The birth of skiing

Available for over a year

At the beginning of the 20th Century, the British invented downhill skiing and introduced it to the Alps, creating both a new sport and the multi-billion-dollar tourist industry we know today. Using the BBC archives, Simon Watts introduces the memories of Sir Arnold Lunn, the inventor of modern skiing, and of British and Swiss racers from the early days of the sport. (Photo: A skiing party in the 1920s, with Sir Arnold Lunn centre-right. Credit: Getty Images)