When a hapless British builder did just that in his attempt to streak across a tennis match, he gained digital infamy overnight.

Tom Annandale, of Manchester, stripped while on holiday in Spain and planned to run around a tennis court.

But he had not realised that the court was enclosed by a glass partition and he ran straight into the glass wall.

The footage of him falling down and running off in shame has been viewed more than a million times since it was uploaded on to YouTube a fortnight ago.

As well as a hilarious misadventure, he has also joined a long line of sporting naturists, the pioneer being Australian Michael O'Brien.

The Jesus lookalike's dignity was partially saved by a policeman's helmet at an England-France rugby match in 1974.

O'Brien's pioneering work was referenced by Erica Roe, at the same ground - Twickenham - in 1982 before a crowd including the Queen.

Roe was subsequently offered modelling jobs and became a minor celebrity, but she always struggled for an explanation for her actions other than that she "had had a few beers".

And who could forget Australia's most famous streaker Helen D'Amico, and her attempted on-field embrace of Blues star Bruce Doull at the 1982 VFL Grand Final.

The ovals of the cricketing world provide another fine stage for sporting naturism, always made more amusing by the upper-class English commentator struggling for the right balance between gentlemanly decorum and wry humour.

But it can be a dangerous place to be naked, especially with the likes of Greg Chappell on the prowl. He famously grabbed a nude invader in New Zealand and beat him on the rear with his bat during a game in 1977.

A spanking from the willow is one thing, but who could forget the head-on collision that Andrew Symonds engineered to subdue a fleshy invader at the Gabba in 2008. Symonds - who once considered playing rugby league for the Brisbane Broncos - flattened the man with a shoulder charge when he invaded the pitch, with a policeman in pursuit, in the 10th over.

Too many beery hours in the sun seem to be the root cause of many of these shenanigans, but that's the amateur side of the sport. For people such as Englishman Mark Roberts, getting naked in public is a full-time job. He and colleagues such as Jimmy Jump and Brittney Skye have completed hundreds of disrobed dashes in their careers, often sporting sponsored flesh along the way.

Streaking can also be a truly beautiful thing - fellow flesh flashers Scott Russell and Emma Schroeder were united on a football field thanks to the efforts of matchmaking website believeindestiny.com.

The couple, who, incidentally, both also shared a love for sausage dogs, are now married. We have not been able to confirm what the dress code for the ceremony was.

So if one day the urge takes you, remember that, one, you'll most likely be arrested and, two, you are following in a time-honoured tradition of natural naughtiness.