In 1929, the Guardian launched a new competitions page that asked readers a single, imaginative question: what would you say to potential inhabitants of Mars? The challenge appeared alongside the newspaper’s first crossword puzzle, offering a different kind of mental exercise for its audience. Editors described the task as designed to provide relaxation and amusement for readers in an easy chair, on a train, or in a tram, rather than to tax their intelligence or library resources.
Prizes and Public Concerns
Despite the lighthearted framing, the prize for the best answer was two guineas, which is equivalent to about £120 today. The question captured the public imagination, and the Guardian received hundreds of responses. Many entries reflected the economic anxieties of the time, with unemployment being a primary concern. Readers asked if Martians had work to offer, not knowing that the Wall Street crash would occur months later, triggering the Great Depression and sending UK unemployment rates soaring.
Other readers assumed Martians were more advanced than humans and requested cures for cancer and other ailments. Some sought information about Martian religion, while others invited the extraterrestrials to join the League of Nations. One cautious participant asked if the Martians were hostile and warlike before proceeding with any further communication.
Wit and Sports Challenges
The responses also showcased the wit of Guardian readers. One person asked if the Martians would like to buy coal, cash up front. Another issued a sporting challenge to the Martian Test cricket team. A self-deprecating golfer asked if his drive at the eleventh hole had reached them yet. The winning entry, from DW Hall of Buxton, took a straightforward approach: “A friendly word between the stars: Peace on the Earth: goodwill to Mars.” The editors also awarded a special prize of a book to the youngest entrant, a seven-year-old from Norfolk, who asked simply: “Do you eat?”
Later challenges to readers included asking what they would do if they inherited an island in the Pacific, inviting ideas for a new Christmas-themed radio show, and asking what someone who had been away for 20 years would make of the world today. One week, readers were tasked with coming up with a new competition for the Manchester Guardian, to which one reader submitted an extremely complicated mathematical puzzle involving diagrams made out of pink cardboard.
The Guardian noted that it is regrettable that readers’ remarkable minds are no longer being mined for ideas, but perhaps it is time to change that. If you have an idea for a new competition or puzzle, the newspaper would love to hear about it.
Source: The Guardian
