- Title: A tough nut to crack: Londoners go wild at conker championships
- Date: 8th October 2023
- Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (OCTOBER 7, 2023) (Reuters) (MUTE) SLOW MOTION OF GAME OF CONKERS (MUTE) SLOW MOTION OF CONKER (HORSE CHESTNUT ON STRING) HITTING ANOTHER COUPLE SMASHING TOGETHER HORSE CHESTNUTS ON STRING (SOUNDBITE) (English) COUPLE SAYING: WOMAN: “Strategy…” MAN: “Oh, strategy. I think the fresher the conker…” WOMAN: “I’ve kept this conker for three rounds!” MAN: “Have you? Yeah, there we go. But you need a new fresh conker, rather than, like, an old one.” (SOUNDBITE) (English) PLAYERS, GABS (LEFT) AND BECCA (RIGHT), SAYING: GABS: “I’d say strategy.” BECCA: “I’d say force and strategy.” GABS: “I’d say you need strategy to hit the opponent. But force to win.” BECCA: “Yeah and I’d say maybe not as much force as you’d whack back on yourself.” PACKETS OF HORSE CHESTNUTS ON SALE BOXES CONTAINING CONKER KITS PACKETS OF HORSE CHESTNUTS ON SALE (SOUNDBITE) (English) FESTIVAL ORGANISER, CHRISTOPHER QUIGLEY, SAYING: “Everyone will have like a memory of playing conkers. And what we’re doing with the Peckham Conker Championships is taking it to the next level and bringing it back for the mainstream.” VARIOUS OF WOMAN HOLDING FLAG WITH TEAM NUMBER VARIOUS OF PEOPLE PLAYING CONKERS (SOUNDBITE) (English) DOM LUCK (LEFT) AND IZZY BUTLER (RIGHT), SAYING: DOM: “We’re a very repressed people and it’s an opportunity to let out some emotion and anger, under the kind of disguise of a good time.” IZZY: “And like sexual frustration as well. A lot of sexual frustration.” HORSE CHESTNUT ON STRING (SOUNDBITE) (English) FESTIVAL ORGANISER, CHRISTOPHER QUIGLEY, SAYING: “So, if you want to win a game of conkers, it’s all about accuracy. It’s all about having a strong nut. And a little bit of luck thrown in. So, the aim of the game of conkers is to smash the other person’s nut and you do that by literally by trying to smash the other person’s conker. Obviously, the strength of the conker makes a difference, so that’s where the luck comes in.” VARIOUS OF BEAR POSTER READING (English): ‘TAKE CARE. DON’T PLAY LIKE A BEAR’ VARIOUS OF TEAM LOOKING AT SCORECARD VARIOUS OF PEOPLE PLAYING CONKERS CROWD CHEERING
- Embargoed: 22nd October 2023 16:39
- Keywords: chestnuts conkers game london
- Location: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM
- City: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM
- Country: UK
- Topics: Arts/Culture/Entertainment,Europe,Editors' Choice
- Reuters ID: LVA001805608102023RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Hundreds of adults gathered in a trendy south London neighbourhood on Saturday (October 7) to play the traditional game of "conkers" – a British children's game that involves smashing together horse chestnuts hanging from strings.
Elsewhere in the world, the arrival of autumn with its shiny horse chestnuts is a pretext for children to hurl them at each other or to make sculptures. But in Britain, schoolchildren tie them on strings and smash them together, to see who can break their opponent’s conker.
On Saturday, a large group of urban professionals gathered for the annual Peckham Conker Championships, where they combined accurate swing and brute force to shatter the nuts of their opponents.
Players exchanged methods to make their chestnuts harder to withstand the force of impact. Some cured their nuts in vinegar or dried them in an oven, while others preferred freshly harvested chestnuts that are heavier thanks to the humidity.
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