BASIL (a poem by Alexander Baron)

“Basil” was published on my main website January 20, 2009. On February 15, 2025, an audio version was added; recited by me, it is prefixed by Andrew Savage reviewing said issue of “MAR” for “Super Trouper” issue 7.

Yes, Basil was a real person (and a right dickhead) and he did indeed lose a backgammon, though as this was in 1985 or more likely 1984, I can’t remember the details but I don’t think it was against me. It may have been against a bloke from the West Country called Jack Horner (his real name). Jack went one better because around the same time he lost a game in which he had borne off fourteen of his fifteen counters before getting the last one trapped. It was unbelievable, nearly as unbelievable was the game I won by throwing a double six when anything else lost.