werewolves

   Although *Gervase of Tilbury wrote in 1211 that werewolves were common in England, the examples he then gave are all French; there are no werewolf tales in English folklore, presumably because wolves have been extinct here for centuries. unique custom which takes place every *Shrove Tuesday at Westminster School, London. The school cook makes a substantial pancake which he takes in a frying-pan to the school hall, and tosses over an iron bar which runs across the room, about twenty feet above ground. In a mad scramble, representatives from each form in the school try to grab hold of a piece of the pancake, and whoever succeeds in getting the largest piece wins a guinea from the Dean of the school. The custom has been in existence since at least the mid-18th century when Jeremy Bentham mentioned it, and William Hone (1827: 130) quotes a 1790 reference. Fancy dress for participants is now common.

   ■ Shuel, 1985: 151-2; H. Barton Baker, The Graphic (3 Feb. 1894), 130; Stone, 1906: 85-8; Thomas Staveley Oldham, Strand Magazine 12 (1896), 186-96.