great-go.

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Today's word:

great-go (n.) a national lottery.

The first state lottery in English history was drawn outside St. Paul's cathedral in 1569. Elizabeth's father, Henry VIII, had left the country in enormous debt. The Queen decided to sell tickets in a lottery, with great prizes for the winner, to help raise funds to pay off the debt. These lotteries came to be known as great-goes.

My much-treasured Christmas present for 2017 is a book by Paul Anthony Jones: "The cabinet of linguistic curiosities". Each page contains a descriptive story about some obscure or archaic word. It occurred to me it would be a fun exercise to try and write, each day, a poem featuring the "word of the day" from the book.

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A chapter in the book A Potpourri of Poetic Curiosities

The first lottery

by CD Richards

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