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World conker champion found with steel chestnut, cleared of cheating

theguardian.com

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Re: World conker champion found with steel chestnut, cleared of cheating

#111

Post by lmm »

Nursie wrote: post #56
beezlewax wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ye and the queen eats swans for breakfast or something like that.

All swans are owned by the crown and the monarch has the exclusive right to kill and eat them. Or at least that's the way I heard it, come to think of it I have no idea at all if that's true. Stops people killing and eating swans though. Not that many would anyway these days.

St John's College serves swan on formal occasions sometimes, because they have some connection to the royal family that means they have special permission. (Or used to in the Queen Elizabeth days, I don't know if they still do under Charles)

Re: World conker champion found with steel chestnut, cleared of cheating

#113

Post by bboygravity »

willvarfar wrote: post #79
FearNotDaniel wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, conkers is sufficiently well-known enough as a children's schoolyard game that I would expect pretty much every newspaper-reading adult to have heard of it. The fact that there is supposedly an "adult" championship event would be a surprise to most. If you're looking for the "story behind the story", other than the fact that it's a seasonally-specific, light human-interest story: there is probably a slight cultu…

This is silly. Conkers aren't a rich person's sport, and this article in the guardian isn't pushing any political subversive subtext.

News is what you don't get to read.

The rest are political ads.

Re: World conker champion found with steel chestnut, cleared of cheating

#114

Post by [deleted] »

defrost wrote: post #71
nickyvanurk wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the Netherlands we are also taught a swan could break your arm if you get too close. I don't know if it's true or not because I've been too scared to find out.

They're not going to hold you down and break it with a tire iron .. but I'll bet for certain that Swans are responsible for arms being broken. They've got a pretty savage and scary charge to them, it's highly likely they've startled more than one person in a park who've turned to run, tripped and fallen across steps or rockery edges and come out badly injured.

[deleted]

Re: World conker champion found with steel chestnut, cleared of cheating

#115

Post by forgotusername6 »

thatguymike wrote: post #26

I'm surprised they pick their conkers out of a bag. The whole fun when I was a kid was competing for who could find the toughest conker. Common cheating methods included putting it through the tumble dryer to dry it out (Mum didn't love that) or soaking in vinegar. If you're pulling conkers out of a bag I think each match is basically a coin flip, unless there's much more technique I'm missing?

I varnished mine

Re: World conker champion found with steel chestnut, cleared of cheating

#116

Post by timthorn »

seanhunter wrote: post #51
butterfly42069 wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

I have no idea why you think safety laws prevent people from playing conkers in spite of the very thread you are commenting on being evidence that people play conkers and it is perfectly legal.

It is legal, but it also did get banned at my primary school. It continued to be played.

Re: World conker champion found with steel chestnut, cleared of cheating

#117

Post by globular-toast »

Nursie wrote: post #56
beezlewax wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ye and the queen eats swans for breakfast or something like that.

All swans are owned by the crown and the monarch has the exclusive right to kill and eat them. Or at least that's the way I heard it, come to think of it I have no idea at all if that's true. Stops people killing and eating swans though. Not that many would anyway these days.

Apart from the ones at Abbotsbury swannery. Those ones are privately owned. It is true to say all mute swans in Britain are owned by someone, though.

Re: World conker champion found with steel chestnut, cleared of cheating

#118

Post by stoneman24 »

ackbar03 wrote: post #61
fy20 wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a game you play as a kid. This is the first I've heard of there being a professional league. On the other hand, we also have competitions such as cheese rolling (trying not to get killed by a giant cheese wheel rolling down a hill), so I'm not that surprised. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-england-gloucestershire-6...

I know the version where you try not to kill yourself chasing the cheese. Are you saying there's one where the cheese chases and tries to kill you?

Shhhh! The first rule of cheese-chase is never talk about cheese-chase.

British coroners know the signs….

Re: World conker champion found with steel chestnut, cleared of cheating

#119

Post by CSSer »

FearNotDaniel wrote: post #75
School-Cotton wrote: post #2

Is this game well-known enough in Britain and Ireland that readers will know what on earth is being alleged just from reading this article? Or are you expected to have to google it? Apparently it’s a game where you take turns swinging a chestnut on a string and trying to hit the opponent’s chestnut and break it. Yes, I can see how a steel fake chestnut would be an advantage here, though I’m amazed it wouldn’t be inst…

Yes, conkers is sufficiently well-known enough as a children's schoolyard game that I would expect pretty much every newspaper-reading adult to have heard of it. The fact that there is supposedly an "adult" championship event would be a surprise to most. If you're looking for the "story behind the story", other than the fact that it's a seasonally-specific, light human-interest story: there is probably a slight cultu…

In Britain, maybe. In the USA, I don’t think so.

Re: World conker champion found with steel chestnut, cleared of cheating

#120

Post by LandR »

riffraff wrote: post #106
Nursie wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's more or less it. You make a hole through your 'conker' (horse chestnut, not the edible type) and thread a string or a bootlace through it. Then you take turns. One holds their string still and lets the conker hang down, the other gets a swing at it with their conker. Whoever's conker lasts the longest is the winner. There were all sorts of rumours about baking them, or soaking in vinegar or what have you to ha…

Ho do you drill the hole? I'm having trouble imagining kids with needles in their pockets, do you do it with a pencil or toothpick? We've got a ton of horse chestnuts in my neighborhood but I've never heard of this game and I'm eager to introduce it to my kids. Also, doesn't the conker spiral around your hand hitting it and hurting you?

> your hand hitting it and hurting you?

WHen you were a kid, accidentally hitting yourself or the other person was just part of it!

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