My exposure to British culture begins and ends with Wallace and Gromit, so I'm aware of the British obsession with cheese and putting on the wrong trousers. The Cooper's Hill Cheese Rolling and Wake feeds into that. Each year, a wheel of Double Gloucester cheese is rolled down a steep hill, and competitors race after it. The first person over the finish line at the bottom of the hill wins the cheese. This year, the event was curdled (it's the cheese that goes…pun!) by 19 people who somehow got hurt hurdling down a steep hill uncontrollably.

As the rain poured down it became impossible for racers to stay on their feet and contestants became caked in mud as they flipped, somersaulted and tumbled their way down the hill.

Christopher Anderson, 19, who won the first race, was carried away from the hill on a spinal board after hurting his back as he finished head over heels.

isn't the phrase "arse over tit"? Don't shed your droll anglicisms now, Brits. And no need to worry much for these doughty blighters. All cheese enthusiasts know a thick coating of mud spruces up any cheese, and certainly improves the smell.

[Fanhouse]