Letter: Ohio thought that we were bonkers

Sir: Keith Elliott states ('Outsider smashes his way to conker title', 11 October) that conkers is a popular game in Ohio, hence the name the Buckeye State.

Well if it is, it is only because I and a group of my friends showed them how to play it last year while I was studying in Akron.

They had never played conkers before, and I'm afraid they regarded the soaking of buckeyes in vinegar overnight, followed by a quick session in the oven, the virtual skewering of the palm of the hand, and the removal of one's shoelaces as just another of our quaint eccentricities.

Yours faithfully,

STEVEN SLATER

Bromley,

Kent

11 October