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Line 10: ==Early life== Squires was born in [[Tettenhall]], [[Wolverhampton]] on 22 February 1932. educated at [[Wolverhampton Grammar School]] where he gained his [[School Certificate (United Kingdom)\|School Certificate]] before joining the [[Royal Navy]] at age 15 as a Boy Seaman. ~~A keen sportsman, Squires represented the Royal Navy and [[Fleet Air Arm]] at [[association football\|football]] and [[cricket]] and became a qualified [[Football Association]] Coach and Referee.~~ Squires served 15 years in the [[Fleet Air Arm]], in which he trained as an observer and gained commission as its youngest ever officer and visited 44 countries, including being in the first aircraft to land in [[Port Said]] in the 1956 [[Suez Crisis]]. In March 1961 he survived an aircraft crash in the [[Indian Ocean]] off the coast of [[Sri Lanka\|Ceylon]], escaping from his [[Fairey Gannet\|Gannet]] [[Airborne Early Warning\|AEW]] 60 feet below the sea surface and qualifying to become a member of the [[Goldfish Club]] (for survivors of aircraft ditchings).<ref name=elderwick>{{cite book\|last=Elderwick\|first=David\|title=50 Shropshire Celebrities, Past and Present\|year=1989\|publisher=IMPRINT, Newtown, Powys\|page=37}}</ref><ref name=beeb>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2410185.stm "Tales from a cryptic crossworder"], BBC News, 7 November 2002</ref> His first published puzzle appeared in 1963, the year that he left the Navy, in the Wolverhampton ''[[Express & Star]]''. The first national was the ''[[Radio Times]]'', and in the same year he became a regular compiler with the ''[[Birmingham Post]]''. He then started compiling for syndicates that supplied puzzles for newspapers in the UK and abroad.▼ Squires wrote, produced and appeared in a number of shows for the forces during his service.<ref name=elderwick/> A keen sportsman, Squires represented the Royal Navy and Fleet Air Arm at [[association football\|football]] and [[cricket]] and became a qualified [[Football Association]] Coach and Referee. ▲His first published puzzle appeared in 1963, the year that he left the Navy and briefly worked as an entertainments manager for [[Butlin's]],<ref name=elderwick/> in the Wolverhampton ''[[Express & Star]]''. The first national was the ''[[Radio Times]]'', and in the same year he became a regular compiler with the ''[[Birmingham Post]]''. He then started compiling for syndicates that supplied puzzles for newspapers in the UK and abroad. ==Career== Line 25 ⟶ 29: He was recognised by [[Guinness World Records]] as "The World's Most Prolific Crossword Compiler".<ref>[http://www.shropshirestar.com/2007/10/aces-two-millionth-brainteaser "Ace’s two millionth brainteaser"], ''[[Shropshire Star]]'', 1 October 2007</ref> He appeared in the ''Guinness Book of Records'' from 1978 until all crossword records were dropped in 2002. An update to December 2005 was included in the 2008 print edition. His puzzles appeared in 32 countries outside the UK. In 2013, he celebrated his 50th year as a professional setter, on the same day as the Crossword's First Centenary. By 30 June 2013 he had compiled 74,634 crosswords, equivalent to 2.25 million clues. He holds the record for the longest word used in a published puzzle, the Welsh place name: [[Llanfairpwllgwyngyll]]gogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, which he clued as an anagram: "Giggling troll follows Clancy, Larry, Billy and Peggy who howl, wrongly disturbing a place in Wales (58)". He is one of only four setters to have been on the regular teams of all five quality newspapers (''The Times'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''The Guardian'', ''The Independent'' and ''Financial Times''). He holds the Guinness Record for the Longest Published Crossword – at 8 feet long, because Onsworld Ltd were unable to publish the whole 24 ft puzzle. He has also produced a 3D crossword that fits on a [[Rubik's Cube]].<ref name=beeb~~>[http:~~/~~/news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2410185.stm "Tales from a cryptic crossworder"], BBC News, 7 November 2002</ref~~> ==Publications== Line 35 ⟶ 39: ==Other various appearances== Apart from crosswords, Squires was qualified for membership of [[Mensa International\|Mensa]]<ref>{{cite web\|title=Mensa FAQ "Have you got any famous members?"\|url=http://www.mensa.org.uk/about-mensa/faqs#n94\|publisher=Mensa\|accessdate=13 August 2014\|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140722210007/https://www.mensa.org.uk/about-mensa/faqs\|archivedate=22 July 2014\|date=22 July 2014\|quote=Other celebrities reported to have qualified for membership include... Guinness World Record crossword compiler Roger Squires}}</ref> and [[The Magic Circle (organisation)\|The Magic Circle]], and he was a [[Fleet Air Arm]] observer in his twenties, during which time he qualified for the Goldfish Club (for survivors of aircraft ditchings) by escaping from his [[Fairey Gannet\|Gannet]] [[Airborne Early Warning\|AEW]] aircraft 60 feet below the surface off Ceylon (now [[Sri Lanka]]) in March 1961.~~<ref~~ ~~name=beeb/>~~ From 1964 to 1977 he made over 250 appearances on TV as a comedy magician. Squires was featured talking about crosswords in the TV programme "''How To Solve Cryptic Crosswords"'' (BBC4) in 2009, and in the BBC ''One Show'' (BBC1) in 2011.<ref>[http://www.crosswordunclued.com/2011/11/interview-roger-squires.html "Interview: Roger Squires"], Shuchismita Upadhyay, Crossword Unclued, 9 November 2011</ref> Aside from crossword-related matters, he did a three months' stint appearing in bit parts in the ITV series ''[[Crossroads (British TV series)\|Crossroads]]'' and also appeared on BBC TV in ''[[Crackerjack! (TV programme)\|Crackerjack!]]'' and [[Rolf Harris]] shows.<ref name=elderwick/> ==Personal life and death== In 1977 Squires's first marriage foundered and he gave up professional acting and magic to work from home so that he could look after his two pre-teenage sons. He later married Anna. ~~He later married Anna.~~ HeSquires died on 1 June 2023,<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/crossword-blog/2023/jun/12/crossword-roundup-going-back-to-the-beginning Crossword roundup: going back to the beginning]</ref> at the age of 91.<ref>{{cite web \|title=Roger Squires – RIP \|url=https://www.fifteensquared.net/2023/06/10/roger-squires-rip/ \|website=Fifteen Squared \|access-date=11 June 2023 \|date=10 June 2023}}</ref> His death was cryptically announced by means of the Guardian’s prize crossword, partly set by his colleague ~~‘Paul’~~[[John Halpern]] ("Paul"), on 10 June 2023.<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/prize/29093 "Prize crossword No 29,093"] The Guardian</ref> Several old clues composed by ~~‘Rufus’~~"Rufus" were incorporated. This echoed the paper’s late solver [[John Galbraith Graham\|Araucaria]] announcing his [[cancer]] diagnosis in a crossword grid.~~<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/prize/29093 "Prize crossword No 29,093"] The Guardian</ref>~~ ==See also== Line 59 ⟶ 61: [[Category:1932 births]] [[Category:2023 deaths]] [[Category:Crossword ~~compilers~~creators]] [[Category:English magicians]] [[Category:People educated at Wolverhampton Grammar School]] [[Category:People from Ironbridge]] [[Category:Military personnel from Wolverhampton]] [[Category:20th-century Royal Navy personnel]] [[Category:People from Wolverhampton]] [[Category:Fleet Air Arm aviators]] [[Category:Survivors of aviation accidents or incidents]]