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Join us for our latest episode as Max Portman talks to journalist and author Chris Hunt, as they discuss Chris' most recent book, 'Escape From Holland: The true story of the dash for the last British boat out of Holland in May 1940' Based around one fateful weekend in May 1940 as the Nazi army invaded Holland, this story is a captivating tale of 4 days where our characters from the worlds of football, ballet, politics and journalism have to uproot and move their lives aside in the face of the most devastating war we’ve ever known. It's a thrilling true story that sees famous journalists, newly fledged diplomats retired footballers and ballet dancers, one of whom ends up becoming the infamous child-catcher from Chitty Chitty Bang bang, aiming to make it out of the Netherlands. Chris and Max also discuss the impact of war, the influence of English football on the Dutch and Chris' huge body of work that has seen him publish multiple books as well write for and edit several magazines, including a stint at one of Max's childhood favourites, Match Magazine, between 1993 and 2001. This isn't just one for football historians, but for those historians who love a good war story and a story about people surviving in the face of it. This podcast is a British Society of Sports History (BSSH) production from the UK's leading society for the history of sport.. You can find the podcast on all social media & major podcast platforms here. Likewise, Click through to the BSSH website for further information on our events and to find out how to join the British Society of Sport History: https://www.sportinhistory.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this paper, we explore specific elements of the right-wing British response to the sporting boycott of apartheid South Africa. Starting in the early 1960s, and intensifying as the anti-apartheid campaign to end British sporting contacts with South Africa began to unfurl, right wing politicians, groups, media, and members of the public, tended to connect their opposition to the sports boycott with a broader critique of contemporary British society. For a generation of beleaguered white Britons who felt victimised by the rapidly changing social landscape of post-imperial Britain, we argue, the sport boycott animated fears that white culture was under attack by pernicious, alien, and radical forces (i.e., the liberal media and clergy, student radicals, and subversive minorities).  Some of the most influential speakers to articulate this view came from the right wing of the Conservative Party and were members of a powerful political pressure group called the Monday Club. Founded in 1961 in opposition to Harold Macmillan’s apparent commitment to the post-war consensus, the Monday Club developed a growing tolerance and sympathy for white South Africa and Britain’s sporting relations with the pariah state. From the mid-1960s onwards, we intend to show, the Club rallied in opposition to anti-apartheid efforts to disrupt sporting links, and did so by frequently interpreting the actions of the anti-apartheid movement as part of a wide-ranging liberal attack on core Conservative values, white culture, and the historical foundations of British society.  Matthew P. Llewellyn, Ph.D., was born and raised in Cardiff, Wales. He earned his undergraduate degree at Cardiff Metropolitan University and his Master’s degree at the California State University, Long Beach. He followed this by completing a Ph.D. in the Historical and Philosophical Aspects of Sport and Physical Activity at the Pennsylvania State University. He has published numerous papers in refereed journals including Modern British History, Journal of Policy History, Journal of Southern African Studies, South African Historical Journal, Contemporary British History, and the International Journal of the History of Sport, as well as numerous textbook chapters. He has published nine books and edited collections, including British Sporting Relations with Apartheid South Africa: The Politics of Racism and Anti-Racism, 1948-1994 (Oxford University Press, 2024). He currently serves as editor of the Journal of Olympic Studies, a co-director of the Center for Sociocultural Sport and Olympic Research (CSSOR), and is a professor in the department of kinesiology at the California State University, Fullerton. Dr. Toby C. Rider was born and raised in East Sussex, England. He earned his undergraduate degree at the University of Birmingham and his Master’s degree at the  University of Brighton. He followed this by completing a Ph.D. in the sociocultural study of sport and exercise at The University of Western Ontario in London, Canada. An award winning author, Toby’s research interest focuses on the dynamic historical role of sport in international relations, politics, race, and empire. He has published multiple articles in peer reviewed journals, contributed several chapters to scholarly books, and presented his research at numerous conferences. He is the author of Cold War Games: Propaganda, the Olympics, and U.S. Foreign Policy (University of Illinois Press, 2016), co-editor of Defending the American Way of Life: Sport, Culture, and the Cold War (University of Arkansas Press, 2018), and Sport and Apartheid South Africa: Histories of Politics, Power, and Protest (Routledge, 2022), and co-author of British Sporting Relations with Apartheid South Africa: The Politics of Racism and Anti-Racism, 1948-1994 (Oxford University Press, 2024). In addition to this, Toby is the Co-Director of the Center for Sociocultural Sport and Olympic Research and the Associate Editor of the journal of Olympic Studies. This podcast is a British Society of Sports History (BSSH) production from the UK's leading society for the history of sport.. You can find the podcast on all social media & major podcast platforms here. Likewise, Click through to the BSSH website for further information on our events and to find out how to join the British Society of Sport History: https://www.sportinhistory.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Join us as Max Portman talks to Samuel M Clevenger, assistant professor in the department of Kinesiology at Towson University, as they discuss his most recent book 'Physical culture and the biopolitics of the international garden city movement: Planning healthy recreation', published by Palgrave MacMillan in 2025. Max and Sam cover a multitude of different areas discussing how sport and physical culture played a key and very understated role in the garden city movement. They discuss how the movement came to pass and how the garden city movement, space and urban planning have all played crucial roles in our understanding of how urban areas are constructed, how and where we engage in sports and physical culture and how class plays a key role in it all. They also cover other places that fit into certain ideals of urban planning such as Bournville and Saltaire and how sport plays an important, but understated role within the make-up of urban planning. One of historians and academics with an interest in physical culture, urban planning and the usage of space in making up society. This podcast is a British Society of Sports History (BSSH) production from the UK's leading society for the history of sport.. You can find the podcast on all social media & major podcast platforms here. Likewise, Click through to the BSSH website for further information on our events and to find out how to join the British Society of Sport History: https://www.sportinhistory.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“For centuries the Jewish race in Britain has absorbed British culture ... But not all connect Jews with any marked leanings towards our own national amateur sports and pastimes” [Leeds Mercury, 1926, “The Jew as Amateur Sportsmen”] Statements like these can be found manifold in English newspapers during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. While Anglo-Jewry grew significantly during these decades, so did the press reporting – in general as well as regarding coverage of Jewish athletes and sports. Articles about “the Jew” in sports can be found in mainstream newspapers like the Daily Mail, local publications such as the Leeds Mercury, far-right propaganda papers by the British Union of Fascists and, on the opposite pole of the discursive spectrum, the Jewish Chronicle. At the heart of this societal discourse was the notion of the “unsportive Jew”, rhetorically creating an outgroup in a society that closely interconnected values and norms with sports. The discourse and its social impact were complex. With some rare exceptions, the depiction of Jewish athletes and sports in mainstream newspapers was seldom openly hostile or derogatory. These underlying notions were covered behind an apparent civility. However, a close analysis reveals a net of interwoven narratives, racialisations and stereotypes about Jews that diachronically evolved over decades and were transferred onto the realm of sports with its physical as well as cultural connotations. The discourse was by no means solely focused on physicality and physical activity but was strongly impacted by the normative nature ascribed to English sports. This is not surprising since sport was considered inherently “British” based on the norms and values associated with it. The continuous discursive depiction of Jews as an outgroup in a social realm that had distinctly nationalised connotations, abetted the perception of Jews as an outgroup beyond sports and placed them outside the “imagined community” of English (sports) society. Lisa Jenkel is a PhD student at the University of Basel in Switzerland and a curator at the FC St. Pauli-Museum in Hamburg, Germany. Her research is located at the intersection of sports history with Jewish and Women’s studies. Employing discourse analytical methods, she examines the cultural and societal influence sport had on these groups and vice versa. Lisa has recently finished her thesis on Anglo-Jewish sports history, the content of which will be presented in this seminar. This podcast is a British Society of Sports History (BSSH) production from the UK's leading society for the history of sport.. You can find the podcast on all social media & major podcast platforms here. Likewise, Click through to the BSSH website for further information on our events and to find out how to join the British Society of Sport History: https://www.sportinhistory.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Join us for our latest episode as Max Portman interviews Alan Hester, lifelong Reading fan and founder and namesake of Alan Hester Associates about his book 'Tiny Keeper: Steve Death, Record Breaker, Shy Genius and Maverick', published by Pitch Publishing in March 2025. Tiny Keeper, a labour of love about a boyhood idol based on interviews with other heroes, is his first sports book and tracks the life of Steve Death, who played 471 games for Reading over 13 years and is still regularly voted as the best goalkeeper in Reading's long history. In just shy of an hour, Alan & Max discuss how Steve's diminutive stature of only 5 foot Seven (and a half) prevented him from playing at the top level of English football despite his exceptional ability, his displeasure at conformity and with authority and how a man with no ego endeared him to a town in Berkshire who still fondly remembers him almost 45 years after last played for the Royals. A must-listen for any football and sports fans who grew up in the 1970s, loves classic football and who love maverick players who make us fall in love with the "beautiful game". Alan Hester is an internationally published author of books on leadership, success and confidence, including Management Starts With You (2017) and Get Out Of Your Own Way (2018). His books have been translated into Chinese, Arabic and Greek and sold by Hachette in the USA. This podcast is a British Society of Sports History (BSSH) production from the UK's leading society for the history of sport.. You can find the podcast on all social media & major podcast platforms here. Likewise, Click through to the BSSH website for further information on our events and to find out how to join the British Society of Sport History: https://www.sportinhistory.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Join us for the latest episode of the Sport in History Podcast as Max Portman talks to David Searle, former executive director of the University Boat race between Oxford & Cambridge which is due to take place this weekend in London for it's 171st edition this year. In a in-depth interview, David reveals with much honesty how he got into rowing, the impact it has had on his life from a young age and how much the sport means to him both personally and professionally. Max and David discuss a multitude of various subjects regarding the boat race, including its history, David's involvement in the running of the race and other aspects such as the cost, the technicalities of the race and much, much more! Join this pair as they go out onto the waters of podcasting and learn plenty about a famous race that has global recognition from someone who ran it for over 10 years!! This podcast is a British Society of Sports History (BSSH) production from the UK's leading society for the history of sport.. You can find the podcast on all social media & major podcast platforms here. Likewise, Click through to the BSSH website for further information on our events and to find out how to join the British Society of Sport History: https://www.sportinhistory.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Join us for a special edition of the Sports and Leisure History Seminar Series at Silverstone Museum as we host a discussion on the book Streaming the Formula 1 Rivalry: Sport and the Media in the Platform Age by Professors Raymond Boyle, Professor of Communications at the University of Glasgow and Richard Haynes, Professor of Media Sport in the Division of Communications, Media and Culture. The discussion was chaired by Michael Beddoes, motorsport historian, lecturer in Filmmaking at Birmingham City University and producer for Al Murray and James Holland’s YouTube channel WW2 Headquarters. This talk wouldn't have been made possible if not for funding from the Institution of Historical Research's Seminar@ fund. For this, we give a HUGE thank you to the IHR. This event coincided with the beginning of the 2026 Formula 1 Season and the release of the 8th season of the Netflix show Drive to survive, the hit series that has become integral to expanding Formula 1’s reach to a broader audience in recent years, and a key part of what the book discusses in detail throughout. The talk is split in two halves. The first half is Richard and then Raymond giving brief talks on the book and their area of expertise, followed by the second half discussion with Mike on the book, F1, media and of course, Drive to Survive! A must listen for all those interested in sports and entertainment media, Formula 1, motorsport and the relationship between sports and media in this social media age!! This podcast is a British Society of Sports History (BSSH) production from the UK's leading society for the history of sport.. You can find the podcast on all social media & major podcast platforms here. Likewise, Click through to the BSSH website for further information on our events and to find out how to join the British Society of Sport History: https://www.sportinhistory.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Join us on our latest episode as Max Portman interviews Alan McDougall, Lifelong Liverpool fan and Professor of History from the University of Guelph in Canada for his book Dreams and Songs to Sing: A People's History of Liverpool FC from Shankly to Klopp, published in September 2025 by Cambridge University Press. Dreams and Songs to Sing is a unique people's history of the triumphs and tragedies of one of the biggest teams in sport. From Shankly to Klopp, Alan McDougall takes us on a global tour of Liverpool FC's history, viewed through the eyes of the people who've been there all along: the supporters. Written as a labour of love about Alan's beloved Liverpool, Max & Alan chat for a full 90 minutes, plus a full half of extra time about all things Liverpool over its history from its late 19th-century origins, the power of Billy Liddell in the 1950s and how Bill Shankly built an empire that was succesful for 30 years and is still felt today across world football. Highlights from this episode include plenty of social history talking about the club, its supporters and the city of Liverpool as well as the thriving music scene of Liverpool that contains critically acclaimed bands such as the Beatles and the Real Thing, plus Alan showing off his rapping skills when asked about the Anfield Rap. Well worth a listen for all lovers of Liverpool, football and historians of community and Britain. This podcast is a British Society of Sports History (BSSH) production from the UK's leading society for the history of sport.. You can find the podcast on all social media & major podcast platforms here. Likewise, Click through to the BSSH website for further information on our events and to find out how to join the British Society of Sport History: https://www.sportinhistory.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tanya Aldred (The Guardian) interviews ECB's Laura Entwistle, former international cricketer Laura MacLeod and journalist Raf Nicholson about the forthcoming Women's T20 World Cup which is being hosted this summer in England and Wales. The panelists discuss the potential for legacy, how the tournament will test the new women's domestic structure, and how we should measure the success of the World Cup. This Q&A took place during the annual Cricket Research Network conference in Cambridge, which was kindly supported by the BSSH. To find out more about the Network, see our LinkTree https://linktr.ee/cricketresearchnetwork or follow us @cricketacademic on BlueSky. This podcast is a British Society of Sports History (BSSH) production from the UK's leading society for the history of sport.. You can find the podcast on all social media & major podcast platforms here. Likewise, Click through to the BSSH website for further information on our events and to find out how to join the British Society of Sport History: https://www.sportinhistory.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

8 Months on from the book, A Most Unsuitable Game: Celebrating Scottish Women’s Football Fifty Years After the Ban was completed and released, the Sports and Leisure History Seminar series is pleased to announce an event to celebrate the book and discuss it with its three main authors and editors, Professor Fiona Skillen, Dr Karen Fraser and Julie McNeill.  In this seminar, the editors, in a panel chaired by academic and journalist Dr Raf Nicholson, reflect on the compilation of the book and the continued lack of general knowledge about the women’s game in Scotland. It will also reflect on what we have learned in the process of collating and editing the book, working with authors of different genres and experience, and promoting it to both the football and wider communities. This will not be centred on promoting the book but is rather to illustrate lessons that we learned to be shared with those who may wish to undertake a similar venture. The panel does not intend to use formal PowerPoint led presentations but would propose a more informal talk given by the three of us using a panel discussion format. We would also welcome questions from the audience, either at the time of the panel or in advance, if the panel slot on the programme allowed for this. Biographies: Professor Fiona Skillen is a professor in History at Glasgow Caledonian University. Her research focuses on women’s sport during the late 19th and 20th centuries where she has published extensively in this subject area. Professor Skillen has also completed a FIFA-sponsored project on the history of women’s football in Scotland, 1850-1939. Dr Karen Fraser is an independent researcher associated with the University of Stirling. Her PhD research focused on the history of Women’s Football in Scotland from 1960 to 2021. While she has worked on different aspects of the history of Scottish Football, her focus remains seeking to uncover the untold history of women’s football in Scotland. Julie McNeil is the poet-in-residence for St Mirren FC charitable Foundation and the Makar of the Hampden Collection. She is also the co-author of the award-winning Mission Dyslexia series for Neurodivergent Children. This podcast is a British Society of Sports History (BSSH) production from the UK's leading society for the history of sport.. You can find the podcast on all social media & major podcast platforms here. Likewise, Click through to the BSSH website for further information on our events and to find out how to join the British Society of Sport History: https://www.sportinhistory.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the earliest depictions of the schoolgirl in British girls’ fiction, she is far from the hockey stick wielding tomboys recognisable in the stories of Angela Brazil and Elinor Brent-Dyer, instead restricted to crocodile walks and movement-limiting dress codes. Over the first decades of the twentieth-century, popular depictions of the schoolgirl radically changed her into a games fanatic, distinct from both her Victorian literary ancestors and the real modern schoolgirl she ostensibly represented. The advent of the sporting schoolgirl in girls’ media offered revised codes of what was considered acceptable behaviour for girls, re-envisioning Victorian femininity to incorporate a patriotic, masculinised vision of modern girlhood which presented sport as a gateway to the previously inaccessible heroism and honour available to boys. Through sport, the increasingly stigmatised stereotypes of ill-health and melodrama attached to Victorian womanhood were rejected in favour of an emotionally restrained and physically active masculine girlhood. This seminar looks to a range of early twentieth-century authors such as Brazil and Dorothea Moore to investigate how representations of sport offered a tool by which femininity was redefined for a new century of athletic women and girls. Atlanta Tsiaoukkas is a PhD student at the Centre for Research in Children’s Literature at the University of Cambridge. Her research explores Victorian and Edwardian girls’ school fiction, and she is widely interested in the development of girls’ cultural identities and their popular representation in British and Irish media. This podcast is a British Society of Sports History (BSSH) production from the UK's leading society for the history of sport.. You can find the podcast on all social media & major podcast platforms here. Likewise, Click through to the BSSH website for further information on our events and to find out how to join the British Society of Sport History: https://www.sportinhistory.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you were watching or were at the England Vs Wales football match last month, you may have seen a cap ceremony that saw Frank Soo, the first Asian player ever to play for the national team (albeit in semi-official matches only) and the only man of East Asian descent to date, receive a posthumous cap for his nine appearances for the England team during World War 2. But who was Frank Soo? And much like his contemporary pioneer Jack Leslie, why was he forgotten by football for many years? We're honoured to be joined on the podcast by Alan Lau, co-founder and chairman of the Frank Soo foundation, who has spent 8 years tirelessly trying to promote the legacy of Frank Soo as well as be a champion of community football, but primarily the Chinese and East Asian Community, both in the UK and overseas. Alan's championing has been recognised in football, when Alan won the Watford FC Community Sports & Education Trust Equality Champion award in 2023. But Alan is an inclusivity champion in the wider world of football, holding roles as an FA EDI Community of Practice Ambassador, as well as serving as chair of the Hertfordshire FA's IAG (Inclusion Advisory Group) & the FA County IAG Chair's steering group. He additionally serves on the national council of the Football Supporters Association. But Alan is here today to talk about the work he's done with the Frank Soo foundation and educate us a bit about Frank Soo and the importance of Asian inclusivity into football. This podcast is a British Society of Sports History (BSSH) production from the UK's leading society for the history of sport.. You can find the podcast on all social media & major podcast platforms here. Likewise, Click through to the BSSH website for further information on our events and to find out how to join the British Society of Sport History: https://www.sportinhistory.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Join Max Portman as he speaks to a true legend of academic sports history in Professor Tony Collins, Emeritus Professor of History at De Montfort University and a Fellow of the Institute of Sports Humanities at Loughborough University. The two are discussing Tony's new book Roy Francis: Rugby’s Forgotten Black Leader, published by Bloomsbury Sport in June 2025. Tony's book covers the life of Roy from his humble beginnings in Brynmawr in the Welsh valleys where the circumstances surrounding his birth were contentious, through his journey to the North of England, where he made his name, first as a player in the 1930s and 1940s, before a managerial career that carried through until the 1970s. Across the interview, Max and Tony discuss Roy's father Lionel, an interesting character in his own right, Roy's wartime service, which involved a brief sojourn into rugby union, and how Roy broke down not just racial barriers in the pre-windrush era, but also revolutionised rugby league into the modern age as the first black manager in rugby league history. If you love Rugby League, sports or are interested in hearing a new chapter of Black British history, then this is the perfect epsiode for you!! For more information about the podcast, please visit: https://www.sportinhistory.org/ or https://shows.acast.com/sport-in-history-podcast This podcast is a British Society of Sports History (BSSH) production from the UK's leading society for the history of sport.. You can find the podcast on all social media & major podcast platforms here. Likewise, Click through to the BSSH website for further information on our events and to find out how to join the British Society of Sport History: https://www.sportinhistory.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

So many of the world’s sports have their origins in Britain. Why is this? How did sports innovate and evolve in step with social upheaval, and political and cultural change? Why did British forms of play become so influential around the world? Richard Holt explores all these questions and more in a new edition of Sport and the British: A Modern History. For over thirty years Sport and the British has been the standard work on the history of sport in Britain, and the new edition provides a complete rewrite of the original text, incorporating the most up-to-date research. The original text, published in 1989, has been described as the "Bible of British sports history". In this new edition, Professor Holt provides a complete rewrite of the original text, incorporating the most up-to-date research in the field and we were lucky to have such an esteemed panel in Raf Nicholson, Rob Colls, Dil Porter and Tony Collins join Richard Holt in discussing the book at length at the Institute of Historical Research in London in what was a record crowd of 70+ for the Sport and Leisure History Seminar series and chaired by BSSH Vice-chair Amanda Callan-Spenn. This podcast is a British Society of Sports History (BSSH) production from the UK's leading society for the history of sport.. You can find the podcast on all social media & major podcast platforms here. Likewise, Click through to the BSSH website for further information on our events and to find out how to join the British Society of Sport History: https://www.sportinhistory.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The podcast is excited to share with you this roundtable from the 2025 British Society of Sports History Conference at Ulster University which celebrated 30 years of Sports History being studied at De Montfort University (DMU) in Leicester, UK. The panel was chaired by current DMU associate professor Heather Dichter, alongside DMU emeritus professor Richard Holt and former students of Sports History at the university including Dr Melinda Reid and Dr Tom Fabian (who joined virtually) to discuss the history of the Sports History and culture MA which began in 1995 and the launch of the International Centre for Sports History and Culture (ICSHC) a year later, in addition to all of the great research that has emerged over the past three decades. We hope you enjoy this roundtable and if you would like to find out more about Sports History at DMU, you can do so here: https://www.dmu.ac.uk/research/research-faculties-and-institutes/art-design-humanities/icshc/international-centre-for-sports-history-and-culture.aspx This podcast is a British Society of Sports History (BSSH) production from the UK's leading society for the history of sport.. You can find the podcast on all social media & major podcast platforms here. Likewise, Click through to the BSSH website for further information on our events and to find out how to join the British Society of Sport History: https://www.sportinhistory.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.