Arthur who held managerial status in the Fire Department of The Royal Insurance, started quizzing in the 1960's for the Brooke Hotel in what was to become the Northern League, probably MQL's first super team. He and team secretary, Bill Bent were Merchant Taylors Old Boys and also played Hockey and Cricket together. Arthur stayed with The Brooke until their demise after the deaths of Bill and Alan Urion. In that time they had been the first team to win their own league, the Merseyside Challenge Cup (when over 200 hundred teams would enter) and the Feeny Cup in the same year. To complete a clean sweep, Northern also won the President’s Trophy with a team described as ‘The Brooke plus Ken Smith’. He once again enjoyed success after becoming a member of Castaways with John Wilson, still in the Northern League, until they too folded and Arthur decided to retire.
In 2006 he came out of retirement to join Casablanca after the death of Frank Clark and continued to play for them in the Southport and Formby League until this year. In spite of being a fine player, Arthur would not be persuaded to enter the Mimir competition saying that it didn't appeal
Unfortunately early in August Arthur had a fall whilst visiting his bank and suffered a broken shoulder, broken arm and facial injuries. Whilst in hospital due to visitation restrictions he was only able to communicate with his daughters by phone. Complications arose and sadly he passed away on 12th September aged 88.
Arthur was a most pleasant companion and a top rate quizzer. It was hard to say what his specialities were; he was good at most subjects. Remarkably, for a man who had the same car for almost 25 years, his knowledge of cars and their manufacturers was particularly bewildering
There have already been many tributes to Arthur, he will be greatly missed.