Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.
Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.
Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.
Follow the author
OK
Fox Tossing, Octopus Wrestling and Other Forgotten Sports Hardcover – January 1, 1800
From Flagpole Sitting to Mumble a Sparrow, Edward Brooke-Hitching has researched through piles of dusty tomes to bring vividly back to life some of the most curious, dangerous and downright bizarre sports and pastimes that mankind has ever devised, before thinking better of it and erasing it from the memory.
After all, who would ever want to bring back Fox Tossing, a popular sport for men and women in 18th-century Germany? As the name suggests, it would involve dozens of couples pairing up and standing 20-25 feet apart in an enclosed field, each holding one end of a net, and then they would pull hard at both ends as the fox ran past, sending it flying high into the air.
There are many other sports revealed within these pages that are unlikely ever to make an appearance on Sky Sports, such as Firework Boxing, which is just as dangerous as it sounds. Meanwhile, Ski Ballet may not have been so risky, but Suzy 'Chapstick' Chaffee's signature move - the Suzy Split (a complete forward split while balanced on the tips of her skis) - was probably not one to try at home. An intriguing, entertaining and occasionally shocking insight into the vivid imaginations of mankind across the years, Fox Tossing, Octopus Wrestling and Other Forgotten Sports is an unforgettable read.
-
Print length258 pages
-
LanguageEnglish
-
PublisherSimon & Schuster Ltd
-
Publication dateJanuary 1, 1800
-
Dimensions5.5 x 1.25 x 8.5 inches
-
ISBN-10147114898X
-
ISBN-13978-1471148989
Similar items that may deliver to you quickly
Product details
- Publisher : Simon & Schuster Ltd (January 1, 1800)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 258 pages
- ISBN-10 : 147114898X
- ISBN-13 : 978-1471148989
- Item Weight : 14.4 ounces
- Dimensions : 5.5 x 1.25 x 8.5 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #2,284,894 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
Edward Brooke-Hitching is a screenwriter and author of The Madman's Library (Sunday Times Literary Book of the Year 2020, BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week), as well as the Simon and Schuster non-fiction bestsellers Love: A Curious History, The Madman's Gallery, The Devil's Atlas, The Sky Atlas, The Golden Atlas (both shortlisted for Edward Stanford Writing Awards), The Phantom Atlas, and Fox Tossing, Octopus Wrestling and Other Forgotten Sports. His latest title is The Most Interesting Book in the World (published October 2024).
Edward spent six years as a fact-finder and scriptwriter for the BBC TV show QI before leaving to write books full time. His work has featured in the Guardian, the Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Literary Review, the Spectator, the Economist, the Washington Post and others. He has appeared on shows including BBC Radio 4's Museum of Curiosity, Start the Week with Andrew Marr, and the Radio 2 Arts Show with Jonathan Ross.
The son of an antiquarian book dealer and an elected Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, he lives with his labrador Annie Jump Cannon in a dusty heap of old maps and books in Berkshire, where he gardens poorly and practises sword-swallowing even less successfully.
"A mine of information" - Simon Mayo, Books of the Year
"Writes great books" - Sandi Toksvig
"Brooke-Hitching's prose is elegant and witty. A worthy inheritor to D'Israeli." Spectator
"An author of superb visual compilations" Daily Telegraph
Twitter: @foxtosser
Customer reviews
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Learn more how customers reviews work on Amazon-
Top reviews
Top reviews from the United States
There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.
Top reviews from other countries
Most of the description about the sport is like this:
1.description of the medieval times in Europe
2.some random animal
3.baiting/wrestling
4.a commentary by an onlooker
5.description of cruelty
6.its ultimate ban
It was an horrible reading experience (so much so that I had to skim over 100 pages due to repetition).Only for the research work,I am rating this report(not a book),two stars.
Avoid it...