Cotswold Olimpicks, Chipping Campden

For my second venture into Merrie England after football at Workington, I chose the annual Cotswold Olimpicks, held on Dover’s Hill just outside the village of Chipping Campden. The most famous event at the games is the shin kicking world championships, where entrants wear a traditional smock, stuff straw down their socks to absorb the blows, and then proceed to try and boot each other in the shin and throw their opponent to the floor. It’s a cross between judo and really violent footsies.

I drove up on the day, but should have made a weekend of it as the village and surrounding area are picture-postcard Britain at its best. There was a big crowd out for the games, which started with a traditional opening by someone dressed as Robert Dover (the games have been going since 1612 and held their 400th anniversary the same year as the London 2012 Olympics). Comparable events are held at Much Wenlock and Stoke Mandeville (hence the mascot names for 2012), but this was the only one I could make in 2016, so I paid my £6.50 to enter and sat down to watch the first event, the Championship of the Hill, part of which is shown in the video. This consisted of four teams of five competing in four different events, with the winners eventually being decided on a sudden death round involving space hoppers and fairy liquid, which is probably slightly different from in 1612.