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Knobbly knees competition

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A knobbly knees competition at Butlin's, Skegness, in 1956. Contestant 78 was the winner.

A knobbly knees (or knobbliest knees) competition is a parody of a beauty contest, in which the winner is the person judged to have the knobbliest, or most misshapen, knees.

Such competitions were popular entertainments at British pre- and post-war era holiday camps such as Butlin's (where they were introduced in the 1930s) and Pontins. The competitions became a byword for the holiday camp lifestyle.

A June 1947 knobbliest knees contest at Butlin's Skegness camp was judged by Laurel and Hardy. The denouement of the 1973 British comedy-drama film The Best Pair of Legs in the Business—from which the film takes its title—relies on a character having participated in a knobbly knees competition.

References

  1. Lewis, Barry (7 May 2020). "Hi-de-Hi! The knobbly knees and birdie songs of a Butlin's holiday – in pictures". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
  2. ^ "A Nobbly Knees competition at Pontins Holiday Camp at..." Getty Images. 11 February 2021. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
  3. ^ Tait, Derek (2012). An illustrated history of Butlins. Stroud: Amberley. p. . ISBN 9781445611372.
  4. Mason, Rocky (2013). Butlins in its prime: those golden years. Lulu. ISBN 9781291448504. The Knobbly Knees Competition had for years been the butt of music-hall jokes but, up to the 1970s it was always one of the most popular and entertaining competitions of the week. Johnny O'Mahoney often compered it, and I did it myself, and of course it was done, by someone or other, on all the Butlin camps.
  5. Leadbeater, Chris (18 June 2020). "Glamorous grannies and knobbly knees: The story of Butlin's, and how it changed Britain". The Telegraph. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
  6. "Goodnight, Knobbly Knees". BBC Genome. 23 July 1994. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
  7. "Russell Harty at the Seaside". BBC Genome. 3 September 1982. Retrieved 13 August 2021. Sun and fun, dads and lads, knobbly knees, bingo, beer and punch-and Judy... It's all part of the entertainment on offer to guests at that famous holiday camp at Clacton.
  8. "Best Pair of Legs in the Business, The Review (1973)". The Spinning Image.

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