The Unrivalled Jester of the Ice

Werner Groebli was unquestionably one of the most celebrated comic performers ever to have graced an ice rink. Yet even among devoted admirers, that name alone conjures nothing. The world knew him as Frick — one half of the legendary skating partnership Frick and Frack — a performer of prodigious skill who delighted (9) .......... contorting both technique and body into positions that invariably left spectators doubled (10) .......... with laughter. Accomplished (11) .......... to have earned the title of Swiss junior skating champion, Groebli nevertheless derived far greater satisfaction (12) .......... lampooning what he memorably called 'the pomposity of professional skaters'. The duo's artistry lay not merely in their mastery of timing and aerial daring. Rather (13) .......... resorting to slapstick tumbles or outlandish costumes, Frick and Frack distorted the canonical elements of figure skating into feats of breathtaking absurdity. One celebrated routine saw Frack hurl Frick an invisible rope, (14) .......... which point Frick would glide serenely forward as though (15) .......... towed by some unseen force. (16) .......... crowd favourite was 'the farmer', wherein both skaters mimed the lurching motion of riding a tractor across a rutted field.