Gurning contests are a rural English tradition. A gurn is a distorted facial expression and the winner or the gurning contest is the person who can pull the ugliest face.

The Egremont Crab Apple Fair, Cumbria, is the venue of the World Gurning Championships (formerly known as the `Grinning for 'bacca" contest). Contestants put their heads through horse collar or braffin while they create the ugliest, most grotesque faces they can manage.

Tommy Mattinson has won the gurning contest eleven times.

The Egremont Crab Apple Fair was first held in 1267 when Henry III granted a charter to hold a three-day fair to Thomas de Multon, Lord of Egremont. The fair includes horn blowing, climbing a greasy pole, traditional Cumberland and Westmorland wrestling, pony leaping and traditional baking.

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