Winner of annual cheese-rolling competition crowned

Every year in spring, a competition is held in Gloucestershire where people run down a steep hill after a wheel of cheese. It has become a very popular event – but it’s not as easy as it sounds.

Words:

• The epicentre of something is the metaphorical centre, a place where something very important happens.
• British eccentricity is the way British people have their own unusual, unique traditions and customs..
• To bless something, or to give something a blessing, is to wish good things for it. It’s often done in religious traditions.
• Carnage is figurative word for something extremely chaotic, intense or damaging.
• If someone is foolhardy, they are stubborn and reckless, and keep doing dangerous or silly things.
• Something is prestigious when many people respect and admire it.
• A double Gloucester is a type of cheese that comes in a wheel (a round shape).
• When something is up for debate, not everyone agrees with it.

Video:

Warming up

1. This video is about the cheese-rolling competition in Gloucestershire, also called the Cooper’s Hill Cheese-rolling and Wake. Have you heard of this event before, and if so, what do you know about it?

2. The cheese-rolling competition is typically British. What other typically British sports, competitions, events or festivals do you know?

Questions about the video

3. Why is Lily Doble, the morris dancer, interviewed?

A: She organised the competition.

B: She lives near the hill in Gloucestershire.

C: She won the women’s competition.

D: She prepared the hill for the competition.

4. The competition is dangerous – many people get hurt going down the hill. Quote one word or phrase the presenter uses that tells you this.

5. Fill in the missing words in this summary.

competitor – easy – event – hard – tradition – steep

Sam Clatham, a former ___ of the ___ said that people think the event is a quaint old English ___. This is true, but that does not mean it is ___. The hill is very ___ and the race is very ___.

6. There are three things incorrect about this statement. What are they?

Tom Kopke is an Austrian TikTok influencer. He has won the event this year, and has won it twice before. The race for people under 18 was won by Alix Heugas.

7. At the beginning of the video, the presenter said that the competition was ‘not just for barmy Brits’. Why did she say this?

Task

Option 1: There are three men’s races in Gloucestershire – one of the other races was won by Dutchman Niels Wennemars. What would the Dutch version of a cheese-rolling competition be? Come up with your own sport using typical Dutch things. Write a short paragraph describing the sport and explaining how you can win.

Option 2: The video says that it is ‘up for debate’ whether the competition can be called a sport. Do you think it’s a sport? Write a paragraph explaining why you do or don’t.

Van de makers van All Right!, Of Course! en Taalblokken Engels