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Sporting Witness: The "Cotswold Olimpicks" of 1612

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The "Cotswold Olimpicks" of 1612

30/12/2011

BBC World Service - Sporting Witness, The "Cotswold Olimpicks" of 1612

How British Olympic history started 400 years ago with the games held in the Cotswolds.

As London prepares to hold the 2012 Olympics, Sporting Witness goes back four centuries to the first ever games held in Britain - the "Cotswold Olimpicks".

The games - which included everything from tossing the caber to shin-kicking - were organised by Robert Dover in the small village of Chipping Campden.

Sarah Cuddon visits the modern version of the Cotswold Games and learns how they inspired the finest poets of the age.

PHOTO: Sheaf-throwing, an Olympic sport in the Cotswolds. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

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