In Pictures: Barbie bog snorkels and flaming vikings – the quirkiness of 2023

Here are some of the quirkiest and most upbeat scenes from up and down the UK in 2023.

The Jarl Squard take part in the torch procession in Lerwick on the Shetland Isles during the Up Helly Aa fire festival (PA) (PA Archive)

From booting a “bottle” in the land’s oldest sport to bog snorkelling while dressed as Barbie – complete with box – and from swimming in mud dressed as the titular character from Where’s Wally? to setting fire to a viking boat for a flaming good Norse festival, it is safe to say 2023 has not just been a year of Rwanda rows and cost-of-living fears.

Whitby in Yorkshire hosted the Krampus Run, which celebrates the creepy Alpine creature said to scare naughty children, while women took part in the Lerwick squads at the Up Helly Aa fire festival in Shetland for the first time.

Two Leicestershire villages competed in the Hallaton Bottle Kick contest, thought to be Britain’s longest-running sporting event, while in Scotland, St Andrews University students kept it clean for the traditional Raisin Monday foam fight.

Here are some of the quirkiest and most upbeat scenes from up and down the UK in 2023, captured through the lenses of PA news agency photographers.