VICTORIAN TENNIS RULE BOOK REVEALS GAME PLAYED BY THREE

TENNIS was a game made for three according to the first Victorian rule book. Our ancestors started playing the game outdoors for the first time thanks to a Birmingham lawyer who experimented with the sport. Instead of the Wimbledon as we know it with strict singles and doubles teams with no mixing of the sexes the early Victorians were MORE liberal. In a version called the Unicorn one player could play against two opponents. And while ladies were discouraged from playing - they were permitted to battle against the men. This means if Wimbledon was played the Victorian way we could be looking at a big female name like Serena Williams playing the likes of Murray AND Djokovic. History buffs of the sport insist the 1874 'Lawn tennis or Pelota rules of the game' by Thomas Henry Gem was the first of its kind. Former PE teachers Sue Elks, 69, and Christopher Elks, 68, from Wythall in the West Midlands explained the difference the modern game has with the tennis of yesteryear.

Other great stories
MOODY GORILLA

SAT with his arms folded and a cross look on his face, this Gorilla looks like he's had enough of the Christmas holidays already .

DERELICT MANSION

With an abandoned tricycle sitting in an empty corridor, this derelict but once grand mansion could be the setting for The Shining .

SNEAKY OTTER

A young otter wades through a lake with his eyes set on an older rival’s fish .

STREET FIGHTER CRAZE SPREADS TO LONDON

THE CRAZE for mimicking the video game Streetfighter has spread to the streets of London .

CHIPS IN: MAN MAKES £4K A MONTH SENDING POTATOES IN THE POST

A man has made a SPUD-TACULAR amount of money sending potatoes in the post .

TERRIFIED TEACHER TALKED MURDERER OUT OF STRANGLING HER

A teacher has told how she was attacked by a murderer on her way home from a night out but courageously managed to charm him out of strangling her .

N-ICE DAY FOR A CLIMB

CLINGING onto nothing but ice, this brave climber reaches heights of 1000 FEET as he scales frozen solid waterfalls .

HORSE BEFRIENDS ADOPTED CAT

Going for long rides through vast fields together, this twosome share an unbreakable bond .

BOY, 6, ALMOST BLIND AFTER ONE-IN-MILLION ALLERGIC REACTION

A six-year-old boy has been left almost blind after a one-in-a-million allergic reaction to antibiotics .

MANDELA MEMORIAL

Thousands of people are gathering at a stadium in Johannesburg for a memorial service for Nelson Mandela .

Korean Mass Games

These are the amazing close up pictures of North Korea's mass games - after photographers were previously banned from taking shots so close to the dazzling formation dances .

WOMAN REVEALS HORRIFIC INJURIES AFTER JEALOUS EX BASHED HER SKULL WITH A BRICK AFTER FOLLOWING HER HOME- HE WAS CAUGHT ON RING DOORBELL CAM, COVERED IN HER BLOOD

A woman has released pictures of the horrific injuries she suffered when her jealous ex attacked her with a brick .