A new book taking a sideways look at British eccentricities devotes its final chapters to Padstow's twin traditions of May Day and Darkie Day.

An American journalist who settled in Britain, J R Daeschner set out to find out more about the hundreds of "acts of lunacy enshrined as traditions" across his adopted home.

Gurning, bog snorkelling and horn dancing all come under his microscope, combining humorous anecdote with serious analysis.

But his work takes on a slightly wider dimension when dealing with Padstow's Darkie Day tradition.
For generations Padstow folk have taken the opportunity to "black up" and parade around the town and its pubs singing minstrel songs which, although well-known, have not lost their politically incorrect words which some people have described, along with the tradition itself, as racist. Daeschner takes as his starting point the furore some years ago when a Sunday tabloid featured the town's Boxing Day and New Year's Day frolics, quoting "race watchdogs" as saying the event was evil and suggesting it should be banned.

"When I first read about Darkie Day, I was astounded," said Daeschner.

"What kinda local yokels would black up and sing racist songs in this day and age?! And why in Britain, of all places?" He continues: "Not even the most country-fried, Confederate flag loving hillbillies in the deep South would do something like that." So he visited Padstow with his family, arriving a few days before New Year's Day, to see the event for himself, and then returned later in the year to talk to some of the people involved.

Former Mayor Keltie Seaber is quoted as saying that until the controversy broke out over the event it had not ever occurred to most Padstow people that Darkie Day could be seen as racist - it had been a part of life in the town for so long.

Daeschner dismisses tales that the tradition arose from the arrival of a slave ship in the port, enabling its "passengers" to come ashore and dance on the quayside, and suggests it results more from a combination of the 19th century craze for blacking up as minstrels and the well-recognised British traditions of "guising" and "mumming", in which participants blackened their faces, usually as a disguise to mask misbehaviour.

Daeschner leaves the final word on the subject, as one gets the impression he has warmed to Padstow and its traditions, to Ziggy Holder, the town's only coloured resident, who tells him: "There's no intent - that's the key word - there's no intent to be nasty." Ziggy adds: "I live here, I don't feel threatened. So let them dance their dance. I will dance with them also."

- True Brits, by J R Daeschner, is published by the Random House Group at £6.99.

BOOKS OF THE WEEK FROM bog-snorkelling in Wales, to gurning championships in Cumbria and cheese-rolling in Gloucestershire, every year hundreds of eccentric individuals in the UK participate in a whole host of wacky events.

J.R. Daeschner, an American living in Britain, visits 10 of the weirdest traditions in True Brits (Random House, £6.99), collecting anecdotes along the way and sometimes taking part himself.

THE sport of bog snorkelling has been officially recognised in a new book on barmy British sports. The bizarre event involves divers snorkelling 400 yards through a peat bog in the Mid Wales town of Llanwrtyd Wells.

True Brits, by American author JR Daeschner, also unearths shin-kicking and cheese-rolling in Gloucestershire and 150-a-side mob football in Lincolnshire.

ECCENTRIC? NO - WE'RE TRUE BRITS    31/03/04    Gloucestershire Echo

Although we sometimes view the antics of certain Americans with bewilderment, when it comes to eccentrics they've got nothing on us Brits.

Where else but good old Blighty would you find such strange traditions as shin-kicking, bog snorkelling and gurning? And Gloucestershire certainly has its share of unusual events.

A new book called True Brits has two whole chapters dedicated to the unusual pastime.

The book is the brainchild of American author JR Daeschner, who has lived in the UK for most of the past decade.

It was inspired by the Cotswold Olympicks and the painful sport of shin-kicking.

JR, 34, who grew up in Colorado, said: "I came across a reference to shin-kicking in this strange sounding place called Chipping Campden.

"I thought it sounded like the most painful and infuriating sport I've ever heard of."I started looking into it and found there were loads of these strange British traditions, like the cheese-rolling in Brockworth."

"In the States we've got this Jackass culture - people doing really stupid things just to get on TV."But in the UK, shin-kicking and cheese- rolling have this historical relevance.

"I was interested in looking at what it was that made people take part in these events year after year.

"Like any good researcher, JR, whose full name is Jeffrey Ross, took part in some of the more bizarre traditions.He said: "Unfortunately, I was fairly humiliated in my shin-kicking debut.

"I managed to score some blows but my opponent was much craftier."Every time I went to kick him, he would swipe my other leg away and I'd fall onto my behind."

"But although I lost, his injuries were much worse than mine.

"He had a big swollen calf muscle, whereas my only injury was my dignity."

JR's humiliation at the hands, or feet, of Gloucestershire locals was even broadcast to the world by CNN.

Cheese-rolling has been a tradition on Cooper's Hill, Brockworth, since the early 1800s.Last year's event had to be called off as safety wardens Rapid UK were called out to assist with the Algeria earthquake.

Instead, 50 people took part in an unofficial event using balloons rather than the usual 8lb double Gloucester cheese.

The Cotswold Olympick Games date back to the 17th century and were revived in 1951.

JR's book also features bog snorkelling in Llanwrtyd, Wales, faggot cutting in London and the rather controversial sounding Pope burning in Lewes, Sussex.

He is planning to put video clips of shin-kicking and cheese-rolling on his website at www.truebrits.tv.

True Brits costs £6.99 and is available from Thursday from the website or bookshops.