OLNEY PANCAKE RACE
In a tradition that is believed to date to 1445, the ladies of Olney, Buckinghamshire take part in a pancake race on Shrove Tuesday. It’s not clear how the competition began – one tale holds that a harried housewife was running late for the Shriving service and dashed to the church door carrying her frying pan. Another asserts that the women of the parish would rush to bribe the Sexton with pancakes, in order that he would ring the bell sooner and hasten the commencement of the holiday period. Either way, beating a path to the church door became an annual ritual. The contest continued during the Wars of the Roses but lapsed in later years, particularly during the Second World War. It was enthusiastically revived in 1948 and is now in its 68th year, enjoying a friendly rivalry with the town of Liberal in Kansas, USA, which joined the revelries from afar in 1950. The 2017 race starts at 11:55am on 28 February.