En Garde!

Clad in high-waisted breeches, protected by an inner plastron, a mask and armed with an épée, the original duelling weapon, Agnes Stamp enters the world of fencing.

In today’s digital world, where passive-aggression flows through the quick fingers of keyboard warriors, wouldn’t it be refreshing, instead of internalising all that rage, to simply say ‘Sir, I challenge you to a duel’ and put a chivalrous end to a spat?

Fencing, one of the oldest games in the world, traces its roots back to the development of swordsmanship for duels and self-defence. The earliest surviving text on the sport, Treatise on Arms by Diego de Valera, which was written in the late 15th century, marks the birth of fencing as a scientific art. However, it wasn’t until the 18th century that it began to emerge as a sport rather than military training.

Indeed, it is Domenico Angelo— the founder of a fencing academy at Carlisle House in Soho in 1763—who should be credited with championing the health and sporting benefits of fencing over its being a killing art. At Angelo’s School of Arms, he taught the aristocracy—including the Prince of Wales (later George III) and his brother, Prince Edward Augustus— swordsmanship and established the rules of posture and footwork that we still see today.

Fencing was considered an elegant addition to a gymnasium and Angelo’s academy was as much a school of deportment as it was of self-defence. With this in mind, I find myself weaving through Mayfair to the impeccably smart, and private, Lansdowne Club near Berkeley Square. Housed within its beautiful Art Deco walls, past the ballroom, the gym and the rather magnificent pool is what I’ve come for: the salle d’armes.