Adventures in Poetry - Vitai Lampada

Daljit Nagra celebrates 'play' the theme of National Poetry Day 2025 by revisiting the BBC's poetry archive and selecting Adventures in Poetry with Peggy Reynolds. The iconic Victorian poem Vitai Lampada by Henry Newbolt is better known to most by its rousing chorus 'play up, play up and play the game!"

Henry Newbolt's poem Vitai Lampada seems at first sight to be a product solely of its time and place. It was written at the end of the 19th century and it features cricket, war and a public school ethos about sport and leadership.

However, as Peggy Reynolds unpacks the poem and talks to people who still know it, some surprises emerge.

Producer Christine Hall

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2012.