Sport and the British

Clare Balding with Professors Richard Holt, Tony Collins and Mike Cronin explores the cultural importance of the great triviality that is sport. The series was made in partnership with The International Centre for Sports History and Culture at de Montfort University. Producer: Lucy Lunt Executive Editor: Ian Bent.

Clare Balding explores the way global television has changed our relationship with sport forever. It's no longer seasonal and is bankrolled by TV income and it bows to TV's needs. This series was made in partnership with The International Centre for Sport History and Culture. Technical presentation: John Benton Producer: Sara Conkey.

Clare Balding explores why Rugby Union tried to stand firm against the encroaching tide of professionalism and in August 1995, lost. One by one the old bastions of the sporting gentleman had fallen in the 1960s and 1970s. Cricket, tennis and athletics had all abandoned the Victorian distinction between amateurs and professionals. The word 'amateur' had almost become an insult. But of all the major sports, only one continued to uphold the banner - rugby union. It had introduced strict amateur rules into the game in 1886 and ever since had been determined to uphold them. Prof Tony Collins explains that when the Thatcher era did away with the old school tie mentality and money became an acceptable topic of conversation there was only one way rugby could go. This series was made in partnership with The International Centre for Sport History and Culture. Technical presentation: John Benton Producer: Sara Conkey.

In the final week of her series exploring how sport made Britain and Britain made sport, Clare Balding looks at the female British athletes of the 1960's who finally took centre stage on the podium and in the press. She visits the home of the Birchfield Harriers in Birmingham, one of the country's leading athletics clubs. There she meets Norma Blaine who'd been coaching young women athletes since 1951. Norma remembers when women were unable to compete in any distance race over two hundred metres. Her friend, Diane Leather ran a five minute mile, (breaking the women's world record), the same week as Bannister broke the male world record but Diane's achievement was never acknowledged. Clare explores the legacy of Anita Lonsborough,Dorothy Hyman, Anne Packer, Mary Rand and Lillian Board and asks if this golden age of female athletes can ever be repeated. The series has been made with The International Centre for Sport History and Culture at De Montfort University in Leicester. Technical presentation: John Benton Producer: Lucy Lunt.

Clare Balding asks why and when did the British government get involved in sport. How did sport become part of politics, in a country which had always prided itself on keeping them apart? The Nazis threw immense resources behind the German team for the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, while the British Foreign Office still thought sport should be, ' a private affair between private individuals' free of government interference. However by the 1950's post war politicians began to think that physical recreation and games might be a cure for the general apathy and discontent of British youth as exemplified by the teddy boys, mods and rockers of the era. Professor Tony Mason of The International Centre for Sport Culture and History at De Montfort University explains the importance of the 1957 Wolfenden Committee's report in broadening access to sporting facilities for all sectors of society. Technical presentation: John Benton Producer: Lucy Lunt.