Sport and the British

Clare Balding with Professors Richard Holt, Tony Collins and Mike Cronin explores the cultural importance of the great triviality that is sport. The series was made in partnership with The International Centre for Sports History and Culture at de Montfort University. Producer: Lucy Lunt Executive Editor: Ian Bent.

Clare Balding explores the way global television has changed our relationship with sport forever. It's no longer seasonal and is bankrolled by TV income and it bows to TV's needs. This series was made in partnership with The International Centre for Sport History and Culture.Technical presentation: John Benton Producer: Sara Conkey.

Clare Balding explores why Rugby Union tried to stand firm against the encroaching tide of professionalism and in August 1995, lost. One by one the old bastions of the sporting gentleman had fallen in the 1960s and 1970s. Cricket, tennis and athletics had all abandoned the Victorian distinction between amateurs and professionals. The word 'amateur' had almost become an insult. But of all the major sports, only one continued to uphold the banner - rugby union. It had introduced strict amateur rules into the game in 1886 and ever since had been determined to uphold them. Prof Tony Collins explains that when the Thatcher era did away with the old school tie mentality and money became an acceptable topic of conversation there was only one way rugby could go. This series was made in partnership with The International Centre for Sport History and Culture.Technical presentation: John Benton Producer: Sara Conkey.

In the final week of her series exploring how sport made Britain and Britain made sport, Clare Balding looks at the female British athletes of the 1960's who finally took centre stage on the podium and in the press. She visits the home of the Birchfield Harriers in Birmingham, one of the country's leading athletics clubs. There she meets Norma Blaine who'd been coaching young women athletes since 1951. Norma remembers when women were unable to compete in any distance race over two hundred metres. Her friend, Diane Leather ran a five minute mile, (breaking the women's world record), the same week as Bannister broke the male world record but Diane's achievement was never acknowledged. Clare explores the legacy of Anita Lonsborough,Dorothy Hyman, Anne Packer, Mary Rand and Lillian Board and asks if this golden age of female athletes can ever be repeated. The series has been made with The International Centre for Sport History and Culture at De Montfort University in Leicester. Technical presentation: John Benton Producer: Lucy Lunt.

Clare Balding asks why and when did the British government get involved in sport. How did sport become part of politics, in a country which had always prided itself on keeping them apart? The Nazis threw immense resources behind the German team for the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, while the British Foreign Office still thought sport should be, ' a private affair between private individuals' free of government interference. However by the 1950's post war politicians began to think that physical recreation and games might be a cure for the general apathy and discontent of British youth as exemplified by the teddy boys, mods and rockers of the era. Professor Tony Mason of The International Centre for Sport Culture and History at De Montfort University explains the importance of the 1957 Wolfenden Committee's report in broadening access to sporting facilities for all sectors of society. Technical presentation: John Benton Producer: Lucy Lunt.

Clare Balding takes a look at Britain's most successful export ever - football. Yet in giving it to others, the British lost control of the game they had created and crafted. Clare, with the help of Prof Tony Mason of The International Centre for Sport History and Culture at De Montfort University, looks at our troubled relationship with the sport's governing body FIFA and asks if a British team will ever again come close to winning the World Cup.Readers: Sean Baker and Nyasha Hatendi Technical Presentation: John Benton Producer: Garth Brameld.

Clare Balding's at Lords Cricket ground in London to explore the demise of the amateur gentleman and the rise of the professional player, as the 1960's saw the beginning of a new, more egalitarian era, in British sport.In all walks of life, Britain's 'Establishment' was being scrutinized, criticised and satirised so it was hardly surprising that sport and particularly cricket should come under fire.Dr Dilwyn Porter of The International Centre for Sport History and Culture at De Montfort University explains how the MCC had to finally abandon its long-standing distinction between gentlemen and players or amateurs and professionals. The distinction epitomised by David Sheppard (later Bishop of Liverpool) and Yorkshireman, Fred Trueman.Readers: Sean Baker and Nyasha Hatendi. Technical Presentation: John Benton Producer: Garth Brameld.

Clare Balding continues to explore how Britain shaped sport and sport shaped Britain. Horse racing may be the sport of kings but the princes, playboys and plutocrats of the modern era have preferred motor racing and the British have been at the wheel throughout. Stirling Moss, Graham Hill, Jackie Stewart, James Hunt, Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button have all led the way but in the early days women were central to this story too, with Mrs EM Thomas being the awarded the first 120 mph badge at Brooklands in 1928. The series was made in partnership with The International Centre for Sport History and Culture at De Montfort University.Technical presentation: John Benton Producer: Sara Conkey.

Clare Balding discovers how the birth of broadcasting changed British sport for ever. Radio played a crucial role in the popularisation of sport, suddenly you didn't need to be at the event to know exactly what happened or to be swept up in the excitement of the match. Jean Seaton, the BBC's historian explains how the events that were chosen for outside broadcast began to provide a secular calendar for the year, with the schedule being dominated by the most commentator friendly sports; football and tennis were a fit, flying fishing and pigeon racing were not.We hear some of the earliest and most celebrated sports broadcasters ; George ' by Jove' Allison, Raymond Baxter, Brian Johnson and John Arlott, who describes the man responsible for the first sports programming on the BBC, Seymour Joly de Lotbiniere.The series was made in partnership with The International Centre for Sport History and Culture at De Montfort University.Readers: Stuart McLoughlin and Jo Munro Technical presentation: John Benton Producer: Lucy Lunt Executive producer: Ian Bent.

Week five of the series that explores how sport made Britain and Britain made sport. In this episode Clare Balding visits The Imperial War Museum to discover the vital role sport has played, both on the battle field and on the home front, during both World Wars. She starts in the Hall of Remembrance in front of John Singer Sargent's, Gassed, an oil painting more than twenty feet long, depicting the aftermath of a mustard gas attack during the First World War, with a line of wounded soldiers walking towards a dressing station. Yet in the background there are groups of men playing football. As Prof. Tony Collins of De Montfort University explains, sport became an essential part of army life, alleviating the boredom and the terror, by 1916 there was a football ground in each brigade area of the Western Front. During the Second World War, Prof Tony Mason explains the importance of sport to those captured and detained in German prisoner of war camps, with football, in particular being used as a way of providing entertainment for troops overseas. The series was made in partnership with The International Centre for Sport History and Culture at De Montfort University, Leicester.The Reader is Alun Raglan Technical presentation: John Benton Producer: Garth Brameld.