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Cotswold Olimpicks could be added to Heritage list

Maisie Lillywhite
BBC News, Gloucestershire
Getty Images A black and white image of two men engaged in a shin kicking competition. They are wearing long white tunics and tros, and are holding each others' shoulders as one kicks the other's shin.Getty Images
The shin kicking competition, pictured here in 1951, is a well-known discipline at the Cotswolds Olimpicks

The addition of the Cotswold Olimpicks to a new heritage list could be "vital" for its future, a historian has said.

The event takes place in Chipping Campden and counts the world shin-kicking championships and tug o' war among its disciplines.

The government will soon be seeking submissions from the public to nominate their favourite traditions that best reflect the nation, which will be recorded in the new Inventory of Living Heritage in the UK.

Graham Greenall, a custodian of the event's 400-year history, said its inclusion on the list would be "vital" because "it is the traditions of ordinary people that could go missing".

The Cotswold Olimpicks was started by Robert Dover, an author and attorney, who, after moving to Chipping Campden, wanted to channel the competitive traits of residents in 1612.

It is thought William Shakespeare may have attended the games in their early days, shortly before his death in 1616.

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