This is the history of the first and never to be repeated All-World Championship held in 1948 under the auspices of the Edinburgh Heads and Tails Association.
It was a bold move by Sir George (at the time Dr George) Threadwell to open the competition up to anyone in the world with just shilling stakes. No one could have foreseen the immense interest it generated nor the peculiar end to the event whose aftermath affected an entire region of the world for a generation.
Nor could Devesh Rangalapura sitting in his tailor's shop in Karnataka or Harry Charles Taylor the optician's assistant from Des Moines have foreseen how much history they were in the process of making.
It all started on a cold afternoon just after Christmas in 1947 when George was playing Snakes and Ladders with his daughter Joyce. They tossed a coin to see who should start and Joyce called heads and won.
"Hang on," said George, "isn't it best of three?"
Joyce giggled. "I'll win three." So she called tails and won then called heads and won again.
"OK," said George, "best of five."
She agreed to this knowing she had already won. This time she called tails twice and won both.
"I do declare you World Champion of Heads and Tails," said her proud father.
In this moment was born the Head and Tails Association of Edinburgh which by the spring had gained premises on Corn St and rapidly passing fifty members.
They played single toss with none of the rules we have today and the accepted stake was a shilling per throw with the winner taking the pot.
By April there was a clamour for a Club Championship and Joyce herself was in the final, unfortunately losing to Morris Micawber who proudly added her accumulated winnings of 32 shillings to his own haul.
This reached the ears of the local newspaper and there was speculation as to whether there would be a national championship. But George's ambition knew no bounds and he proposed a World Championship with local regional and national heats and an international final. For each shilling staked one farthing would go towards the organisation and the rest to the prize fund.
Being just after the war and long before the days of national lotteries the news generated wild enthusiasm in every country of the world. Hundreds of millions set about practising for their big day. Towns villages and even great cities organised fetes and fairs and merchants quickly produced memorabilia some of which today are collectors items. The Dubai mug with the head accidentally printed upside down is said to be worth over ten thousand pounds as only four are known to exist.
So on the 1st August 1948 the whole world gathered for the spectacle. Over four hundred million players each armed with a shilling, a quarter, or the nearest local currency equivalent. At exactly noon local time one player flipped and the other called in a wave that passed around the world. And each gallant loser passed their coin to the lucky winner.
The event was played at the pace of one round a day and all national heats had been completed by the end of the month. Some smaller countries had been combined so there were 128 qualifiers with just seven rounds to go.
Competition was intense. The English qualifier Hugh Trelarnick was in the gym every day building up his fitness. Other swore by garlic, lucky charms or the phases of the moon. There were individual tragedies. The Australian qualifier Joan Davies died two days before her international debut, the place being inherited by her daughter Barbara who then lost her game. And the money was piling up too, by now each player had to bring a truck to carry their accumulated stake to be handed over to the fortunate winner.
The final was a media sensation in an era which desperately needed good news. It was held in Istanbul in the Topkapi Palace. The two masses of winnings were brought in to the nearby depot side by side in trains. The Indian champion Devesh Rangalapura walked from his hotel in spectacular Hindu robes while his opponent Harry Taylor sported a dark business suit. So many spectators crowded the venue that a great deal of them were unable to see the action and had to be informed of progress by their neighbours. Eventually at five minutes to noon a hush descended as the players prepared themselves.
The clock struck with a booming resonance and as the twelfth ring sounded Harry tossed the coin high into the air. Devesh hesitated, studying carefully. Heads, he called, as it reached its zenith. The crowd held its breath. It fell on the floor cleanly, no bounce. The players looked. It was a head. Harry shook his opponent's hand and left the stage. The Indians in the audience went wild.
It was a good day for India, a recently divided nation that could now boast a World Champion. Devesh went back to his hotel a happy and rich man. Or so he thought. No one could have predicted what the next day would bring.
The news was brought to him at breakfast by a boy who could not hide his tears. It was in the early morning paper. Rampaging mobs had stormed the railway sidings where the trains were being kept, the local police chief was accused of not providing sufficient guards and he was saying they had turned traitor and joined in the looting. In any case when the winner and the officials reached the trains there was not a coin to be seen.
Nowadays we have learnt from this and competitions are organised in the modern and well known formats. But the World Championship was never to be held again. India is still the holder and a statue of the unbeaten Devesh Rangalapura stands in the city of Bangalore as well as many towns and villages around the province. He went back to his business and did not court publicity. And the loser, Harry Taylor, was not heard of again.
What of all the money? There were rumours that merchants and foreign exchange traders made a fortune buying up the coins of the various countries at huge discounts. Many must have been melted down as they contained valuable amounts of silver. But even now stashes of coins turn up in attics from time to time in Istanbul and nearby towns when an elderly person dies and relatives go through their property, or when someone buys a house with its contents intact. And many people on finding such a haul have sent a remittance to members of Mr Rangalapura's family who still carry on his tailoring business in the little village where he started his road to fame.