You might not know it, but many sports and games that are played all over the world were invented by the British. Football, tennis, cricket, snooker, rugby, and golf all originated in the British Isles.

However, if you thought that here in the UK we are only interested in mainstream sports then think again. That's because Britain has become a breeding ground for increasingly bizarre sports. This week's Take Away English looks at some of the strangest sports and competitions to be found in the UK (all of them are 100% true).

Every year the Welsh Village of Llanwrtyd Wells hosts the World Bog-Snorkelling Championships. In this event competitors are required to put on a face mask, wetsuit and snorkel then swim face down in a water-filled ditch.

If you think that sounds painful, then you probably won't want to take part in the World Nettle Eating Championships. This competition takes place in the village of Marshwood in the south-west of England. The rules are simple: each competitor has one hour to eat as many stinging nettles as they can. You'll have to work hard to win it – last year's winner munched his way through 14.6 meters of nettles!

You don't always have to have physical strength to be a winner in British silly sports. A Nottingham pub plays host to the annualcompetition to be 'The World's Greatest Liar'. This competition invites competitors to tell the most unbelievable story they can make up. Last year's winner won the prize after entertaining the crowd with a whopper about his parents who just happen to be vampires!

In recent years we have seen the rise of what must be the silliest sport of them all – extreme ironing. Invented in Leicester in 1997, extreme ironing has become a global phenomenon. Extreme ironers attempt to do their ironing in the strangest and most dangerous places – under the sea, on top of mountains, even at the end of a parachute falling to earth.

Britain is proud to still be a world-beater in this event. This year a team of British extreme ironers broke the world record when they dived to a depth of 126 meters to do their ironing.

• competition [,kɔmpi´tiʃən]   n.比赛；竞争   (初中英语单词)
• physical [´fizikəl]   a.物质的；有形的   (初中英语单词)
• annual [´ænjuəl]   a.每年的 n.年刊   (初中英语单词)
• extreme [ik´stri:m]   a.尽头的 n.极端   (初中英语单词)
• tennis [´tenis]   n.网球(运动)   (高中英语单词)
• cricket [´krikit]   n.蟋蟀；板球   (高中英语单词)
• painful [´peinfəl]   a.痛(苦)的；费力的   (高中英语单词)
• competitor [kəm´petitə]   n.竞争者；比赛者   (高中英语单词)
• phenomenon [fi´nɔminən]   n.现象；奇迹；珍品   (高中英语单词)
• breeding [´bri:diŋ]   n.饲养，教养   (英语四级单词)
• increasingly [in´kri:siŋli]   ad.日益，愈加   (英语四级单词)
• winner [´winə]   n.胜利者，得奖者   (英语四级单词)
• nottingham [´nɔtiŋəm]   n.诺丁汉   (英语四级单词)
• nettle [´netl]   n.荨麻 vt.惹怒   (英语六级单词)
• parachute [´pærəʃu:t]   n.降落伞 v.伞投；跳伞   (英语六级单词)