UK ENGLAND COOPERS HILL 31MAY04 - 3rd placed Stephen Arthur Gyden poses with his certificate and prize after he threw himself off the top of a steep 200-metre slope in pursuit of a 7-pound Cloucester Cheese. The cheese rolling is one of the oldest customs to have survived some saying, for hundreds of years, even pre-Roman times. The ceremony is reported to.have taken place originally at midsummer and to have been moved to Whitsun in early Saxon times. Some say it is a relic of an old heathen festival to celebrate the return of spring and.others say, when held in midsummer, it represented the waning of the sun as summer reached its height, but no one knows for sure....jre/Photo by Jiri Rezac..© Jiri Rezac 2004..Contact: +44 (0) 7050 110 417.Mobile:  +44 (0) 7801 337 683.Office:  +44 (0) 20 8968 9635..Email:   jiri@jirirezac.com.Web:     www.jirirezac.com
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