William Webb Ellis

The young scholar from Rugby School who "picked up the ball and ran", thereby inventing the game of rugby football, was more famous in his own lifetime for introducing "the yard of tea" to English public schools. For, whereas each public school continued to play it's own variation of football, the yard of tea was adopted nationally and almost without exclusion as the premier public school drinking lark.

Webb Ellis was not only founding father, but also non-pariel. Other highly skilled quaffers could match him in a yard of Earl Grey or even Ceylon, but as soon as the stakes were raised to Assam, Ellis was in a league of his own.

It is curious that Rugby Union is now a global game, yet Ellis always had higher hopes for his preferred pastime. He lived for many years in Europe, but "the metre of capuccino" never caught on. Despite this failure, the tea drinking feats of William Webb Ellis remain legendary for public school boys the length and breadth of England.