Quick Facts
Biography
Darryl Francis (born 16 April 1948) is a well-known author of books on Scrabble.
He was a co-compiler of Chambers' original Official Scrabble Words publication in 1988 and consultant on all future editions, along with ex ABSP chairman Allan Simmons. He is also co-compiler on the Collins Official Scrabble Words publication in 2007 and 2012, again along with ex ABSP chairman Allan Simmons.
Darryl Francis co-hosted a series of five short programmes for the BBC on the World Scrabble Championship in 1991, alongside TV presenter Alan Coren. He has also ghost-written many Scrabble books for well known personalities, most notably ex-MP Gyles Brandreth.
In 1985, he was the series 6 champion for the UK game show Countdown. In 2013, as a celebration of the long-running show's thirtieth anniversary, many previous contestants were invited back to the studios to take part in a special tournament, in which Francis is currently competing.
He has also written extensively for the American journal Word Ways: The Journal of Recreational Linguistics, having contributed nearly 200 articles as of 2010. His articles on wordplay, word puzzles and all manner of word recreations have appeared regularly since 1968.
