British Sport ― A Social History

A primary text providing an overview of British sporting development has become increasingly necessary for the general reader as well as the growing number of students studying Sport and Physical Education courses at school, college and university. Due to his work over many years on sport in pre-industrial society, Dennis Brailsford is perhaps the only specialist in the field who could tackle this sort of survey, and the present volume covers the whole history of British sport, from the Middle Ages to the present day. Moving beyond a chronological record, Brailsford places sport within the wider context of British life, examining its social, political, financial and international implications. The roles and style of play that have marked the varying stages of British social history are discussed, and their influence on our contemporary experience made clear. Significant changes in the total sporting picture are identified, and the reader is invited to participate by reflecting on how local experience contribute to our national appreciation of the sporting panorama. From the knightly sports of jousting and hunting to the role of the media in modern play, this is a fascinating insight into our sporting past and present. Dennis Brailsford, formerly Director of North Worcestershire College, Bromsgrove, is an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Birmingham. Though now retired, he was for two years Vice-Chairman of the British Society for Sports History, and for five years Chairman of the National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux. A frequent lecturer in North America and Europe, his other books on sporting history include Bareknuckles: A Social History of Prize-Fighting and ATaste for Diversions both from the Lutterworth Press.