We have all grown up with traditional customs of some sort. For most of us, these are limited to the age-old habits of bringing a lump of coal into the house at New Year or leaving out fruit cake and sherry for Father Christmas.

Neither are much fun, nor are they Yorkshire in origin. So maybe it’s time to reintroduce old, slightly crazy customs that were born and bred in white rose county.

Customs like the Drighlington Worm Tango, which began in 1947 after a local man proposed the more commonly-known pastime of worm-charming as an Olympic sport. That in itself would be mad enough, but the chap made an error on his telegram to the Olympic committee, and worm-charming turned to worm tango.

Understandably it was turned down, but the good people of Drighlington took it upon themselves to invent the ‘sport’, placing worms on an old tea tray and playing tango music.

It still takes place every four years, to coincide with the Olympics. At the end of the dance, small gold, silver and bronze medals made from burnished foil are awarded to the winning worms and their owners.

Also going strong is the custom involving a group of people gathering On Ilkley Moor on New Year’s Eve to sing the Yorkshire anthem Ilkley Moor Baht ’At – which translates as ‘without a hat’.

But they don’t sing the song as we know it. They believe it was written in 1834 by Emily Bronte when she lost her cat Bart. Using the words ‘Bart Cat’, and adapting the rest of the song to match the tale, they sing the song at midnight, the moment they believe the moggy was lost.

The traditions are among those featured in Daft Yorkshire Customs, a new book compiled by Yorkshire-born poet and Radio 3 presenter Ian McMillan and illustrated by Private Eye cartoonist Tony Husband.

A perfect stocking filler, the easy-to-dip-in-and-out-of hardback brings together some of the more obscure customs, traditions and pastimes associated with the county.

The Bradford district gets a good airing, with quirky customs including the legendary Idle Porridge Swim which takes place on Boxing Day in porridge made by the vicar’s wife and stirred by anyone in Idle called Gillian. Swimmers must also be more than 6ft tall to avoid the potentially-fatal disease Porridge-Gasp. They must also be naked but for a hat. The book does not state whether this custom continues to this day. Sadly, I suspect not.