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Sport and the British

Clare Balding presents a 30-part series charting how sport has shaped the British and how Britain has shaped sport

Radio 4 Extra,30 episodes

Episodes

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The Rise of Olympism
Claire visits Rugby School, which can claim to be the birthplace of the modern Olympics.
30 Jan 2012,15 mins
A Level Playing Field
Unlike the French, was it our bonding love of cricket that prevented a revolution?
31 Jan 2012,15 mins
The Bare Fists of Boxing
Clare Balding explores the importance of boxing to the 19th-century alpha male.
01 Feb 2012,15 mins
The Unsporting Side of Sport
Sport and gambling are inextricably linked, especially when it comes to horse racing.
02 Feb 2012,15 mins
The Making of Men
Clare visits Rugby School to discover why it produced men fit to run the empire.
03 Feb 2012,15 mins
Playing Like Ladies
Clare discovers the freedom that Victorian public school girls found on the sports field.
06 Feb 2012,15 mins
The Corinthian Ideal
Clare Balding explores the founding of the Football Association in 1863.
07 Feb 2012,15 mins
The Formal Empire
Clare Balding reveals that sport was the glue that helped keep the British Empire together
08 Feb 2012,15 mins
The Dawn of Professional Football
Clare Balding tells the story of how football went from an amateur pastime to big business
09 Feb 2012,15 mins
Exporting Football
Clare Balding charts how Britain spread the passion for football around the world.
10 Feb 2012,15 mins
Rugby's Great Split
Clare Balding tells a story of lies, expulsions and bigotry when rugby split in two.
13 Feb 2014,15 mins
Tennis and Golf in Suburbia
Clare Balding discovers how tennis and golf clubs were borne of Victorian middle classes.
14 Feb 2012,15 mins
Fighting Back
Clare Balding looks at the relationship between boxing and Britain's ethnic minorities.
15 Feb 2012,15 mins
Women Between the Wars
Clare Balding discovers how working women were finally given their sporting chance.
16 Feb 2012,15 mins
A Bit of a Flutter
Clare Balding looks at the role gambling has played in our relationship with sport.
17 Feb 2012,15 mins
Cricket and the English Hero
Clare investigates the role our sporting heroes play in shaping national identity.
20 Feb 2012,15 mins
Anyone But England
Clare Balding explores the role football has played in shaping Scottish national identity.
21 Feb 2012,15 mins
Welsh Rugby and Its National Heroes
Clare Balding explores the role rugby has played in shaping Welsh national identity.
22 Feb 2012,15 mins
Ireland, Politics on the Pitch
Clare Balding is at Croke Park in Dublin to discover how Ireland developed its own sports.
23 Feb 2012,15 mins
Ireland, North of the Border
Clare is in Belfast to explore the impact that the Troubles had on sport in the region.
24 Feb 2012,15 mins
War Games
Clare Balding explores the vital role sport has played during both world wars.
27 Feb 2012,15 mins
Broadcasting to the Nation
Clare Balding discovers how the birth of broadcasting changed British sport for ever.
28 Feb 2012,15 mins
Driving Innovation
Clare Balding is at Silverstone to explore how Britain led the way in motor racing.
29 Feb 2012,15 mins
The Gentleman Amateur
Clare Balding on the demise of the amateur gentleman and the rise of the professional.
01 Mar 2012,15 mins
Beating Us at Our Own Game
Clare Balding takes a look at Britain's most successful export ever - football.
02 Mar 2012,15 mins
Sport for All
Clare Balding asks why and when the British government got involved in sport.
05 Mar 2012,15 mins
Golden Girls
Clare Balding explains how the 1960s saw women athletes finally take centre stage.
06 Mar 2012,15 mins
Rugby's Big Bang
Clare Balding explores the demise of the amateurism in rugby union.
07 Mar 2012,15 mins
Globalisation
Clare Balding explores the way television has changed our relationship with sport forever.
08 Mar 2012,15 mins
The State of Play
Clare Balding explores the cultural importance of the great triviality that is sport.
09 Mar 2012,15 mins