49: PC (Police Constable), Copper, Nick Nick.

You'll find many sites online giving PC for the number 49, but very few saying why. Time for enlightenment!

PC and copper are all English names referring to a British Policeman. In live Bingo events I have attended, the caller will say "PC 49" and the players would all shout "nick-nick!" I'll explain...

PC49 was the name of a British radio series. It was created specifically for radio by Alan Stranks. The fictitious PC 49 (whose name in the series was Police Constable Archibald Berkeley-Willoughby) was an ordinary bobby on the beat, solving crime in the late 40s and early 50s. He worked for 'Q' Division of the Metropolitan Police. The series featured radio actor Brian Reece as PC 49, Joy Shelton as his girlfriend Joan Carr, Leslie Perrins as Detective Inspector Wilson and Eric Phillips as Detective Sergeant Wright.  It was a combination of light comedy and sleuthing in a character who also appeared in comic strips and films as spin-offs. The series began in 1947 and lasted until 1953. 112 episodes were made but, sadly, only two are known to have survived. This was largely due to the system of "wiping tapes" to use them again, when money was tight, or savings needed to be made. This was especially in the British Broadcasting Corporation (the BBC).

There was a film called "The Adventures of PC49", coincidentally made in 1949, and a follow up a few years later- "A case for PC49" Whilst on duty, a murder is committed right under Police Constable 49's nose. His girlfriend, Joan, knows who did it and aims to confront the suspect. She goes missing and P C 49, worried about her safety, retraces her steps, finding a man dead and Joan tied up. Together the two join forces to solve the crime with surprising consequences! You here PC 49 and bingo Halls less and less these days- there must be fewer and fewer people who remember the radio series, and the films don't seem to be on dvd.

The expression "nick-nick" originates from a British Comedian Jim Davidson's shows and TV appearances in the 1980s. To be nicked in British parlance is to be caught and arrested by the police and taken down the "nick" or Police Station. Now where that comes from is even older- The Oxford English Dictionary says the use of the noun the "nick" in the sense of a prison, especially one at a police station, is of Australian origin. The first published reference is from The Sydney Slang Dictionary (1882), which defines "the nick" as a "gaol."  The verb to "nick" has been used since the 16th century in the sense of to trick, cheat, or defraud. The first reference in the Oxford English Dictionary is from a 1576 work by the English dramatist George Whetstone: "I neuer nickt the poorest of his pay, / But if hee lackt, hee had before his day." The verb has been used since the 17th century to mean to catch unawares or apprehend. The earliest citation for this usage is from The Prophetess, a play from around 1640 by John Fletcher and Philip Massinger: "We must be sometimes wittie, to nick a knave."

So, the next time you're in a Bingo Hall and the combination of PC49 and nick-nick comes up, you'll know all about it!

Also, less colourfully, 49, can be expressed as simple rhyming in; "Rise and Shine, forty nine". Boring!