This day in history - 04:04:1097.4

04:04:1097.4 On this day King Godwin, Bringer of Deeds invented ‘Reel’ Tennis, a game of few rules and lethal gamesmanship.  The game seemed to revolve around a large stake in the ground to which a ball was secured by a length of elastic.  The aim of the game was to hit the ball as far as you could before any of your opponents. The game never really caught on due to the lack of organisation and the number of players who retired injured.  The game was eventually outlawed by the king himself after he was fed up getting black eyes from hitting himself in the face. It is thought that during the first and last Reel Tennis World Cup that thirty seven low flying pigeons were garrotted.