Liettres

In 1478, at the village of Liettres in northern France, a young man called Estiavannet came across a group of disagreeable people playing an unusual game. It involved "boules" or balls and a wooden post or "criquet".

According to a letter of grievance to the king, which survives in the French national archives, an argument broke out. One of the players said: "Why are you staring at our ball game?" There was violence. Someone was killed.

This may be the first mention anywhere of the game of cricket, almost a century before the first written record of the game in England (although there are also suggestions that an early form of the game might have been mentioned in 1300). To pursue what some might see as a heretical claim, the village of Liettres in French Flanders will stage an "international cricket tournament" next month.