Just remembered another casting-related mishap from my youth.
Trotting on the Kennet, I was regularly firing out maggots on my catapult. At some stage, I decided I could do this with my rod tucked under my arm. It worked fine. I got bolder still when I decided I could also do it with the rod tucked under my arm and (this sounds complete madness 35 years on) with my hook poised between my lips as I prepared to changed the maggots on the hook.
I fired out the catapult, the pouch hit my hook length at about 60 mph, and - surprise, surprise - the hook struck into my bottom lip. I think it was a size 14. Somehow, it's far easier getting a hook out of fish's mouth than it is your own.
I struggled for 10 minutes and then decided to approach a fellow angler for help. He nearly fainted at the sight of the blood, and rather than offer his forceps, suggested I go to hospital. After three hours in casualty, it took a team of one doctor and two nurses to extract it under local anesthectic.
So, whenever anybody says to me: "How would you like it if someone stuck a hook in your mouth?", I can at least speak from personal experience. The honest answer is: "Not a lot - you lose too much fishing time waiting in A&E".