A practical joke secretly filmed in an Oxford pub has become a worldwide Internet hit.

Eugene Brown tricked lifelong friend Enton Gill at the Bullnose Morris, in Blackbird Leys, and put the footage on video-hosting site YouTube.

Now, two weeks later, the clip has attracted more than 400,000 views from across the globe and has spawned a number of copycat videos.

The trick, called the ‘Hand Skills Game’, involved the victim being told to close their eyes and ‘chop’ their hands in and out of a friend’s outstretched arms without hitting them.

In his video, Mr. Brown convinces his mate there is a record score to beat before starting him off in the middle of the pub. As Mr Gill rapidly waves his hands up and down and side to side, Mr Brown and his friends scurry away – leaving the victim obliviously performing a robotic dance to the delight of the pub’s customers.

Former Peers pupil Mr Brown, who has moved to Atlanta to work as a bartender in rapper P Diddy’s restaurant, said: “It is so funny. I just tried it as a joke – I did not think it would be this big.” The 34-year-old added: “All I did was put it on YouTube and Facebook and in two or three days there were 35,000 views and it was rising by 20,000 every day. It was crazy.”

The initial idea for the prank came from speed drills used in martial arts. Mr Brown, who was visiting family in Oxford, said: “Both people are supposed to close their eyes, but there are no jokes in that, so I went back home and showed my brother. “I thought about slapping him in the face, but I thought that was a bit cruel so I just walked away. “Mr brother ran out 10 minutes later. He said, ‘you’ve got to get somebody else’, so we got a few friends together and told everyone in the pub before we did it.”

He joked: “Everybody behi-nd him was laughing, but Enton did not speak to me for about 45 minutes.” Mr Gill, 35, from Blackbird Leys, said: “We have been playing practical jokes on each other since we were kids. “He knows I am naturally competitive. If I wasn’t he wouldn’t have got me.” He added: “To me it is just incredible. I did not, for the life of me, envisage so many people would look at it. Everybody round here has seen it and so have a lot of people at work.”

Bullnose landlord Gary Hawkins said: “It’s recognition for the pub for all the right reasons, which is good for anywhere.”