SIDEBAR

Brambles Cricket

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Aug 31 2007

The Brambles sandbank appears only once a year, and then only for about an hour, midway between Southampton and the Isle of Wight. When it does, members of The Royal Southern Yacht Club at Hamble and the Island Sailing Club on the Isle of Wight race out to it, for a game of cricket. Dozens of boats containing participants and spectators wait around Bramble Bank for the sea to subside and reveal the bank once more. As soon as it does the stumps are put up and the match gets under way. To any passing ferries and tankers the event […]

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River Football

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Aug 29 2007

Bourton Rovers 1st and 2nd team players sloshed through their wettest match of the season on Monday as mayhem broke out at the annual Football in the River event at Bourton-on-the-Water. Far more entertaining than football as you know it, this is six-a-side with 15 minutes in each direction played knee deep in a bubbling brook. It was a footie free-for-all as the players ducked and dived, with screams and shrieks coming from the spectators on the river bank and bridges as the players gave them a good soaking in the process. The reds clinched the game 2-1 but it […]

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Cumberland Wrestling

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Aug 28 2007

The origin of this North Country style of wrestling is a matter of debate. Some describe it as having evolved from Norse wrestling brought over by Viking invaders while others associate it with the Cornish and Gouren styles indicating that it may have developed out of a longer- standing Celtic tradition. Whatever its origins, the Cumbrians engage in Cumberland Wrestling to this day and it now forms part of the larger Grasmere Lakeland Sports and Show where I went to see it this bank holiday Sunday. The rules are straightforward. The starting backhold position involves the wrestlers standing chest to […]

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UK Mobile Phone Throwing Championships

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Aug 18 2007

In a bid to beat the Finns at phone throwing, adventure sports club 8th Day has again hosted the UK Mobile Phone Throwing championship. Open to anyone over 18 living in the UK it was a great opportunity to chuck a clamshell or sling a slider far enough to get into the record books. The £5 entry fee gives you three attempts, with the phones being supplied for you. A new UK men’s record was set by Chris Hughff of 95.83m. It even beats the world record, set in Finland, where handsets were hauled 94.97m, but because the competition isn’t […]

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World Hen Racing Championships

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Aug 06 2007

Derbyshire hens are resting today after competing in the World Hen Racing Championships this weekend. Held at the Barley Mow Pub in Bonsall, about 30 of the worlds fastest chickens run along a track to strict international criteria. They must have both feet on the starting line and fowl play (pecking/fighting) is not allowed. There was the occasional battle, with hens receiving yellow and subsequently red cards if they didn’t pluck up their ideas. Most were well behaved though, and in first place and achieving the title ‘The World’s Fastest Hen’ was ‘Ever-Ready’, a rescued battery hen trained and raced […]

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About this blog

The vast majority of posts in this blog are about quirky & eccentric competitions & festivals. I started it in 2006 in France with a competition I'll never forget. Where contestants battle it out to become the World Champion Pig Squeeler, or 'Cri du Cochon'. I had little knowledge back then of quite how far my pursuit of these kind of events would lead me. I've travelled all over Britain (and occasionally further afield) to capture our curiosities and quirks. There's nothing uniquely eccentric about the British, you'll find people all over the world up to all sorts of weird and wonderful activities, but we do have a remarkable capacity to embrace the madness. 'A Brit Different' is the book that was born from it, my labour of love! So what next? There's always something interesting going on, so watch this space, only time will tell! (Dec 2015)

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