Fives

Fives is an English sport believed to derive from the same origins as many racquet sports. In fives, a ball is propelled against the walls of a special court using a gloved or bare hand as though it were a racquet, similarly to hand-pelota.

Background

The Concise Oxford Dictionary (1925) describes fives as a ball game played with hands or bat in court with two, three or four walls. The name may be derived from the slang expression "a bunch of fives" (meaning a fist). The game has also been known as hand-tennis and historically was often played between the buttresses of church buildings in England. There are links between Fives and the Irish and North American handball games. In recent years, British clubs began to establish ties with clubs in those countries.

Fives is not the same as Long Fives, which is played in a real tennis court.

Types

There are two main types of fives, Rugby Fives and Eton Fives. A precursor to Rugby Fives is Warminster (or Wessex) Fives; another variant of Wessex fives is Winchester Fives, although there are only about 9 places in the UK where this is still played.

Guthrie Govan

Guthrie Govan (born 27 December 1971 in Chelmsford, Essex, England) is an English guitarist and instructor, known for his work with the bands The Aristocrats, Asia (2001–2006), GPS, The Young Punx and The Fellowship, as well as Erotic Cakes (a vehicle for his own music) and Steven Wilson more recently. He is a noted guitar instructor through his work with the UK magazine Guitar Techniques, Guildford's Academy of Contemporary Music, Lick Library and formerly the Brighton Institute of Modern Music. He is the 1993 winner of Guitarist magazine's "Guitarist of the Year" competition.

Biography and early playing career

Govan began playing guitar aged three, encouraged by his father but initially learning mainly by ear. His father taught him five chords and introduced him to his extensive record collection. He began by listening to 1950s rock 'n' roll such as Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard, followed by The Beatles, Cream and Jimi Hendrix, and then Frank Zappa and AC/DC etc., working out chords and solos from listening to the records. Half-Scottish, Govan was also heavily influenced by Zal Cleminson of the Alex Harvey Band who he considers to have been "his Jimmy Page". At the age of nine he and his brother Seth Govan played guitar on a Thames Television programme called Ace Reports. At secondary school he was exposed, via older classmates, to "shred" guitarists of the time. His first electric guitar was a Gibson SG which he now keeps at home.