Winston Churchill won the Public Schools Fencing championship in foil in his youth - his name can still be seen on the trophy presented in the current championship.
Facts
Some quite interesting facts about fencing ... or they may just be rumours or actual lies.
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Winston Churchill
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Early Fencing Writing
The earliest known surviving treatise on fencing, stored at the Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds, England, dates from around 1300 AD and is from Germany. Written in medieval Latin and German, it describes a system of using the sword and buckler (small shield) and is illustrated by over 100 ink and watercolour drawings.
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Fencing in the Olympics
When the Olympics Games were revived from antiquity in 1896, fencing was on the program. It is one of just four sports to have been part of every Summer Games since then. Men's foil and sabre were part of the first Games; epee was added in 1900. Women competed in Olympic fencing for the first time in 1924.
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William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare (1564-1616) was also a skilled stage fencer and taught his actors to make things look as real as possible.
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Modern swords
The foil has a blade made of pure steel, the swords maximum length is 3 feet and is not allowed to weigh more than 1.1 pounds. The sabre is a sword from the 18th century and is similar to the foil but weighs slightly less and is about one inch shorter.
