DANNY ROBINS' EVENTS GUIDE: 15TH JULY

Danny Robins gives you events for this week from July 15th...

Today is St Swithins Day - legend has it that if it rains on St Swithin's Day there will be 40 more days of wet weather.

There's even a rhyme:

'St. Swithin's day if thou dost rain

For forty days it will remain

St. Swithin's day if thou be fair

For forty days 'twill rain nae mair.'

Let's hope the weather's good for our first event:

The Chap Olympiad 17th July

A fine antidote to the modern world, this now annual event is organised by The Chap magazine, a publication that believes "that a society without courteous behaviour and proper headwear is a society on the brink of moral and sartorial collapse" and does its best to turn the men of the UK into dandies.

This is a sporting event for those who favour tweed over lycra and big moustaches over big muscles.

It's all taking place appropriately in the heart of London's Bloomsbury - in Bedford Square Gardens.

Events include such classics as:

The Martini Knockout Relay where teams of four must create the perfect dry Martini over a 10 yard course.

Tug of Hair - two teams pull on either side of a really rather large handlebar moustache.

The Three Trousered Limbo - where you and your partner have to limbo whilst trapped in a special three legged pair of trousers.

And my favourite - Umbrella Jousting, where brave chaps ride towards each other - their steeds, bicycles; their lances umbrellas and their shields, reinforced copies of The Daily Telegraph.

Before your sexism alert goes off, women are very welcome too and apparently it was the ladies who excelled last year at the cucumber sandwich discus throwing.

It all kicks off at 1pm when the Olympic pipe is slotted into the Olympic pipe rack. Do dress in your finest plus fours and tweed blazer, and don't forget your monocle.

Clogfest 2010 16th - 18th July

Sometimes an event sells itself to you on name alone. This is just such a one. Who could resist a whole weekend devoted to that most wooden of shoes - the Clog?

Not being a clog expert I wasn't actually aware that there is a whole type of clog- based dancing, known as 'step clogging' or 'step dance'.

At this weekend of events in Skipton, North Yorkshire, you'll see people step clogging away at performances around town and at Skipton Castle. Apparently it originated with miners who wore the clogs; the dancers tap out rhythms with the clogs' toes and heels. I'm told the Lancashire style uses the toe more whilst the Durham style favours the heel.

Oh, and there's a celeidh on Saturday night. The dress theme is 'Allo 'Allo.

And finally a couple of Edinburgh comedy previews...

The very funny and clever comedian Alex Horne has a great new idea - it's called The Horne Section and features Alex and other comedians doing comedy alongside jazz musicians doing jazz - both sides improvising and riffing off each other I think. He's going to be doing it late night in Edinburgh but you can see it next week in London on Monday 19th at the Canal Cafe Theatre at Wednesday 21st at Kings Place.

And, on Wednesday 21st, there's a cracking double bill at the Corn Exchange in Newbury. Richard Herring is performing a preview of his revamped and rewritten solo show Christ On A Bike - it was his first ever solo show back in 2001 and he's taking it in this new version to the Fringe this year. After the success of his excellent show Hitler Moustache last year, it'll be interesting to see if this stirs up more controversy.

And Richard is joined by comic Tom Wrigglesworth who performed possibly my favourite show at last year's Fringe, all about an argument he had with a ticket conductor on a Virgin train. He was justly nominated for an award. This year he's back with Tom Wrigglesworth's Nightmare Dream Wedding.

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