Spectator competition: Anyone for tennis? (plus: poems on the underground)

To mark the beginning of Wimbledon, competitors were invited to take as their first line ‘There’s a breathless hush on the centre court’ and continue for up to 15 lines in the style of Sir Henry Newbolt’s 1897 poem ‘Vitaï Lampada’. Newbolt’s poem (which he came to resent, describing it as a ‘Frankenstein’s monster) draws parallels between schoolboy cricket and war. Though there were echoes of this conceit in the entry, your responses were impressively varied. Commiserations to unlucky losers John Whitworth, who submitted a charming tribute to Christine Truman, Robert Cross, Sid Field and R.M. Goddard. Those printed below are rewarded with £25 each. Bill Greenwell hoists the championship trophy and nabs the bonus fiver in the process.

Bill Greenwell There’s a breathless hush on the Centre Court: Seventeenth deuce after championship point — The crowd is tense, as the first serve is short. Is this the time? Is there one to anoint? And it’s not for the glory, or national pride, Or the thrill from a tip that’s been turned to a bet: The second serve touches the great divide.