Secure Fox Tossing, Octopus Wrestling And Other Forgotten Sports Executed By Edward Brooke-Hitching Edition

likepages short stories, BrookeHitching did his homework, He researched the crazy forgotten and dangerous sports, games, and pastimes that make presentday people look like angels.
It is truly mindboggling what went on in the name of witchcraft, religion, politics, and fun mainly because people were drunk, on drugs, wanted power over beasts, or simply because they could.
And the way that BrookeHitching organizes the book puts the craziness front and center, There is a brief introduction and then each "chapter" the title of the sport, pastime, or game which sometimes includes pictures or illustrations God save us all!

I was thinking amusing and lighthearted, what I got was something a bit more puzzling and scary but altogether entertaining.
I am also appreciative of the curiosity and interest that he had in the subject to do so much digging, with plenty of primarysource quotations and historical notations regarding them.
Taken as a whole, it's aweinspiring, but even in chunks and bits there is much to be said for the need for human entertainment.


Well done, BrookeHitching, Wellorganized, deeply researched, easily narrated, and endlessly fascinating, Subtitled "The most dangerous and bizarre sports in history" true enough, but one crucial adjective omitted from that description is "cruel", because for every entry on Mob Football or Dwile Flonking, it feels like there's about six on the various ways men have killed animals for pleasure.

I probably didn't help matters by reading it straight through, when clearly it's a book to be dipped into, but after a while the animal cruelty mounts up, and detracts from the semijocular, "weren't folk mad in the old days" tone that was intended.
And, from an objective view point this makes the book repetitive as well as depressing, There's little, other than specific accounts, that seperates bearbaiting from bullbaiting or lionbaiting, Setting dogs on animals could probably have been one section, not one for every type of animal used in that way.

That said, there is other material here, the cruelty isn't presented for amusement, and it's well written.
In many ways interesting, just makes you feel a bit grubby, Especially when you turn a page and a heading has you shuddering before you even read the passage.
. . For those who enjoyed the quirkiness of Schott's Miscellany, the erudition of The Etymologicon or the extremes of The Dangerous Book for Boys, this is the perfect read.

From Spile Troshing to Mumble a Sparrow, Edward BrookeHitching 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 think to bring back Fox Tossing, a popular sport for men and women inth century Germany As the name suggests, it would involve dozens of couples pairing up and standingfeet 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.
The moral of today's story is that people used to do terrible things to animals in the name of "sport.
" Interspersed with fascinating tidbits about dueling with rubber bullets and auto polo, Fox Tossing, Octopus Wrestling and Other Forgotten Sports documents the nauseating practices of bear, dog and monkey baiting and more so much more.


It describes mass hunts conducted in arenas by royalty and nobles were hundreds, if not thousands, of animals were slaughtered as entertainment.
From shooting arrows at roosters to breaking apart a barrel with a cat inside, I could not believe the brutality.


If you can make it through the animal abuse sports, and I confess that I skimmed most of those, what's left is amazing.
" from learning about how our ancestors entertained themselves we gain a unique insight into broader contemporary attitudes towards morality, humor, and the trials of daily existence.
" pg. "The reasons why these forgotten sports fell out of favor are, of course, many and varied, but broadly speaking can be divided into three categories: cruelty, danger, and ridiculousness.
" pg.

Ah, balloon jumping, This is a sport where a dude would attach a huge balloon to himself and leap across the landscape like a superhero.
Why did we quit balloon jumping "He did nearly clear the electrified cables, but unfortunately his feet became entangled, and when he tried to extract himself by grabbing one of the wires he was blown to the ground in a hail of sparks, dying instantly.
Alas, balloon jumpers never quite managed to refine the sport to a level of safety below "frequently lethal".
. . " pg.

Then there was dwile flonking: "In mid's Norfolk, it became a favorite activity of locals to gather in a large group, dance to an accordion, and hit each other in the face with beersoaked rags.
" pg. What fun.

I would say that the practice of "flyting" is alive and well in some online forums: "Flytings were extemporary swearing matches that placed a value on the imagination and verbal dexterity of the participants, who would exchange insults with impressive wordplay in a sense similar to modern rap battles, but with an intensity of vitriol and florid vocabulary that is hard to fully comprehend by modern standards.
" pg. But not on Goodreads, where civil discourse rules the day, :

Recommended for trivia hounds and those interested in obscure history, Fox Tossing is full of hilarious and heartbreaking facts about some of mankind's forgotten pastimes.
Those who are triggered by animal cruelty would be best served by picking a different book, Leave this one alone unless you hate reading and love animal torture, This book skimmed the surface on lots of interesting but often cruel games and stunts throughout history.
The author seemed to do a small amount of research into each sport, documented an anecdote or two and moved on to the next.
They were arranged alphabetically so there was no flow or logical grouping of the different sports, I would have liked the author to dive a little deeper into fewer sports rather than including every weird publicity stunt he happened across in his research.
The overall result is a book that was very poorly researched, written and published I found a few glaring printing/formatting errors I wouldnt have noticed had I been engaged with the content.
A fascinating collection about sports that have been practiced by humans across the ages, Some of it is funny, some of it is gruesome, and others yet just leave you scratching your head.
This is definitely not for those who are faint at heart or do not want to read about animal cruelty, as unfortunately many sports used to involve the maltreatment of animals.
It is interesting to read about all these sporting activities, and see how they emerged from training for combat, the channelling of humans innate aggression or the search for entertainment and daredevilry.
But the book could have benefitted from the author drawing out some general observations and connections about all the sports mentioned, or at the least it could have been thematically organised.
muggles, man, idk. I just adored this journey through the outandout bonkers pasttimes that used to keep our ancestors from getting bored.
At times I had tears of laughter from even just phrases like "Dwile Flonking" and admittedly, I did keep turning to the author's picture because for a funny guy with an interest in eccentric history, he's also quite easy on the eye.


I will say the one thing I felt this book needed was a slightly different outline it is arranged alphabetically like a dictionary, whereas I feel like this might have been good in topics such as entries to do with ball games, combining two sports, etc This was brought to mind because I wanted to recommend this book to a friend of mine who is quite passionate about animal rights and would find the entries on animal cruelty very difficult to read.
Unfortunately, these entries are scattered throughout the whole book, rather than just being in a single chapter that could be avoided.
This format also meant the book ended quite abruptly, where it could have used a concluding section.


Now, let me just look at that author blub again, Sigh. Two things about this book:
Dwile Thonking is the coolest thing to do while drunk,
So many sports involve animal death and torture, Humans are truly terrible creatures,

This book was fun, and I dont even like sports, The history of unusual sports was something I knew nothing about and wanted to read this after it was cited on the No Such Thing As A Fish podcast.
Im glad I didnow Dwile thonking is something I know about and I can happily rejoice in that knowledge.
History buffs and sports enthusiasts will enjoy this little book full of information about those games that are no longer played and/or lost to obscurity usually for a very good reason.
The vast majority feature cruelty to animals which I suppose one could expect from a book titled Fox Tossing and Other Forgotten and Dangerous Sports, Pastimes, and Games but boy was it brutal.
Bears, rats, dogs, cats, and even tortoises weren't exempt from the savagery of man, Besides the sports that featured the capture, suffering, and eventual death of animals there were those that were just plain idiotically dangerous.
For example, would you like to participate in a rousing game of Human Fishing whereby you are the fish attached to a fishing line with another person trying to reel you in What about WaterfallRiding over Niagara in a barrel Of course, you could always play it safe and indulge in everyone's favorite pasttime of

Dwile Flonking where a person who is blindfolded tries to hit his friends with a mop soaked in beer.
Yes, this was a real thing,

While I enjoyed learning about the different pasttimes enjoyed by people all over the world through the ages the sheer amount that relied on the maltreatment of animals made this not exactly a fun read.
Information/Fun reading experience/A charming, dippable trawl through some of the sports and games that time forgot the author writes well and has uncovered some wonderfully weird trivia that delights as much as it surprises.
It's an alphabetical list, so the book does gradually become a tad formulaic, but I found myself googling stuff in disbelief, and was pleased to discover the research is wellgrounded.
Do you like to read about games of yore involving hilarity at the expense of animal cruelty Then this is the book for you!

Mostly cats.
Poor, vilified, scapegoated little cats, Burned, whacked, bashed with foreheads whilst nailed alive to a tree, These are just some ye olden pastimes regretfully lost somewhere in the unforgiving annals of time,

Recommended for unfeeling historians, .