Whilst a great fan of Dykes, King Offa differed from Billie Jean King by not playing a great deal of tennis.
King Offa who reigned from 757 to 796 was responsible for the great earthwork Dyke constructed in the 8th Century between Wales and the kingdom of Mercia.
The dyke was constructed in the year c.790 by Offa, King of Mercia and was a vast and expensive undertaking. The dyke marked the Anglo Saxon frontier for the western welsh kingdom's, which based on the nature of the welsh countryside, the number of its inhabitants and their ferocity in war were such as to make conquest too great a task. Its construction would have been accompanied by treaties and undertakings binding the welsh to stay on their side and not to conduct cattle raids across the new border - however temptation for some welsh must have been too great as Offa was at war again with the welsh in 796.
Billie Jean King, a modern day dyke fanatic shares Offa's dislike of the welsh - in 1979 she famously struck a welsh streaker's privates with her racket when he ran across centre court during her Wimbledon Doubles Final win with Martina Navratilova.
More to follow.
