"Origins of words" by Susie Dent, Countdown 20/12/17 (hat-trick)

I had an e-mail in from Kieran McCarthy, who was wondering about sets of threes in sport. He was wondering about the origin of a hat-trick, and a story began with an English game of cricket in1858. And HH Stephenson was the firrst cricketer to be awarded a hat for taken three wickets in consecutive balls. He performed the feat for the All-England Eleven against the 22 of Hallam at the Hyde Park ground in Sheffield. And a collection was made for him, and he was presented, indeed, with a hat or a cap with the proseeds. And that became very much a tradition in cricket, in first, because, of course, it then extended onto other sports. Sometimes as well, if a bowler did incredibly well, took three wickets on the trot, he was allowed to take his hat round the crowd and then get some money from the crowd. So that was his personal hat-trick.