THE HISTORY OF THE FIELD IN A DOZEN PROBLEMS SPORTING KIT MALFUNCTIONS

WHETHER it is the seat of your breeks splitting after a good lunch as you struggle back on to the gun bus, the tip of your rod snapping off in a car window or a double-sole delamination of your stalking boots on a scree slope, kit malfunctions in the field are infuriatingly inevitable.

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‘It struck me that they showed greater signs of wear and tear than I had anticipated,’ bemoaned an Edwardian fishing contributor in 1911, lamenting the integrity of his waders while standing in steady drizzle on Tweed. The damp angler continued: ‘I may mention that I discovered afterwards that they had been discarded four or five years before, so it is little wonder that five minutes after entering the water I presented the appearance of a patient in an advanced state of dropsy.’

Personal equipment foul-ups can cause us to question our chosen sport but observing them in others can restore one's faith. Struggling to contain his mirth recounting a day out with the Quorn in 1883, a