Performer dies after freak jousting mishap

LONDON, Oct. 23 (UPI) -- A performer died after a splinter from a wood lance pierced his eye socket during a jousting re-enactment at Rockingham Castle in Northamptonshire.

The joust was being filmed for the Channel Four television series "Time Team."

Historical performer Paul Allen was fatally injured when the wood flew through the eye slit on his helmet after impact with his shield and went into his eye socket, The Daily Telegraph reported Tuesday.

He underwent emergency surgery in Coventry after the Sept. 13 accident, but died a week later, the newspaper said.

A video posted on YouTube showed hundreds of mourners, many of whom wore period costumes, attending Allen's funeral.

The Health and Safety Executive investigated the circumstances of Allen's death and found all the necessary safety precautions had been taken.

"The professional company of historical enactors has an excellent safety record and took all the appropriate and necessary precautions and it does sadly appear that this was a tragic freak accident," a spokeswoman for Channel Four said.