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Episode details

Radio 4,18 Mar 2009,30 mins

Rugby - Magic

Thinking Allowed

Available for over a year

RUGBY According to Oscar Wilde “Rugby is a good occasion for keeping thirty bullies far from the centre of town”. Laurie Taylor re-appraises this sport of gentleman with Social Historian, Tony Collins who’s charted the class wars that have beset rugby union, from Tom Brown’s Schooldays to England’s victory in the English World Cup in 2003 and Dr Dominic Malcolm, Senior lecturer in the Sociology of Sport at Loughborough University. They discuss how rugby has championed the virtues of patriotism, physical courage and manliness. MAGIC Professor Owen Davies is the author of a new book entitled Grimoires; A History of Magic Books, he talks about the past and present significance of magical books and spells.

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