Britons may not always be the best at playing sports. But, as David Horspool tells Spencer Mizen, when it comes to inventing, codifying and becoming utterly obsessed by them, they are bona fide world beaters. From the brutality of medieval jousts to the mega-bucks of the Premier League, David reveals how sport has embedded itself in the fabric of British life over the centuries.
(Ad) David Horspool is the author of // More Than a Game: A History of How Sport Made Britain // (John Murray Press, 2023). Buy it now from Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/More-Than-Game-History-Britain/dp/1529363276/?tag=bbchistory045-21&ascsubtag=historyextra-social-histboty
The HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Caesar | 5. The dogs of war
Caesar | 4. Honourable men
Netflix's The Crown: history and storytelling
Boston Tea Party: Igniting a revolution | Trailer
Boston Tea Party | 1. Tea and taxes
Georgian grand houses: the forgotten women who built them
Introducing Life of the Week
Life of the Week: Mansa Musa
Caesar: Death of a Dictator | Trailer
Victoria's armpit and 'giant' bones: body parts that changed history
The American Gilded Age: everything you wanted to know
Books and war: from James Bond to leaflet bombing
Shakespeare: Past Master | 4. Hamlet
Medieval manners: social etiquette in the Middle Ages
Marshal Pétain: Vichy France in the dock
1950s Britain: everything you wanted to know
The dangerous road to the Bastille
Shakespeare: Past Master | 3. Julius Caesar
Du Fu: China's greatest poet
Cities that turbocharged art history
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Dan Snow’s History Hit
Front Row
Not Just the Tudors
The Ancients
Gone Medieval