Dictionary Committee
| Dictionary Committee | Position | ||
| Darryl Francis | United Kingdom | Chair | darrylfrancis@yahoo.co.uk |
| Allan Simmons | United Kingdom | Dictionary Committee | ajswespa@aol.com |
| Andrew Fisher | Australia | Dictionary Committee | aphis99@yahoo.com |
| Jim Pate | United States | Liaison to U.S. Dictionary committee | jpate@lycos.com |
| Dylan Early | South Africa | Dictionary Committee | dylan.early@liberty.co.za |
| Jeff Grant | New Zealand | Dictionary Committee | ardra@paradise.net.nz |
About the Committee Members:
Darryl Francis
Since the late 1960s, Darryl has written numerous articles on word puzzles and wordplay (including Scrabble) for the US journal Word Ways. In the early 1970s, he edited the Scrabble column of the magazine Games & Puzzles, and it was through this column that many of today's Scrabble players first discovered competitive Scrabble.
Darryl has written several books on Scrabble and was one of the co-compilers of Official Scrabble Words, and then Official Scrabble Lists, along with Allan Simmons. Darryl has also ghost-written books for various personalities and co-hosted, with Alan Coren, a series of five BBC2 television shows on the World Scrabble Championship back in 1991.
Darryl has also experienced the pleasures of playing overseas, in Bangkok, Malaysia and Singapore.
Outside of Scrabble, Darryl's other interests include all forms of wordplay, dictionaries, driving, wine-tasting, rock'n'roll (from the 1950s), US country music, US history, and travelling in the US.
Allan Simmons
One of the founder members of the ABSP and its president from 1988 to 1999, Allan has been a player of the game since he joined the London Scrabble League in the mid 70's soon becoming involved in all aspects of the Scrabble movement. He was Chairman of the Postal Scrabble Club in the 80's, organised Scrabble weekends from 1985-91 and has been running annual courses since 1985. He has been editing and publishing Onwords magazine since 1979 and was instrumental in getting OSW off the ground and one of the team in updating it over the years. Together with Darryl Francis he has also provided us with OSL.
Allan has written Chambers' Top Scrabble Tips and compiled numerous puzzles in the media over the years. As a player, Allan has won the British Matchplay three times (1987, 88, and 91) and the ABSP Masters in 1994. He also qualified for the World Championships in London in 1995 and Las vegas in 2001.
Having left the ratrace, Allan now works as a Scrabble professional and lives up in the Scottish borders with wife Gilli and three daughters. Outside of Scrabble his hobbies include electric guitar, DIY in the house and garden and not playing Scrabble.