THEY called him King Charles, the ruler of the town-centre domino scene.

In fact, Charlie Nurse was such a superman at the 'spots on bones' game that folk travelled from miles around to see whether he could be toppled.

Some had a long wait . . . for at one point in his illustrious career he went three years without defeat.

A tribute to this remarkable indoor leaguer of decades ago is paid by Peter Kay of Mount Pleasant Avenue, Parr, who has picked up some details from his dad who was a close chum of the old bones exponent.

"My father used to tell me about Charlie's exploits," explains P.K. "but has anyone else got further stories about the unbeatable domino king?"

Charlie, lynchpin of the St Helens town-centre Cotham Arms team between the late 1930s and the early 1940s, had just two main interests in life - dominoes and the church. He played every day of the week, apart from the Sabbath, and would donate some of his domino winnings to the church.

A confirmed bachelor, he was rumoured to have left to perform missionary work abroad - but that's one of the facts that P.K. and his dad would like to have copper-bottomed.

Being such an exponent, Charlie had a bit of a short fuse, especially when his less gifted indoor league team-mates lost their games. "And he could perform remarkable tricks,to the amazement of the Cotham customers," adds our Parr correspondent.

As if by magic, he could make a domino slide the length of his arm and over his back; or perform his famous 'hillbilly' trick.

In this, he stacked dominoes on the sawdust floor of the taproom, setting them flying with a stamp of the foot then managing to catch them all after first spinning around.

Charlie's devotion to dominoes knew no bounds. He thought and spoke incessantly about the game, even throughout his shifts down the pit at Sutton Manor Colliery. And it is even reputed that his gas-detecting canary, which he used to take down the mine, was named Dom.

Says P.K.: "My father lost touch with Charles as time went on. But he'd love to know what became of him."

ANYONE able to supply a detail or two could kindly drop me a line at the Star.

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