Tickling is perhaps the oldest English martial art. It pre-dates shin-kicking, bicep-punching, pillow-fighting and 'Karate-Jitsu' by several centuries.
The earliest 'tickle' on record took place in Cornwall on 14th May 1242, between Geoffrey Locke of Nottingham and Edmund Caxton of Derby. According to a contemporary document unearthed by archaelogists, 'Caxton didst skrag his adversarie unto deathe, and was proklamed verily the winer.'
Of course, modern tickles are no longer fatal - nobody has been 'scragged' to death in mainland Britain since 1997 (although the Scilly Isles still hold a traditional death match every Easter). These days it's practiced for sport and as a means of self-defence, as well as a way of preserving quaint old English traditions.
A tickle takes place on a patch of grassland, roughly 4 square feet in diameter, which is known as 'the killing field'. The ticklers wear tracksuit bottoms and t-shirts - no footwear is allowed. They face each other, and each clasps the back of the other's neck in their left hand.
On the command of the 'Gaffer' or referee, they attempt to tickle each other, using the right hand only - the left must stay in place on the opponent's neck at all times.
Acceptable targets are the armpit, belly, under the chin, and the soles of the feet. The latter is of course the hardest target to reach while standing, although it is estimated that some 67% of tickles eventually go to ground. A tickler indicates submission with the traditional cry of 'Stop it! Stop it!' The first tickler to get three submissions is declared the winner.
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