Lucy Vickery presents the latest competition
In Competition No. 2564 you were invited to submit a feature looking back at the Olympic Games written in the overblown style of a sportswriter with literary pretensions.
High-brow followers of football are nothing new. And these days, as people flit increasingly freely between high and low culture, there is nothing unusual about the sight of a fan leafing through a volume of Barthes during half-time at Millwall. But the spectre of Pseuds Corner hovers over the sports pages and some writers can’t resist spicing up their prose with wince-inducing metaphors and clunking literary allusions. There are some fine examples from this week’s deserving winners, who are rewarded with £25 each. And step up to the podium, gold-medal-winner Basil Ransome-Davies, worthy recipient of the bonus fiver for a magnificently pretentious piece of tosh.
Finally, thanks to James Young for his stewardship of this column and thank you to those who sent me good wishes.
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