Sport: Winking In

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Good as they looked in the U.S.. the British visitors are not champions back home. Playing for the Oxford University Tiddlywinks Society (the OUTS), they won the Prince Philip Silver Wink Tournament last spring, but lost to Bristol in the All-England Tiddlywinks Open. The loss, Freeman explains unwinkingly, was outrageous: "It was merely because we were so shockingly superior that we were inevitably shockingly overconfident."

But it is not whether you win or lose. The game itself is a national asset, says Freeman. "There is an enormous amount of physical strain on wrists and elbows and to the squidging fingers. There is terrific mental pressure and unbearable tension. The game provides excellent mental conditioning. Had the Empire been built on tiddly winks, perhaps we would never have lost it."