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Pantomime Horse Grand National

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  • BRITAIN
Dec 03 2008

Over 40 competitors took part in a parody of the traditional Aintree Grand National race on Sunday afternoon in Birmingham’s Centenary Square. To kick off the event, jockeys took part in a pre-race parade to show off their steeds, with names such as ‘Neigh’ Chance’ ‘Good for Glue (but not a lot else)’ and ‘Why the Long Face’, to spectators and anyone inclined to take a flutter. Once the bets were placed it was time for the two races – one for fillies (girls) and the other for colts (boys). Both around the same grueling 12-jump obstacle course, all of […]

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World Bog Snorkelling Championships

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  • BRITAIN
Aug 27 2008

When most people go snorkeling, they probably choose sparkling clear blue waters with brightly coloured fish in a nice warm climate. Others travel hundreds of miles from their homes, where the above is actually a reality, to snorkel in a cold, murky, smelly trench dug out of a field in the middle of Wales. There’s only one reason hundreds of people flock to the spot sheep normally graze, and it’s to go to the World Bog Snorkelling Championships. The aim of the game is to swim two lengths (about 110 meters more than 2 lengths of an Olympic size swimming […]

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Great Knaresborough Bed Race

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  • BRITAIN
Jun 16 2008

The small market town of Knaresborough was brought to a complete standstill on Saturday for the running of the 42nd ‘Great Knaresborough Bed Race’. Thousands of people flocked to the picturesque town in North Yorkshire to witness this well loved event. Before the race, the 62 teams competing this year, paraded their imaginatively constructed beds through the streets, cheered on by lines of spectators, in the hope of winning the best dressed title. To my bemusement, the beds were then stripped to their bare metal frame, filling skip after skip of cardboard which had been lovingly crafted into different forms […]

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Winter Swimming Championships

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  • BRITAIN
Feb 09 2008

Over 670 swimmers, representing 21 countries took part in the world’s only international winter swimming championships, at Tooting Bec Lido in London this weekend. Conceived by the International Winter Swimming Association and Suomen Latu from Finland, this sixth biannual event was the first to be held outside Finland, but still had a very big Finnish presence. Around 300 swimmers travelled to the UK along with a special sauna and a hot tub imported especially for the championship. The championship is less about speed and more about coping with the cold, so to give amateurs a chance against the elite, and […]

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The Maldon Mud Race

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  • BRITAIN
Dec 30 2007

Mud, mud, glorious mud… People came from miles around to Promenade Park in Maldon to take part in, or watch what has to be the most popular, messiest event in Britain today. 181 brave souls, many wearing fancy dress, tackled the mud and chilly water to drag themselves across the River Blackwater estuary, to raise money for charities. To stand any chance of winning, the key to the race is to be at the front of the field from the start, so you get through the mud before it’s too badly churned up. The race leaders made it to the […]

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Windlesham Pram Race

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  • BRITAIN
Dec 28 2007

Having stuffed themselves rotten on Christmas day, residents of Windlesham dusted off their wheels for the 40th Anniversary Pram Race this Boxing Day. It’s a four-mile dash around all the village pubs, with racers entered into either the ‘best time’ or ‘best dressed’ category. This year saw over 100 team entries, and some really ingenious outfits/prams which people had clearly gone to a lot of effort to make. Classic. Best described as a fancy dress pub-crawl on speed!

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Lewes Bonfire Night

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  • BRITAIN
Nov 13 2007

Aptly described as ‘a head-on collision of Halloween and Mardi Gras’ in the Rough Guide to the world’s best festivals. Held on the 5th of November, Lewes Bonfire Night is without doubt one of the most dangerous, but impressive festivals I’ve experienced. With about sixty thousand people descending on the town each year, it closes down to traffic, while shops and offices wisely board up their windows and doors for the craziness that is to follow. Five bonfire societies from different parts of the town compete to provide the most spectacular display. I followed the antics of Cliffe, which included […]

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World Crazy Golf Championships

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  • BRITAIN
Oct 29 2007

Crazy golfers and super-heroes demonstrated their putting prowess on the weekend for a shot at becoming the World Crazy Golf Champion. 87 contestants negotiated two 18 hole courses, with obstacles that included a windmill, a waterwheel and a lighthouse for a place on the leader-board, after the first day of competition on the seafront in Hastings, East Sussex. Organised by the BMGA this years event attracted visitors from as far afield as Finland and the Czech Republic, but it was the local players who know every hole inside out, that were hot favourites to walk away with the £1,000 prize. […]

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Dwyle Flunking

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  • BRITAIN
Jun 18 2007

I thought I’d heard of everything, but ‘Dwyle flunking?’ Even after an hour of web searches, all I could find out was that ‘the game requires skill, cunning, outstanding agility and a high tolerance for being slapped hard in the face with a wet beermat.’ It was to be played in Lewes, on what proved to be yet another very wet bank holiday weekend, so I could see for myself. I’m none the wiser!  

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Crafty Craft

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  • BRITAIN
May 08 2007

What better to do on a very wet bank holiday monday than take to the water? Spectators were almost as wet as competitors, but the rain didn’t dampen anyones’ spirits and of course the sun came out by the time most rafts were making it across the finish line in Newbury, a long 10 miles from the start of the race at outside of Hungerford (or about 7 miles for the junior teams starting at Kintbury). The theme for this year’s charity race was the Silver Screen, so teams were asked to come in fancy dress and to design or […]

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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!

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