45-698: The World Conker Championships (WCC) is a conkers tournament held annually on the second Sunday in October in the county of Northamptonshire , England . Two players use conkers threaded onto a string and take turns to strike the other's nut until it shatters. Players from around the world enter the tournament, competing in a knock-out format in both team and individual formats, with titles for men's, women's and youth categories. Up to 5,000 spectators watch around 400 players participating. from many countries, including Australia, Austria, Canada, France, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Poland, Russia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Ukraine,
90-453: A 'clever, ironical, delicately moulded woman' – and her apparently unfortunate marriage to his coal-miner father, a man of 'sanguine temperament' and instability. He believed that his mother had married below her class status. Unlike her husband, Lydia grew up in a middle class religious family, and the differences in their backgrounds often caused family conflicts. On one hand, Mr. Lawrence would spend his wages on drink after working for hours in
135-470: A conker accumulates points, its designation changes to reflect the total: a none-er becomes a one-er , then a two-er , and so on. (In some areas of Scotland, conker victories are counted using the terms bully-one , bully-two , etc. In some areas of the United States and Canada, conker victories are counted using the terms one-kinger , two-kinger , etc. In 1940s Brooklyn, New York , a winning chestnut
180-420: A game of conkers using caravans suspended from cranes. After putting on safety goggles, presenter James May commented "I now feel perfectly happy about being hit in the face by a caravan." Top Gear , along with other media commentators, wrongly stated that the wearing of goggles during the game was due to an official Health and Safety Executive (HSE) edict when it was in fact due to a myth which started when
225-510: A headmaster bought goggles for children to use as a parody of health and safety regulation and sponsored a conkers tournament. In 2004, several schools in Britain banned conkers due to fear of causing anaphylactic shock in pupils with nut allergies. Health advisers said that there were no known dangers from conkers for nut-allergy sufferers, although some may experience a mild rash through handling them. Sons and Lovers Sons and Lovers
270-461: A job in London, where he begins to rise up into the middle class. He is engaged, but he detests his fiancée's superficiality. William dies, and Mrs. Morel is heartbroken. When her second son, Paul, catches pneumonia she rediscovers her love for Paul. Both repulsed by and drawn to his mother, Paul is afraid to leave her but wants to go out on his own, and needs to experience love. Gradually, he falls into
315-414: A nail, gimlet , small screwdriver, or electric drill. A piece of string (often a shoelace is used), about 20 centimetres (7.9 in) long, is threaded through it. A large knot at one or both ends of the string secures the conker. The game is played between two people, each with a conker. They take turns hitting each other's conker using their own. One player lets the conker dangle on the full length of
360-496: A relationship with Miriam, a farmer's daughter who attends his church. The two take long walks and have intellectual conversations about books but Paul resists, in part because his mother disapproves. At Miriam's family's farm, Paul meets Clara Dawes, a young woman with, apparently, feminist sympathies who has separated from her husband, Baxter. After pressuring Miriam into a physical relationship, which he finds unsatisfying, Paul breaks with her as he grows more intimate with Clara, who
405-550: A review of video evidence, by fellow organiser St. John Burkett. Players' Rules of Engagement for the Noble Game of Conkers as follows: All players are British except where indicated with a national flag icon. Shown in alphabetical order by surname in the event of a tie. Conkers Conkers is a traditional children's game in Great Britain and Ireland played using the seeds of horse chestnut trees—the name 'conker'
450-459: Is a 1913 novel by the English writer D. H. Lawrence . It traces emotional conflicts through the protagonist, Paul Morel, and his suffocating relationships with a demanding mother and two very different lovers, which exert complex influences on the development of his manhood. The novel was originally published by Gerald Duckworth and Company Ltd., London, and Mitchell Kennerley Publishers, New York. While
495-472: Is also applied to the seed and to the tree itself. The game is played by two players, each with a conker threaded onto a piece of string: they take turns striking each other's conker until one breaks. The first mention of the game is in Robert Southey 's memoirs published in 1821. He describes a similar game, but played with snail shells or hazelnuts . It was only from the 1850s that using horse chestnuts
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#1732847819751540-570: Is more passionate physically. But even she cannot hold him, and he returns to his mother. When his mother dies soon after, he is alone. Lawrence summarised the plot in a letter to Edward Garnett on 19 November 1912: Jenny Turner described Sons and Lovers as a semi-autobiographical work in The Sexual Imagination from Acker to Zola: A Feminist Companion (1993). She maintained that it showed both "great candor" and "much self-pity". The critic Harold Bloom listed Sons and Lovers as one of
585-683: Is often done by keeping them for a year (aged conkers are called laggies in many areas or seasoners in Ireland and Liverpool), baking them briefly, soaking or boiling in vinegar, or painting with clear nail varnish. Such hardening is, however, usually regarded as cheating. At the British Junior Conkers Championships on the Isle of Wight in October 2005, contestants were banned from bringing their own conkers out of fears that they might harden them. The Campaign for Real Conkers claimed this
630-624: The Annapolis Royal Conker Club. The Peckham Conker Championships was first held in October 2017 in Peckham , London , playing a more extreme version of the game with Battle Royale rules which was organised by Peckham Conker Club. In 2023, more than 500 people from different parts of the UK took part in this championship. At the 2024 World Conker Championship, controversy arose when the winner, veteran competitor David Jakins, dubbed "King Conker",
675-712: The Flatbush section of Brooklyn, and in the 1950s and early 1960s in the amalgamated section of the Bronx and nearby Mt.Vernon. It was also played in Queens, the upper West Side of Manhattan, in the Mohawk Valley area of upstate New York and in Westmount, Quebec and other English-speaking parts of Montreal into the 1970s. It was played in the Catholic areas of North Cambridge, MA in the late 1950s. It
720-649: The Irish Conker Championships began in Freshford, County Kilkenny , in Ireland. Selma Becker, originally from Austria, was the first ladies' champion from outside the UK, in 2000. The title of Queen of Conkers has remained in the UK, except in 2001 when Frenchwoman Celine Parachou won. Eamonn Dooley from Freshford in County Kilkenny, Ireland broke the world record in 2000 by smashing 306 conkers in one hour. In 2004, an alternative World Conker Championships
765-588: The United States and the United Kingdom. The World Conker Championships began in 1965 when a group of anglers in Ashton held a conker contest at the Chequered Skipper public house when the weather was too bad to go fishing. At the event, a small collection was made for charity, by Garth Crooks , who was having dinner in the pub with his family. Since then the event has raised over £420,000 for charities supporting
810-468: The World Conker Championships causing a conker shortage, and in 1982 a late frost killed off the horse chestnut blossom resulting in a failed conker harvest. On 6 October 2011, organisers were forced to cancel the event over safety fears with high winds being forecast. In 2012, the championships were cancelled again when a suitable venue couldn't be found in time. Concerns for the future of
855-620: The books that have been important and influential in Western culture in The Western Canon (1994). In 1999, the Modern Library ranked Sons and Lovers ninth on a list of the 100 best novels in English of the 20th century . The novel contains a frequently quoted use of the English dialect word " nesh ". The speech of several protagonists is represented in Lawrence's written interpretation of
900-407: The coal mine; on the other hand, Mrs. Lawrence focused on their children's upbringing, welfare, and education while also harboring a desire to open her own haberdashery shop. This personal family conflict experienced by Lawrence provided him with the impetus for the first half of his novel – in which both William, the older brother, and Paul Morel become increasingly contemptuous of their father – and
945-555: The defending gallito before the defendant removes it from within the circle. If the defending gallito is struck it must remain in the circle until the attacker misses again. This move is called a " paso de paloma ". In 1965, the World Conker Championships were set up in Ashton (near Oundle ) Northamptonshire , England , and still take place on the second Sunday of October every year. In 2004, an audience of 5,000 turned up to watch more than 500 competitors from all over
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#1732847819751990-467: The difficulties of living off his meagre salary in a rented house. The couple fight and drift apart, and Walter retreats to the pub after work each day. Gradually, Mrs. Morel's affections shift to her sons beginning with the oldest, William. As a boy, William is so attached to his mother that he does not enjoy the fair without her. As he grows older, he defends her against his father's occasional violence. Eventually, he leaves their Nottinghamshire home for
1035-456: The effects of early childhood on later life within twenty minutes of meeting. The third draft of 'Paul Morel' was sent to the publishing house Heinemann ; the response, a rather violent reaction, came from William Heinemann himself. His reaction captures the shock and newness of Lawrence's novel, 'the degradation of the mother [as explored in this novel], supposed to be of gentler birth, is almost inconceivable'; he encouraged Lawrence to redraft
1080-413: The event were voiced over the horse-chestnut leaf miner moth, Cameraria ohridella , which has appeared in the region and could have a detrimental effect on the UK's horse chestnut population affecting conker yields. On 9 October 2017, Chelsea pensioner John Riley won the men's tournament at the age of 85, quite possibly making him the oldest world champion on the planet. In 2022, Fee Aylmore won
1125-505: The name Conquerors. Another possibility is that it is an onomatopoeia , representing the sound made by a horse chestnut as it hits another hard object, such as a skull (another children's "game", also called conkers, consists of simply throwing the seeds at one another over a fence or wall). Conkers are also known regionally as cheesers , a "cheeser" being a conker with one or more flat sides, which comes about due to it sharing its pod with other conkers (twins or triplets). Also Cheggers
1170-597: The novel coincided with a remarkable change in Lawrence's life, as his health was thrown into turmoil and he resigned his teaching job to spend time in Germany. This plan was never followed, however, as he met and married the German minor aristocrat, Frieda Weekley, who was the wife of a former professor of his at the University of Nottingham . According to Frieda's account of their first meeting, she and Lawrence talked about Oedipus and
1215-706: The novel initially received a lukewarm critical reception, along with allegations of obscenity, it is today regarded as a masterpiece by many critics and is often regarded as Lawrence's finest achievement. It tells us more about Lawrence's life and his phases, as his first was when he lost his mother in 1910 to whom he was particularly attached. And it was from then that he met Frieda Richthofen, and around this time that he began conceiving his two other great novels, The Rainbow and Women in Love , which had more sexual emphasis and maturity. The third published novel of D. H. Lawrence , taken by many to be his earliest masterpiece, tells
1260-472: The novel one more time. In addition to altering the title to a more thematic 'Sons and Lovers', Heinemann's response had reinvigorated Lawrence into vehemently defending his novel and its themes as a coherent work of art. To justify its form, Lawrence explains, in letters to Garnett, that it is a 'great tragedy' and a 'great book', one that mirrors the 'tragedy of thousands of young men in England'. Lawrence rewrote
1305-400: The smaller seed of the jatobá, Hymenaea courbaril ) is called gallitos (meaning small roosters or cocks, as in cockfighting ). The opponents face each other and the defending gallito is laid in the center of a circle drawn in the dirt. Not until the attacking player misses will the defending player take a turn. Upon missing, if the attacking player is quick enough, they will try to swing at
1350-399: The story of Paul Morel, a young man and budding artist. The original 1913 edition was heavily edited by Edward Garnett who removed 80 passages, roughly a tenth of the text. The novel is dedicated to Garnett. Garnett, as the literary advisor to the publishing firm Duckworth, was an important figure in leading Lawrence farther into the London literary world during the years 1911 and 1912. It
1395-439: The string and the other player swings their conker to hit it. A point is scored for a conker surviving a hit that causes the other one to break. The point is scored irrespective of whether the surviving conker was attacking or defending at the time. The scoring of the game is considered to be a property of the conkers themselves. A new conker is a none-er , meaning that it has not defeated any others yet and thus has no score. As
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1440-408: The subsequent exploration of Paul Morel's antagonising relationships with both his lovers, which are both incessantly affected by his allegiance to his mother. The first draft of Lawrence's novel is now lost and was never completed, which seems to be directly due to his mother's illness. He did not return to the novel for three months, at which point it was titled 'Paul Morel'. The penultimate draft of
1485-573: The visually impaired and at least £2,500 is donated yearly. The event was held in Ashton for 45 years before moving to a larger venue at the Shuckburgh Arms in Southwick , Northamptonshire in 2009. The tournament has been threatened with conker shortages over the years, in 1976 conkers used in the tournament had to be flown in from Jersey , in 1980 freak spring weather was one of the factors that threatened
1530-401: The women's event after 30 years of trying. In 2024, allegations of cheating were levelled at the men's event winner David Jakins by men's runner-up Alastair Johnson-Ferguson, when a brown-painted fake steel conker was discovered in his pocket. Jakins was also one of the event's organisers, responsible for the handing out of chestnuts used by the competitors. He was cleared of any suspicion after
1575-419: The work four times until he was happy with it. Although before publication the work was usually titled Paul Morel , Lawrence finally settled on Sons and Lovers . The refined daughter of a "good old burgher family," Gertrude Coppard meets a rough-hewn miner, Walter Morel, at a Christmas dance and falls into a whirlwind romance characterised by physical passion, but soon after her marriage to Walter, she realizes
1620-553: The world. The 2016 Championship was featured on the BBC programme "Countryfile". The first time that a non-British contestant won the Men's World Conker Championship was in 1976. The Mexican Jorge Ramirez Carrillo took the place of a contestant who was unable to arrive on time at Ashton, and defeated the 1975 champion at the finals. The men's champion has been British in every other year except 1998, when Helmut Kern from Nauort, Germany, won. In 1999,
1665-413: Was a dual use building, serving as both town hall and school. There is a large horse chestnut tree located on the town's common (and adjacent to town hall) that was used as a source for the chestnuts. The Leicester variant on the name for the game was "Horse Cobblers"(presumably a variant of "Horse Conkers"). Before the game, each player must prepare a conker. A hole is bored in a large, hard conker using
1710-453: Was accused of cheating. Jakins was alleged to have used a replica conker made from steel. He has been exonerated. In 2000, a survey of British schools by Keele University showed that many were not allowing children to play conkers, as head teachers were afraid of the legal consequences if children were injured while playing the game, or because they thought that the conkers might be used as weapons. The TV programme Top Gear later staged
1755-821: Was an example of over-regulation which was causing a drop in interest in the game. In both the World Conker Championship and the North American Championship, contestants are also restricted to using the conkers provided by the organisers. One factor affecting the strength of a conker is the shape of the hole. A clean cylindrical hole is stronger, as it has no notches or chips that can begin a crack or split. The Peckham Conker Championships allow artificially hardened conkers, with some players even coating their conkers in epoxy resin . This competition follows Battle Royale rules and also allows stampsies and stringies. A similar Puerto Rican game (played with
1800-622: Was being played in the 1960s in Rhode Island, and into the early 1980s in Smithfield, RI. The game was also played in Leicester, Massachusetts in the late 1970s and into the 1980s (and presumably much earlier, given the town's age and predominantly English/Irish settlers) by the children of the Primary School of the town (typically 4th and 5th graders). Leicester's seat of government ("town hall")
1845-599: Was first hosted at Pill Harriers Rugby Club, Newport, Wales. This championship, known as the World Annual National Conker Championships, has been held every year since and is sanctioned by Dogfish Promotions. Contestants from the United States, Italy, England and Wales have taken part. The North American Conker Championship was inaugurated on 20 October 2012 at the Historic Gardens in the town of Annapolis Royal , Nova Scotia , Canada, hosted by
World Conker Championships - Misplaced Pages Continue
1890-418: Was not until the 1992 Cambridge University Press edition was released that the missing text was restored. Lawrence began working on the novel in the period of his mother's illness, and often expresses this sense of his mother's wasted life through his female protagonist Gertrude Morel. Letters written around the time of its development clearly demonstrate the admiration he felt for his mother – viewing her as
1935-466: Was referred to as a killer and the value of a chestnut was defined by its number of "kills".) In some regions, the winning conker receives all the points accumulated by the losing one, in addition to gaining one more point for the defeat. For example, a two-er that defeats a three-er would become a six-er (2 + 3 + 1). Other regions only award one point to the winner, regardless of the loser's score. The hardest conkers usually win. Hardening conkers
1980-499: Was regularly referred to in certain regions. There is uncertainty of the origins of the name. The name may come from the dialect word conker , meaning "knock out" (perhaps related to French conque meaning a conch , as the game was originally played using snail shells and small bits of string ). The name may also be influenced by the verb conquer , as earlier games involving shells and hazelnuts have also been called conquerors . Compton MacKenzie's 1913 novel Sinister Street uses
2025-502: Was used in Lancaster, England in the 1920s. In D. H. Lawrence 's book Sons and Lovers , the game is referred to as cobblers by William Morel. The first recorded game of conkers using horse chestnuts was on the Isle of Wight in 1848. The game grew in popularity in the 19th century, and spread beyond England . Conkers was played during the late 1940s and early 1950s in New York in
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