In memory of Eric Carden

As i cycle around the Sussex streets passing pub after pub i am reminded of my dear friend Eric, sadly no longer with us.

Eric was that rare animal capable of charming all and sundry with his giving personality, modesty and wit. It is true to say that in all the years i knew him i never heard anyone say a bad word against him. There are few people i can say that about.

I first met Eric in the Half Moon public house in Crawley in early 1987. I was playing the quiz machine with very little success and Eric came up and introduced himself and invited me to a quiz there that evening. Martin, the landlord subsequently told me that the reason why i was having little success was that Eric had already taken the machine for a considerable amount and it was now in defence mode. Eric you see was a professional quiz machine player.

We soon became great friends and would have a day out together every week travelling around our pub circuit which included every establishment with a machine south of the Watford Gap. I was a non-drinker and would order a half of something and pour it into the nearest plant pot to deter landlords from barring my entry. We had some great laughs. As time went on, between us we learnt every answer on Crosswords, Give Us A Clue (Genus 1), Treble Top, A Question of Sport, Quiz Vaders, Every Second Counts, Inquisitor, Turnover, Wise Moves, Bar Quest and Give Us A Break, which meant we had all bases covered. We also both knew all the answers of a machine called Concentration whereby you scored points and then had to remember where pairs of cards were that flashed up on the screen. Together we were invincible on this machine as we would merely remember the top and bottom half individually and then pool our answers. On one occasion we found a box in the Romford Odeon (Eric was a past master at seeking out machines in the unlikeliest of places). We had clocked the machine up to £99 (we never went above £100 as we were always afraid it might reset itself as they only had a double-digit display) and were now very nervous at pressing 'collect' as these machines were notoriously noisy and we liked to keep a low profile as we were unsure we should really be walking in off the street and playing the machine without purchasing a ticket. As we pressed the button £80 in pound coins (that was all that was in the tubes) rifled out in quick succession, some initially shooting across the floor. The cinema staff rushed over and Eric as quick as a flash in order to allay attention uttered "we just won the jackpot but it has paid out in ten pences" to which the cashier replied equally as quickly "well done, i'll change them into notes for you". All seemed lost until Eric responded "no that's ok i actually collect ten pence pieces in a jar" - all the while i was surreptitiously stuffing the pound coins into my pockets.

The truth is Eric was never motivated by greed and he would invariably spend his profits in the pub he won them. He might spend an hour or two talking with the bar staff and quite often would either get roped into participating in their quiz nights or asked to host their quiz. This was the measure of the man that despite having a great talent for looting the pub quiz machine he was often the most popular person in the pub with both customers and bar staff.

Eric was a gentleman and a gentle man. He taught me a lot about people and how to interact with them in this alien environment to me, I initially did not buy a drink and wondered why i was constantly banned from pub after pub!

Eric was a great friend. He helped me prepare for my Mastermind efforts by asking me hundreds of questions about Elizabeth I and Mary of Scots. He also often helped out by setting questions for my fledgling British Quiz Championships. Eric was a considerable talent himself and is one of few people to have ever beaten the mighty Kevin Ashman on a television quiz show (Winner Takes All). More than his great brain and his gentleness and even his friendliness and accommodating manner was his humanity. Eric was a human being who had no side, no hidden agendas, no hatred, no vanity. You could rely on him - trust him implicitly. He was a good friend to me and i have many friends locally who miss him as much as i do. He was one of the good guys and i just wanted to remember him today and i wish he were still here. He inspired me to take part in quizzes. He had an over-inflated opinion of my ability but instilled great confidence in me and i almost wanted to be a good player in order not to let him down. He had an infectious laugh and humour played a big part in his life. He was brought up in the Liverpool of the Beatles era and knew them second hand from his older brother who played with a famous Merseyside band.

Eric was knowledgeable, interesting, funny, loveable, vulnerable and always capable of surprising you with a story or snippet of factual information. He was a class act.

Eric was my friend and i pray that he will live again