The All England Open Badminton Championships, or simply All England, is one of the world's oldest and most prestigious badminton tournaments. Played annually, it developed after the success of world's first badminton tournament held in Guildford in 1898. The tournament was successfully organised on April 4, 1899, however only three categories (Men's Doubles, Women's Doubles and Mixed Doubles) were originally staged. Both Men's and Women's Singles were added the following year. The first three tournaments were named "The Open English Championships". It was eventually considered (especially after the first Thomas Cup series in 1949) the unofficial World Badminton Championships until 1977 when the International Badminton Federation launched its official championships. Since 1984 the tournament has been exclusively sponsored by Yonex.
The tournaments were halted twice: during World War I from 1915 to 1919 and World War II from 1940 to 1946.
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The tournament has outgrown eight venues, and is now played at the National Indoor Arena, Birmingham.[1]
| Years active | Venue | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 1899–1901 | HQ of the London Scottish Rifles | Buckingham Gate |
| 1902 | Crystal Palace Central Transept | Sydenham Hill |
| 1903–1909 | London Rifles Brigade's City Headquarters | Bunhill Row, Islington |
| 1910–1939 | Horticultural Hall behind the Army and Navy Stores | Vincent Square, Westminster |
| 1947–1949 | Harringay Arena, North London Stadium | North London |
| 1950–1956 | Empress Hall | Earls Court |
| 1957–1993 | Wembley Arena | Wembley, London |
| 1994 – | National Indoor Arena | Birmingham |
Below is the list of the past winners in this 21st century.
Below is the list of the most ever successful players in the All England Open Badminton Championships:
| Name | MS | WS | MD | WD | XD | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| George Alan Thomas | 4 | 9 | 8 | 21 | ||
| Frank Devlin | 6 | 7 | 5 | 18 | ||
| Ethel B. Thomson[1] | 10 | 5 | 2 | 17 | ||
| Judy Devlin[2] | 10 | 7 | 17 | |||
| Finn Kobberø | 7 | 8 | 15 | |||
| Betty Uber | 1 | 4 | 8 | 13 | ||
| Tonny Ahm[3] | 2 | 5 | 4 | 11 | ||
| Erland Kops | 7 | 4 | 11 | |||
| Gillian Gilks[4] | 2 | 3 | 6 | 11 | ||
| Gao Ling | 6 | 5 | 11 | |||
| Ulla Strand[5] | 3 | 7 | 10 | |||
| Ralph C.F. Nichols | 5 | 3 | 1 | 9 | ||
| Park Joo-bong | 4 | 5 | 9 | |||
| Kitty McKane[6] | 4 | 2 | 2 | 8 | ||
| Gordon 'Curly' Mack | 1 | 6 | 1 | 8 | ||
| Rudy Hartono | 8 | 8 | ||||
| Nora Perry[7] | 2 | 6 | 8 | |||
| Eddy B. Choong | 4 | 3 | 7 |
Many female badminton players change their surname after marriage. Below are some of the former names or latest names as noted in the table above:
^1 Ethel B. Thomson formerly known as Larcombe
^2 Judy Devlin later known as Judy Hashman
^3 Tonny Ahm formerly known as Tonny Olsen
^4 Gillian Gilks formerly known as Gillian Perrin and the latest was changed to Gillian Goodwin
^5 Ulla Strand formerly known as Ulla Rasmussen
^6 Kitty McKane later known as Godfree
^7 Nora Perry formerly known as Nora Gardner
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