Olympics

Look down the list of 28 Olympic disciplines and it's interesting to note how many of them count as combat sports.

There's boxing of course, judo and taekwondo, wrestling...and hockey. Or maybe that was just at my school.

And then there's fencing. On the surface, it doesn't have a great deal in common with the others. Think boxing and you think rough and ready East End gyms, the Kray twins, blood, sweat and broken noses. Think fencing and it's all about Errol Flynn and the Three Musketeers and duels at dawn over the honour of a fair maiden.

The address of the British Fencing Association in London is 1, Baron's Gate. Says it all, doesn't it?