BRITAIN’s top 10 quirkiest events

BRITAIN magazine
The Chap Olympiad, London

Britain is home to lots of eccentric traditions. Many of Britain’s plethora of peculiar events reflect a desire for nostalgia and some are taken very seriously indeed. Here we round up 10 of the best…

1. Chap Olympiad

In true British self-mocking fashion, the Chap Olympiad is a celebration of our sporting ineptitude. Think ladies and gentlemen instead of sportsmen and women – here the aim is to come eccentrically dressed and to prance around in the heart of London. The event has been held in leafy Bedford Square since 2005 and includes events such as the three-trousered limbo and the cucumber sandwich discus. Expect G&Ts, cravats and lots of overt Britishness.

Up Helly Aa
Above: Guizers at an Up Helly Aa celebration

2. Up Helly Aa

In Lerwick, Shetland, on the last Tuesday in January every year, Europe’s largest fire festival lights up. A tradition that originated in the 1880s, Up Helly Aa day involves a torch-lit procession around the town in themed costumes, culminating in the burning of a Viking longship or galley. This is followed by hours of performing and dancing throughout the town. The event now happens all over Shetland and is currently celebrated at 10 locations.

3. The Flaming Tar Barrels

The residents of the Devon town of Ottery St Mary have decided that sparklers and fireworks on Bonfire Night aren’t nearly exciting enough. Instead, risk-taking residents hoist 30-kilogram barrels of burning tar onto their shoulders and sprint down the hilly streets in a blaze of sparks. This event is thought to be a relic of an age-old tradition, begun in the 17th century, where the barrels may have been used to fumigate shops. Or it may have its roots even further back, as part of long-lost Pagan fire rituals. Either way, the townsfolk jealously guard the event and running the tar barrels has become a much-loved tradition.

4. The Great British Duck Race

You might think that a quarter of a million blue plastic ducks clogging the Thames at Mosely Lock near Hampton Court is an unusual sight, but while this annual charity event is the biggest of its kind, us Brits are just nuts about duck races. Take the venerable Shaldon Regatta in Devon, which runs for the last nine days of August every year. The regatta is one of the oldest in Britain, dating back to 1817, and has become something of an institution loved by locals and Grockles (holidaymakers) alike. Aside from the rowing and beach sports the event includes a tug of war, pillow fights, a treasure hunt and another duck race, where hundreds of the little bath-time favourites bob in a yellow swath along the Teign Estuary.

5. Cheese Rolling

The Cheese Rolling at Cooper’s Hill in Gloucestershire is not a complicated premise – entrants line up at the top of an extremely steep hill and proceed to hurl themselves down after a bouncing eight-pound Double Gloucester cheese. The winner is the first to reach the bottom. The event has won quite a following and crowds of thousands turn up to watch the crazy cheese chasers.

6. Hocktide

Hocktide was a medieval English festival generally celebrated on the second Tuesday after Easter, where the men of the village would tie up the women and demand a kiss for their liberation. The women would get their own back the next day by returning the favour, although they cleverly demanded money in exchange for their release, which would go to Parish funds. It is suggested that the tradition celebrates the massacre of the Danes in the 11th century by King Ethelred the Unready. The practice was banned under King Henry VIII but re-introduced by Queen Elizabeth I in 1575 and now Hungerford in Berkshire may be the only place that still practises the tradition, though in a modified form.

7. International Worthing Birdman

The Birdman Competition is a flight competition that invites guests to create their own flying machines and launch themselves off a special ramp constructed on Worthing Pier in West Sussex. The competition is divided up into three categories so that participants can decide whether they want to get serious or silly in their flying efforts. The event was created in 1971 when intrepid aviators attempted to fly 50m in Selsey.

Obby Oss Parade
Above: The red party attending the red Obby Oss with dozens of accordions and dozens of drums

8. Padstow Obby Oss Festival

Obby Oss? That’s hobby horse to you and me. In Padstow, Cornwall, a traditional ‘Obby ‘Oss day is held annually on May Day, which dates back to the Celtic Beltane, the day celebrating the coming of summer. There is extensive documentary evidence of British community May Day celebrations in the 16th century and earlier, although the earliest mention of the Obby Oss at Padstow dates from 1803. The town is dressed with greenery, flowers, flags and a maypole and the climax of the festivities arrives when two groups of dancers progress through the town, one of each team dressed up as a horse. Accompanied by drums and accordions, each ‘oss’ is adorned by a gruesome mask and black frame-hung cape under which they try to catch young maidens as they pass through the town.

9. Olney Pancake Race

Tradition has it that pancakes became standard fare on Shrove Tuesday in order to use up the last of the eggs, which were forbidden during Lent. Well that’s sensible enough, but the female residents of Olney in Buckinghamshire have found a different use for their pancakes, holding what is thought to be the world’s oldest pancake race. Only open to the women of the town, who dress up in headscarves and aprons, the race’s competitors must make their own pancake and demonstrate their tossing prowess before sprinting in a most unladylike fashion along a 415-yard course through the town. Why? Because it’s flipping good fun, that’s why.

10. World Pooh Sticks Championships

If you don’t remember from reading Winnie the Pooh as a child,  the excellent concept of Pooh Sticks simply involves dropping sticks (or fir cones in the book) off a bridge and watching them emerge on the other side. Aside from the hours of fun that can be had in this pursuit, true Pooh Stick aficionados can head to Day’s Lock in Oxfordshire on the last Sunday in March to test their Pooh Stick mettle at the world’s top Pooh Sticks event.