Hat Trick Productions is a British independent production company that produces television programmes, mainly specialising in comedy.

History

Hat Trick Productions was founded in 1986 by Rory McGrath, Jimmy Mulville and Denise O'Donohue. Its first commission was Chelmsford 123, a situation comedy for Channel 4. Two years later, Geoffrey Perkins became company director, and helped to produce shows such as Father Ted, Whose Line Is It Anyway? and Have I Got News for You.

Perkins left the organisation in 1995, to become head of comedy for BBC Television.

Current programmes

Former programmes

A hat-trick or hat trick in sports is the achievement of a positive feat three times in a game, or another achievement based on the number three in some sports.

Origin

The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe HH Stephenson's taking three wickets with three consecutive deliveries. Fans held a collection for Stephenson, and presented him with a hat bought with the proceeds. The term was used in print for the first time in 1868. The term was eventually adopted by many other sports including hockey, association football, water polo and team handball.

Association football

A hat-trick occurs in association football when a player scores three goals (not necessarily consecutive) in a single game, whereas scoring two goals constitutes a brace. In common with other official record-keeping rules, goals in a penalty shootout are excluded from the tally. The extra time in a knockout cup match may also be calculated towards a player's potential hat-trick. The fastest recorded time to score a hat-trick is 70 seconds, a record set by Alex Torr in a Sunday league game in 2013. The previous Guinness world record of 90 seconds was held by Tommy Ross playing for Ross County against Nairn County on 28 November 1964.

The hat-trick is a classic magic trick where a performer will produce an object (traditionally a rabbit or a bouquet of flowers) out of an apparently empty top hat.

Method

In its simplest form, the trick works by placing the hat on a specially made table or chest. Both the hat and the surface it is placed on will have a hidden opening in them, through which an object stored in a compartment in the table or chest can be pulled. Alternatively, the performer can produce an item hidden in their sleeve using sleight of hand and misdirection. This eliminates the need to place the hat on a surface, and also allows the performer to give the hat to an audience member for inspection.

This trick is also traditionally performed for children, since it is a basic trick with basic props. However, producing a rabbit from a hat using nothing but sleight of hand is a much more difficult trick.

It is said that the earliest magician to pull a rabbit out of a hat was Louis Comte, in 1814, though this is also attributed to the much later John Henry Anderson.

A Hat-trick (commonly known as a hat trick), in various sports, means achieving three goals, wickets, etc. in a single match.

Hat trick, hat-trick or hattrick may refer to: