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Structure
Interesting Questions, Facts and Information
- There are a total of 25 general entries.
Special Topics
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 Interesting Questions, Facts, and Information
 British Fun and Games
| Some way to the north from my home in coastal South Wales there is an annual event which involves completing two lengths of a trench (sixty yards long and six foot deep) cut in a peat bog and filled with near-freezing stinking water.
Competitors must wear snorkels and masks but a wet suit is optional.
What is this event called?
| Quirky and Eccentric British Pastimes
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World Bog Snorkeling Championship. This event is one of three annual events organised each year by the landlord of a nearby pub. The other two involve a cross country race (over the peat bog of course) but with a horse and rider pitted against the human runners and a race involving mountain bikes.
| For this competition the action takes place annually in Dorset. Apparently the basis of the competition is for participants to very carefully eat a specific weed of a challenging size. One of the outcomes is that the tongue of the contestant turns black. So what is this competition called? | Quirky and Eccentric British Pastimes
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World Stinging Nettle Eating Challenge. The event takes place annually in a pub in Marshwood, Dorset. Apparently, the origins of the competition date from a disagreement between local farmers as to who had the longest nettles on their farms.
I have never tasted raw nettles and I hope never so to do. However, my father used to make nettle wine which was potent and full of natural iron. It tasted much as you would expect. In other words ghastly!
| In my youth and early manhood I played rugby and occupied a position in the front row of the scrum so I was not unused to having my shins ‘accidentally’ kicked. But I was surprised to discover that ‘shin-kicking’ was apparently an ‘Olympick sport’. At least in this little town it is even today.
Which Cotswold town claims to hold the oldest continuous ‘Olympick Games’ in the world?
| Quirky and Eccentric British Pastimes
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Chipping Campden. My wife and I visited the event a few years ago at the delightful Chipping Campden near Broadway in the picturesque and historic Cotswolds. Despite sampling the strong local ale I was not persuaded to join in.
The rules involve two players with straw down their trousers who try to topple their opponent by kicking his legs.
| The Crab Fair is held each year in Cumbria in the Lake District of the UK. It features a pastime which could be described as competitive face-pulling. What is it traditionally called? | Quirky and Eccentric British Pastimes
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Gurning. Egremont holds the Crab Fair each year. Among its many other attractions is Cumbrian Wrestling which has a very distinctive style.
Gurning was thought to have been handed down by the Vikings when they were marauding in this part of the British Isles.
| As a student in the 1960s I took part in this activity and so was very pleased to find out it was still going strong in a village in Lincolnshire.
Teams of two are required and a knowledge of the aerodynamic form would be a useful attribute but useless if you can’t safely (and gently) catch a thrown object.
What activity is being described?
| Quirky and Eccentric British Pastimes
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World Egg-Throwing Championship. Swaton village in Lincolnshire hosts and annual egg throwing (and catching) competition. Nowadays preoccupation with safety means that competitors must wear protective capes and goggles.
To prevent cheating only official free-range eggs may be used, of a specified shell thickness and proven rawness
It is great fun if you don’t get too eggcited!
| This has been a traditional village and pub game for some time. Allegedly an early exponent of this tricky game had sufficient skill and power to be able to shatter a glass drinking tankard with one flick of his ‘tolley’.
So do you know what game I’m describing?
| Quirky and Eccentric British Pastimes
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Marbles. The World marbles championships have been held since at least the 1920’s in the village of Tinsley Green in Sussex.
The "tolley" is a player's shooting marble.
The event is usually held each year on Good Friday.
| In my formative school years we used to have ‘seasons’ for school playground activities like marbles. One other pastime was an autumnal game which persuaded many of us to come forward to battle for the honour of being the ‘conqueror’. We only had three strikes, if we lasted that long. What game or activity am I describing? | Quirky and Eccentric British Pastimes
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Conkers. Conkers has now reached international status and the World Conker championships drew competitors last year from as far afield as India and Benin.
The Conker championships are held on the village green in Ashton, Northamptonshire.
There are now strict inspections to ensure only "Competition-standard" conkers and laces are supplied to ensure no sharp practice.
| This competition is open to both genders which is unusual in British traditional pastimes. It is held annually and requires a deadeye aim and a great deal of puff. It is often won by someone who has regularly eaten all of their green vegetables! Which sporting pastime is being described? | Quirky and Eccentric British Pastimes
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Peashooting World Championships. In the Peashooting World Championship both sexes compete together. The current world champion is a female. The Championship takes place in the village of Witcham, near Cambridge, on July each year.
| This most traditional of Somerset sports requires the participant to stand in a pitching basket and, holding his/her object by its tops, hurls it as close as possible to a target. What is this called? | Quirky and Eccentric British Pastimes
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Mangold Hurling. There is a ‘Mangold Hurling Association’ which exists to promote awareness of this traditional Somerset sport. The winner is the one who hurls his mangold close as possible to a target mangold known as ‘the Norman’.
Oh, in case you don’t know what a ‘mangold’ is I can enlighten you by quoting from the website of the association mentioned above:
"The mangold-wurzel (or mangel-wurzel) is a member of the family Chenopodiaceae, genus Beta (beets). The beets include the sugar beet (Beta vulgaris altissima), beetroot (Beta vulgaris craca), and Swiss chard (Beta vulgaris flavascens). The mangold-wurzel (Beta vulgaris vulgaris) is a subspecies of the common beet (Beta vulgaris), as are chard (or leaf beet or spinach beet) (Beta vulgaris cicla), and sea beet (Beta vulgaris maritima).
For those with limited space, it is possible to cultivate the mangold-wurzel in a pot. It must however be removed from the pot before hurling.
This is really important. "
| Apparently, each year, many dozens of competitors turn up to attempt to break the record for this ‘activity’ which was set on the same ground way back in 1980. They are only allowed to use only a garden fork (with tines) and whatever musical instruments they think might help. What magical event is being described? | Quirky and Eccentric British Pastimes
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World Worm-Charming championships. If we can believe it the legend says that in 1980 a farmer's son from Willaston near Nantwich, Cheshire, charmed more than 500 worms from the ground in half an hour.
| In this game, everyone sits in a circle and passes round a wrapped package while music plays. When it stops and you are holding it - you are lucky! What is this game? | British Party Games
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Pass-the-parcel. Small presents that you might receive whilst shedding the layers might be: a yo-yo, sweets, jokes, etc. When most layers are gone, everyone gets excited about the big present in the middle! It could be a toy or a chocolate bar or anything!
| When music plays, everyone dances, but when the music stops - everyone falls down onto the floor and the last one is out! What is this silly, funny game? | British Party Games
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Musical Bumps. Make sure you don't hurt yourself when playing this game! Children of all ages might like these games, and it is a really fun game to play - except when you are caught out, of course.
| Another musical game! However, this one is when you all dance to music, but when it stops this time, you have to freeze! The people who move, or fall over, are out, but it's a really funny game to play. What is it? | British Party Games
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Musical statues. It is a really good game, much less painful than Musical Bumps! You need to have good balance to play this game, but it's fun all the same when you fall!
| This game is when two people join hands and bring them up and down, singing a song. The children walk under their arms (like a bridge). But beware when they sing "Here comes the candle to light you to bed, here comes the chopper to chop off your head!" What is the name of this game? | British Party Games
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oranges and lemons. "Chip chop, chip chop - the last man's dead!" This is when the two people making the bridge bring their arms down and trap someone! It is quite sinister - because the song is referring to people getting their head chopped off! It is a fun game to play with your friends at a party!
| In this game, someone closes their eyes and counts to a certain number. Everyone then hides somewhere and the last one to be found is the winner! This game is called "Hide-and-seek". (True or false?) | British Party Games
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t. It is also called "Hide-and-go-seek" and it's really hard to find a good hiding place, especially indoors! Places you can hide indoors are: the wardrobe, under your bed, behind the sofa and even more! It is easier to play outdoors, because you can hide flat in a bush or behind a tree!
| In this game, someone is blinded and something is put in someone's hand. It's a tail with something sharp on the end! You are put in front of a wall. What do you have to do? | British Party Games
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Pin the tail on the donkey. You can have anything on the pin! A tail, a tie to put on a picture of someone, or anything! You've got to be careful playing this game because you could hurt someone!
| A game where everyone dies because someone is killing them! A person is responsible and it's for a detective to find out! Everyone sits in a circle and it's not obvious who is doing it. What is this game? | British Party Games
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Wink Murder or "Killer". It is more interestingly played in large groups and sometimes also played in schools too.
| Which game's rules are: an object is passed round kids sitting in a circle and music plays. If you are holding the object when the music shops you are out? | British Party Games
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Hot potato. The child who was holding (or last touched) the object is out. From this game, 'hot potato' is meant to mean something unwanted, and something to pass onto others.
| A really funny game. Someone pretends to be an animal, and the players must pat it, as it makes sounds. They must say "Poor ____, Poor ____, Poor _____" without laughing. What is the word that is blanked out? | British Party Games
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pussy. The person who is playing the pussy has to meow three times and walks around like a cat. The object of the game is that they make everyone laugh, and the first person to laugh is the new pussy!
| This game is usually played by teenagers, and is also used to start a game of "Truth or Dare" - what is this game? | British Party Games
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Spin the bottle. Pictionary is when you draw a picture and everyone guesses what it is. Forbidden letter is when players decide on a letter that cannot be used in words from that moment onwards. Murder Mystery explains itself - and there are so many different ways to play this type of game.
t. Tig is when you try to catch the other players, which is like Blind Man's Buff, but you are blindfolded so you can't see them! You have to hear where they are.
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