You choose: Hobson's choice

Q. What exactly is Hobson's choice

A. To offer someone a Hobson's choice is to give the person the option of taking the thing proffered or nothing. So, it's not really a real choice at all.

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Q. So Henry Ford's adage 'any colour so long as it's black' would be an example

A. It is, though whether Ford actually said this about the somewhat limited colour range of his Model-Ts is a moot point.

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Q. How did the phrase come about

A. It was coined from the practice of a Cambridge stable owner, Tobias Hobson, telling his customers they could have any horse they wanted provided it was the one closest to the door.

Tobias Hobson was an entrepreneur who operated a passenger coach between Cambridge and London in the 16th and early 17th centuries. He also operated a stable from which he rented horses to students at the university. Aware that students could drive the horses pretty hard, Hobson instituted a strict rotation system for his animals. The most recently ridden were housed at the back of the stable, the most rested at the front and only the horse nearest the door was available for hire. Any patron who objected to Hobson's system was, of course, free to take shanks's pony.

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Q. And when was the first recorded usage of the term

A. In 1638 Thomas Ward wrote in 'England's Reformation': 'Where to elect there is but one / 'Tis Hobson's choice - take that or none.'

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Joseph Addison the editor of The Spectator gave an early explanation of the term in the edition of 14 October 1712: 'Mr Hobson always kept a stable of 40 good cattle, always ready and fit for travelling: but when a man came for a horse, he was led into the stable, where there was great choice, but he obliged him to take the horse which stood next to the stable door: so that every customer was alike well served according to his chance, and every horse ridden with the same justice: from whence it became a proverb, when what ought to be your election was forced upon you to say "Hobson's Choice".'

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Q. What about Hobson himself

A. Born c. 1544, Hobson inherited his father's cart and eight horses in 1568. He used these to convey goods, people, university mail and even live fish for the Royal Household between Cambridge and London. The business grew and by the end of his career he kept a stable of 40 riding horses for use by undergraduates and the cart had been replaced by the most up-to-date heavy wagons - which caused some controversy at the time because of the damage that the heavier loads they could carry was doing to the roads. (So what's new )

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Hobson operated his coach business for 50 years until the Plague broke out in Cambridge and his carriage route to London was shut down. Apparently unable to endure forced idleness, he died in 1631 at the age of 86. Local celebrity that he was, he was eulogised by the Cambridge-educated poet John Milton: 'Here lies old Hobson, Death hath broke his girt / And here alas, hath laid him in the dirt...'

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Q. Anything else he's remembered for

A. In his long life he accumulated a small fortune. Most of this went to his family but some went to public works such as founding a workhouse and helping to fund a public water supply in Cambridge, now known as 'Hobson's Conduit'. It was built in 1610 to flush out a ditch that had once formed part of the town's mediaeval defences but was then an open sewer. A pretty impressive piece of civil engineering, fresh water was diverted into town from springs three miles away at nine wells along an artificial water-course. Given that Cambridge is pretty flat, keeping the water flowing and stopping it leaking away were major achievements. It can still be seen flowing alongside Trumpington Street.

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By Simon Smith