Many aspects of English culture are planned to confuse the visitor. One of the most confusing is a game, played on the BBC radio show ‘I’m sorry I haven’t a Clue’, called ‘Mornington Crescent’.

You might know where Mornington Crescent is. It’s a tube station on the Northern Line, north of Euston.

The game involves each player naming a tube station, in turn. So it might go like this:

“Euston.”

“Morden.”

“Baron’s Court.”

“Cockfosters.”

“Mornington Crescent.”

And the first player to arrive at Mornington Crescent wins.

Now the confusing thing is the rules. There are all kinds of variants of the game. Trumpington Variations, for example. Or the Tudor Court Rules. Or Reverse Bidding, or the East Anglian variation.

You can object to other players’ tube stations for all kinds of reasons. And you can play various strategies, like the ‘Hamersmith jink’. But the real joke is that the ground rules are never explained, and indeed some people doubt that they exist.  (Which rather reminds me of the British class system…)

The game became so much a part of London culture that when satirist Willie Rushton, an expert player, died, a blue plaque was put up at Mornington Crescent station.

And you can play it with Paris metro stations, for instance. Or even with Moscow metro stations - there are Russian players!

But it’s the London game which is the original - and if you’re ever homesick for London, just listen to the clip of the game on the BBC website.

Photo credit - JB Parker on Flickr

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