Status Updates From The Magic Spring : My Year ...

There would have been no winter bonfires in England had the hapless Catholic conspirator Guido 'Guy' Fawkes not been found under the Houses of Parliament up to his ruff in gunpowder on November 5th 1605.

In any event, the Cotswold Olympiks became a fixture. Such popular country sports as 'handling the pike' (perhaps a fish-holding contest), 'spurning the bar' (I'm guessing a bout of competitive pub-ignoring), dog-racing and hare chasing carried on annually, along with running, jumping, dancing, tumbling and, er, chess, until the Civil War, when they abruptly ceased.