Armour Making from Ashby-de-la-Zouch – 40 Humourous British Traditions

Over the years more contests were added for men and women including the piece de resistance the full body armour contest, which is awarded for work done during the previous year. Points are awarded for historical accuracy, but the ultimate test is for the contestants to walk across the Bull’s Field belonging to Farmer Grinlow and see how well their armour stands up to the attack of the Aberdeen Angus purebreds. The judges note how quickly the bulls give up their attacks, how many dents the armour has sustained, and whether the contestant needs medical help afterwards.

David Graham is the best builder of full body armour in the country and has won on six occasions since 1996. He uses stainless steel coated with tungsten and zinc all of which is highly polished – it has been suggested that this is deliberate so that the bulls will be blinded by the sun glinting off the metal, but Graham still won after the bulls were fitted with sunglasses.

There was almost a tragedy in 1948 when Sir Lawrence Hislop entered the contest. His armour was the Tin Man costume worn in the 1930s film The Wizard of Oz, which Hislop had recently bought at auction. The costume was flimsy at best and Sir Lawrence was knocked unconscious as soon as he entered Bull’s Field. Luckily, his wife and daughters dragged him clear whilst the bulls were being distracted by a Judy Garland impersonator.

The knitting contest was won most often by a local shepherd Wilf Worrall, who won 12 times between 1872 and 1910. He used wool from his own sheep to create the imitation chain mail. He practiced his technique out in the fields and honed his skills so well that he could produce a full set of imitation chain mail in just 90 minutes. His concentration on the knitting was legendary, but this did mean his sheep were left unsupervised and he lost 50% of them to rustlers on average throughout the year.