Joust draws attention of world's media to Kenilworth Castle

With the Olympics just a week away, a traditional English sport is attracting the attention of journalists from Europe and Japan, as Kenilworth Castle prepares to host its Grand Medieval Joust this weekend!

“Given that so many outdoor events have had to be cancelled due to the poor weather, we were expecting our joust at Kenilworth Castle to be very popular, but the international interest has taken us rather by surprise,” comments Kenilworth Castle’s marketing manager, Heidi Briggs. “It seems the media around the world is looking at the UK’s sporting heritage in the run up to the Olympics, and as jousting traditionally was the ‘sport of kings’, this seems to have captured their imagination! Who knows – maybe jousting will appear on the list of sports taking place at the games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016!”

The joust takes place tomorrow and Sunday (21 & 22 July) at Kenilworth Castle in Warwickshire, as part of the English Heritage’s site’s Medieval Summer. Alongside the mounted combat, visitors will be able to see historic falconry, with a host of raptors taking flight above England’s largest ruined castle, wander around a living history village and even meet English Heritage’s official fool, the jester Peterkin!

The Grand Medieval Joust runs from 11.00am to 5.00pm, with Kenilworth Castle and the Elizabethan Garden opening to the public an hour earlier, at 10.00am.

For more information, please visit www.english-heritage.org.uk/kenilworth or call 01926 852078.

You can also follow Kenilworth Castle & Elizabethan Garden on Facebook.

ENDS

For further media information, please contact:

Jay Commins – PRO English Heritage (West Midlands)

Tel: 0113 251 5698

Mob: 07810 546567

Email: jay@fim.org.uk