Egremont’s World Gurning Championships are an internationally adored spectacle.
It’s arguably the most looked forward to event at the town’s annual 757-year-old Crab Fair and it’s one that has brought people together since the early twentieth century.
Over the years, hundreds of people have been crowned as champion, and many have been recorded in the fair’s historic gurning hall of fame.
So ahead of this year’s fair, we sat down with gurning champion Claire Lister, 35, of Egremont, who has won the women’s championships for eight consecutive years.
Her fame as a champion has seen her gurn on live television in Japan, appear on TV shows like This Morning with Dermot O’Leary and Alison Hammond, be interviewed by reporters from across the world and this year she’s been invited to perform at Britain’s Got Talent.
She’s so in demand that she even has an agent in London to help her keep on top of the requests she receives to appear in the media and on TV.
But for Claire, it’s all about bringing a little bit of joy into her family and friends lives.
She said: “I first did it when I was a child, as you do with just entering competitions, so I did that and in 2013, at 25, I took my sister down to the gurning.
“She had been in an road traffic accident in 2007 so to get her out of the house I said come on, we’ll go down, we’ve never missed a Crab Fair.
“So we’d had a couple of beers and she said oh I’ve entered you into the gurning, and I said you have not! I thought it was a joke.
“They called my name up and I thought oh god, what face am I going to pull? But I got up, pulled a face and I won.
“Then in 2014 I had my daughter Kendal on the Crab Fair Friday, so I couldn’t enter that year, but then I went back in 2015 and I’ve won ever since.”
Gurning was first written about as an ‘ancient tradition’ in 1852 but it was only in the twentieth century that the official World Gurning Championships began.
The championship was initially a combined men’s and women’s competition, but in 1978, a separate women’s category was properly introduced and the first junior contest took place a year later in 1979.
To gurn means to snarl like a dog, look savage and distort the face and the championship sees people go head to head to pull the ugliest facial expression they can through a horse collar, known as a braffin.
The gurning is today held in the town’s market hall and gurners have to get on stage in front of hundreds of people as well as camera crews and reporters from all across the world.
It’s an experience that Claire said can actually be quite nervewracking.
She said: “The first time I did it, it was genuinely just a laugh, but as the fair Saturday goes on and the evening comes in and you start seeing everyone getting on stage and pulling faces, it does actually get nervewracking.
“But it comes around quick, you’re waiting for your name to be called out and then within seconds it’s all over with, but on the night you really do get nervous. I’m not sure why, because you either win or you lose.
“When you’re on stage you’ve got to zoom out and pretend no one is watching, so you’ve got to look to the judges first and then you show the crowd. It is a really weird experience.”
While other gurning champions like Tommy Mattinson – who holds the world record for winning the men’s category 19 consecutive times – will prepare for the gurning, Claire said she likes to just go for it.
She added: “I’ve never ever changed my face, I’ve kept that face now for 12 years and on the night I just wing it.
“People say to me are they your own teeth and I say yes they are my own! Obviously I don’t have filler or anything in my face and when people ask how I do it, I say you’ve just literally got to pull a face.
“People also ask how do the judges judge and they look at you before and then after for the comparison, and we always say it’s like the beauty and the beast.
“So they look at your beauty side and then your gurn. But I literally go and do it for a bit of fun and I’ll keep going until I lose the title.”
Claire said after winning several times in a row, it almost feels like holding your breath to see if you’ve won for another year.
She added: “It’s hard to describe, it’s not like a weight is off your shoulders, it’s not that ‘I’ve done it again’, it’s more that’s it done for another year now, I can chill out, give me a pint!
“You count down in your head when they announce and it’s right there’s third place and then it gets to second place, I think have I won again or have I not placed?
“The judges are different every single year too so you don’t know who it is until you’re on the stage and looking at them.”
Two of Claire’s children, Kendal and Georgia, have also competed and won in the gurning championships over the years.
Kendal, who is currently 10, but will be 11 on the fair’s Friday, has won both times she entered in 2023 and 2024 while Georgia won in 2016 at 10-years-old.
Claire said: “My little one Kendal, she’s dead competitive, she’s won it twice now, and it’s why I go down, because it’s all about the kids and keeping the tradition and the whole fair going.
“She said to me when she first did it, what face am I going to do? And I said I don’t know, just do what you want! But now she does the same as mine!
“But I let them make their own decisions with it, if they want to keep going then they will, but if they’re competitive like me, they probably will!”
Claire said that while it’s good feeling to be crowned champion, it’s carrying on tradition and spending time with her family that mean the most to her.
She added: “It is a good feeling, but when you tell people, they don’t believe you. They say you are not, no way, that isn’t you! You’ve got to get your phone out and type it in to show them.
“But it’s really got going this year and we’ve just had Britain’s Got Talent get in touch, and it’s all just for pulling a face!
“I’m the only one in my family aside from my kids who has done the gurning, so I’m the crazy one! But I keep doing it now because my kids always want to go down and I’ve kept it as a tradition for my girls.
“We’re always here for Crab Fair, we like to go watch the multi terrain race on the Tuesday and go to the chip shop and clap the runners and on the Friday and Saturday I spend time with my family.
“On Saturday we go down for the apples, I go see my auntie and then we walk up to the field and my daughters enter some of the races.
“Then on Saturday night, we try and get everyone down for the gurning, and last year it was absolutely chocka.
“Egremont are really behind you when you do it.”
We’ll be covering the fair and World Gurning Championships live this year, so make sure you check back on Saturday to see this year’s champions.
The Crab Fair has over 757-years of history, read on here to find out more about it.
