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The development of lawn tennis has often been associated with London and, with other racquet sports, been seen as dominated by elites and social tradition. Matthew Cole argues that lawn tennis in the West Midlands was both a more significant and somewhat less elite sport than the orthodox view allows.

Image courtesy of interviewee. May 28, 2024

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This video provides an extensive examination into the history of lawn tennis, particularly focusing on its cultural significance in the West Midlands, England. It begins by discussing the elitist perceptions associated with tennis, primarily linked to the upper classes and the prestige of events like the Wimbledon Tournament. However, it argues that this perspective ignores the sport's development outside of London, particularly in provincial areas.

The speaker intends to explore the origins of lawn tennis, identifying figures like Harry Gem, who contributed to its development in the West Midlands alongside others. This video discusses historical writings on tennis that emphasize different regions' contributions to the sport, noting debates among scholars about the sport's beginnings and its social implications.

A significant part of the text discusses the role of tennis in reflecting societal changes, including class dynamics and the involvement of women. It highlights that tennis was one of the few sports that allowed women to participate from early on, though their participation was often unequal. The author emphasizes various clubs' functions, showcasing how some were exclusive, while others had more inclusive membership.

The document details challenges in researching historical tennis due to sparse records and the need for diverse sources like local press and personal accounts. It points out that sports history is a valuable field, revealing insights about social interactions, the economy, and cultural identity.

The speaker concludes with reflections on the necessity of regional history, arguing that tennis's history in the West Midlands is just as significant as that of London, emphasizing the distinct identity and contributions of various communities to the sport. Through this exploration, the text advocates for the importance of acknowledging every individual's role in history and how popular pastimes can provide a lens into societal trends and transformations.

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You can learn everything you need

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to know about perceptions of tennis by, getting anybody

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to say the phrase anyone for tennis,

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because it can only be said in, in a cut glass,

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English aristocratic, or upper middle class accents.

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And that's because we associate tennis with prosperity,

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usually with, the southeast of England, particularly

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with southwest 19 and London with, the All England Club

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and the Wimbledon Tournament.

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And that's understandable today where it's one of the,

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the four, grand slam tournaments where it attracts a,

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a more, prestigious international,

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set of players.

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Uh, and it's got more resources and more coverage.

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However, to assume that that's how tennis started

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or that it developed along a sort of continuous line to

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that point is, is, is mistaken, frankly.

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And I was exploring ways in which, some

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of the story might have been missed.

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There's a, there, there, there are,

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there are two things I wanted to do here, really.

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One is to find out what was happening in a particular region

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of the provinces, the West Midlands.

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Uh, and the other in doing that was to demonstrate the value

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of looking at sports as a form of cultural history.

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Uh, and to see what it tells us about society,

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about the economy of a given area, about perceptions of,

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groups of people in society

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and their relationships to each other, as well

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as telling us about the particular individuals

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and the institutions involved.

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One of the main questions that we have to look at here is,

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where and when and with whom did lawn tennis begin?

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Real tennis, of course, been going for centuries,

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indoor tennis.

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Um, and in some ways it's related to the development

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of lawn tennis, but actually in the West Midlands, that

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that was a quite, separate development,

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in most respects.

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Um, I wanted to discover at what point

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and by whom was the game of law

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and tennis first started in the West Midlands.

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Now, this is a matter of great contention

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amongst particularly tennis enthusiasts, as you can imagine.

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Uh, early on in the writing about the history of law

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and tennis, Lord Aberdare, for example, did a,

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a a history of, law

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and tennis in the 1950s, which emphasized very much the role

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of, Wimbledon

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and of London in the development of the sports.

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Uh, around about the same time a man called Ronald Larry was

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writing, the, a book called the,

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the Cradle of Law and Tennis.

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Tennis. Uh, he was a former correspondent of the,

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the Birmingham Post,

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and, perhaps unsurprisingly focused on the evidence

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of the sport beginning in, in Birmingham

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and, Lemington Spa in the West Midlands,

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at almost around the same time.

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Um, and I want to explore that question to some extent.

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The, the debate about that has gone on since amongst,

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but more, serious scholars.

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Um, we've had, for example, John Lewison, who,

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wrote about class and tennis in the, 1990s tended

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to downplay, tennis outside London

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and tended not to recognize participation by those below,

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the, the, the public school, upper middle class

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or classes, which at least he does recognize in the

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title of his book.

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Um, and, Hener Gil Meister, on the other hand,

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writing around the same time about the cultural history

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of law and tennis, was more willing

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to recognize the diversity of origins of the, of the sport.

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Um, most recently we've had,

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Richard Hill Way who's argued against the,

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what you might call the West Midlands thesis.

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Uh, and, you've had, Kevin Jeffries,

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who's written a book about tennis in the provinces,

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beyond SW 19, which again, has, has, made the case

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for looking at the evidence, outside greater London.

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Um, and so the debate has gone on for some time.

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It's about the date, first of all.

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Um, and, you'll see in the article there's a description

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of the argument made for the West Midlands,

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about a man called Harry Gem, who was the Clark

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to the Birmingham Magistrates, who claims to be the man

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who invented law and tennis,

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and wrote a letter to the field about it in, in 1874,

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because at the same time, in 1874, a, a kit of,

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again, very like tennis called Farik,

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was patented by, a man called,

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major Clapton Winfield, who was a friend of the Prince

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of Wales, and was involved in the All England Club, and,

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and started a, a, a similar game, a racket game,

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with a net, in, in, Winfield's case on a,

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a figure of eight court, for example.

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All, all the rules and all the versions were slightly

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different, but there were sort of two parallel versions

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of law and tennis developing,

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at least in those two locations and possibly in others.

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Um, and it would be wrong to assume that,

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everything started in London and stayed there.

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What I wanted to discover was who were the people, who,

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along with Harry Gem

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and his closest, closest associates, were,

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were getting the game going institutionally,

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and what did it tell us?

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What was their identity? What did they think

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law and tennis was about?

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Well, the sources for sports history, incredibly rich,

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but very patchy.

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It, it's a fascinating subject to get into

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because it tells you about people whose,

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whose involvements in society is not always recognized in

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traditional top-down historical, inquiry.

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Um, it's got a lot

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to say about the role of women, for example.

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Uh, it's got a lot to say about class identity

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and about changes in demography and, and,

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and in leisure,

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and to some extent in, in,

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religious and other ideas.

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So it, it, it's a fascinating set of sources to look at.

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But the problem is,

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most sporting records are incomplete.

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I did use, for example,

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and I had access to very fortunately, the,

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internal papers of, the largest West Midlands Law

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and Tennis Club made up from two of the earliest ones.

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The, the Edge Baston Prior Law

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and Tennis Club is made up of the Edge.

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Bain Club started in 1878,

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and the prior club started in 1875.

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Uh, but those records are very, very

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sparse once you get back before 1900.

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Uh, and this is the same with most sports clubs.

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There are, minutes, there are membership records,

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all very, very useful.

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There are tournament programs and papers

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and correspondence,

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but most of these have been,

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lost over the course of time.

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Um, the ones for the prior club were all lost in a fire

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with, with very few exceptions.

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Um, and so one has to turn for corroboration

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and fulfilling in the, the considerable blanks to,

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the local press, to directories,

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to other contemporary records

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outside the sporting institutions,

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and to, to the extent that it's possible

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to family and oral history.

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Because of course, you know, the history of,

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modern sport, like all of modern history is not that long.

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Um, and, and, it was possible, for example, to speak

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to the, the grandchildren of some

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of the very earliest players of law

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and tennis from the 1870s.

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Um, and so, a, a variety of sources had

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to be brought to play in this.

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And, there are gaps in those sources.

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And in those gaps, there's a great deal of room for,

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dispute and contention and part

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and ship, to be honest, which is a, a another of the,

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the challenges of, of sporting history.

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Lor Tennis was, significant

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to the West Midlands in a number of ways.

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It was important to certain elements of West Midlands,

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particularly Birmingham, society.

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It, it was the, it was the platform on which, the,

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of the, of the late Industrial Revolution

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and of, of a, a late blooming industrial city like

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Birmingham, it was the platform from which they announced

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their status, that they were, they were the, the,

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the rising middle class.

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It wasn't just for the most wealthy, it wasn't just for,

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aristocrats.

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Uh, there were clubs.

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And the two, the, the, the two clubs that I was able

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to look at the papers of most closely were reflected this,

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one of those clubs, like a lot of clubs, were dominated

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by the most prestigious and wealthy in society.

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Uh, you had a, a club whose grounds were,

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owned by Thomas Chapman, a a major industrialist who,

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who lived, next door to them,

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that the Edpa Club used.

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Um, the, the president, not just the landlord of the club,

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but the presidents of the club was the, was the, Aris

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who owned all the, the local land.

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Um, Lord Cal.

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Uh, there, there were, PSEs, there,

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there were garden tees, hosted by PSEs at, at,

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at the Edge Bastin Club.

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And they tended to have a, a more traditional approach

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to playing games on Sundays.

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So the role of women, for example,

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there were other clubs on the other hand, on the prior club.

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Originally it was one of these where it, it, it was not,

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the, for example, as you had at the, the Edge Besting Club,

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the Inspector Factories, for the whole

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of Birmingham, it was the wages clerks from the factories.

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It was sometimes the engine fitters, from local works.

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It was often junior professional people, trainee lawyers,

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or accountants,

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usually a younger lower status membership.

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Uh, and the tension between these was, was, you know,

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you could feel it in, in the records that they,

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the Edge Bus Club at one point refused to play any

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of the other local clubs

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because they said they weren't good enough.

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This tension is, is visible even as late as the, the 1950s,

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for example, in the, in the memoir, of,

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Ann Jones, the, Wimbledon singles champion

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of 1969, who started out playing at, edge BA

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and The Pry, and a number

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of other local clubs in Birmingham,

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came from King's Heath in Birmingham, classic suburban,

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recruits to tennis.

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Um, and, she describes in, in her memoir,

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written at the time, she was still playing,

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that there was a social hierarchy of clubs.

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Some were rather snooty, some were,

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they emphasized the professionalism more.

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They, they emphasized competing,

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not being paid professionalism,

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but of, of the, the serious approach to the game more.

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And some were purely leisure organizations,

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which had a much broader recruitment.

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The, the, the broadest recruitment, really

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to law intent is came in the interwar period.

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And, Joyce Kay's work on this is, is very,

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interesting by the way, the, in the expansion

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of works teams,

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and of, municipal facilities, which,

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which actually in the interwar period outran the numbers

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of people involved in private clubs,

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and actually interacted with those groups as well.

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Um, so you'd have tournaments played at private clubs

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by the Birmingham Municipal Grounds, tennis Club,

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at that point.

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Um, Lauren Tennis came closest to the promise that,

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had been made for it in 1924 by a man called Gordon Lowe,

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who's a world top 10 player.

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He was the son of the MP for Edge Baston.

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His brother was also a, a major, international player.

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And he boasted in, in a book in 1924

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that tennis was the most democratic, sport,

11:59.705 --> 12:00.965
that you could find.

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I, I think that was a rather bold claim,

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but it came closest to it's, at that time, it was possible

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for large,

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and very diverse numbers of people, to play the game.

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And, it, its reputation was not quite as elite

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as it subsequently became.

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So we've gone from a Victorian

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and Ed Edwardian game with very small numbers playing,

12:21.185 --> 12:25.365
to be honest, most clubs had 20 or 30 members.

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The Edge Baston Club had over a hundred.

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But, was, was the, the leading one of the,

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of the region, to, a larger number of,

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law and tennis enthusiasts actively playing in the,

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in the interwar period.

12:41.985 --> 12:44.805
Um, and in the, in the postwar period,

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you get into a completely different scenario where all sorts

12:48.485 --> 12:52.405
of sporting organizations are struggling to, to recruit.

12:52.945 --> 12:56.045
Um, they're competing with, television.

12:56.045 --> 12:57.885
They're competing with other forms

12:57.945 --> 12:59.485
of leisure and entertainment.

13:00.105 --> 13:03.405
Um, and, in order to watch those sports,

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you now only have to watch the television,

13:05.955 --> 13:07.685
whereas you would've actually gone along

13:07.685 --> 13:08.805
to the tournaments in the past.

13:09.465 --> 13:11.445
And at the same time, you have the, the development

13:11.445 --> 13:14.285
of professionalism, which of course was very difficult for,

13:14.825 --> 13:18.765
smaller clubs to be able to, to contend with it.

13:18.825 --> 13:21.445
It puts a great many of their tournaments under threat.

13:21.905 --> 13:25.605
So the circumstances of sports have changed over time,

13:25.625 --> 13:27.485
and it's changed the people involved.

13:27.825 --> 13:31.805
But at the beginning, you had a relatively wide range,

13:31.905 --> 13:33.965
and in the interwar period, a relatively wide range

13:33.985 --> 13:38.125
of people that were sports works clubs from, all

13:38.125 --> 13:40.805
of the car manufacturers in Coventry, for example.

13:41.225 --> 13:45.405
Um, they had them, obviously, the Bourneville works, led

13:45.405 --> 13:47.925
by this great philanthropic family that provided sport.

13:47.925 --> 13:52.765
There was at least one Collier runner, sporting,

13:52.785 --> 13:55.765
tennis team, in the West Midlands.

13:56.105 --> 14:00.285
Uh, we went from that to the, the, the bubble of popular

14:00.805 --> 14:04.165
participation, somewhat bursting, perhaps, the,

14:04.165 --> 14:06.605
the balloon going down might be a better, better

14:06.705 --> 14:08.325
for in the post-war period.

14:08.785 --> 14:11.885
So class is something that was reflected in the system.

14:12.145 --> 14:15.845
Gender is also something that's reflected, the,

14:15.845 --> 14:19.965
the involvement of women in tennis, dates about

14:19.965 --> 14:22.005
to its beginning, now.

14:22.105 --> 14:24.205
It was never equal,

14:24.665 --> 14:28.325
but it was equally possible for women to participate.

14:28.545 --> 14:29.965
Uh, the membership of the clubs.

14:30.705 --> 14:32.765
Um, take something like the Tally Hoe Club,

14:32.765 --> 14:33.845
which is a quite,

14:34.315 --> 14:37.365
serious hard courts club in Birmingham,

14:37.625 --> 14:38.645
had hundreds of members.

14:38.905 --> 14:42.005
And in the 1920s, 40% of them were women.

14:42.465 --> 14:45.685
Uh, and most of those women, were the, the, the,

14:45.705 --> 14:48.485
the club very helpfully when it turned itself into a limited

14:48.485 --> 14:50.725
company, listed not only all its members

14:50.745 --> 14:54.525
and their addresses, but also their occupations, which,

14:54.525 --> 14:56.485
which tells you that their occupations were a matter

14:56.505 --> 14:57.605
of some significance.

14:58.145 --> 15:01.005
Um, and the women, with a couple

15:01.005 --> 15:04.805
of exceptions were not listed by employment, but as single

15:05.025 --> 15:06.605
or married or widowed.

15:06.945 --> 15:09.605
And, the, the majority of them were single.

15:09.615 --> 15:13.405
There were young women participating in a sport, most

15:13.405 --> 15:15.645
of them playing members,

15:15.645 --> 15:19.165
obviously not afforded the same prizes in tournaments,

15:19.165 --> 15:22.485
sometimes with not the same rights to use the, the courts,

15:22.705 --> 15:23.725
at least early on.

15:24.305 --> 15:26.925
But it was a sport which unusually,

15:27.985 --> 15:29.955
when it started in the Victorian era,

15:30.875 --> 15:31.955
admitted women to play it.

15:32.135 --> 15:35.795
And this was a, this was something of a, a challenge for

15:36.315 --> 15:38.115
reactionary attitudes of the era.

15:38.495 --> 15:40.955
And now there's some debate about whether women's

15:40.955 --> 15:44.115
submissions in the sport was, a, a concession,

15:44.245 --> 15:46.275
which was, of course, unequal and

15:46.355 --> 15:49.595
therefore reflected patriarchy, which is true.

15:49.695 --> 15:53.635
But nonetheless, the concession was one which was used to,

15:53.775 --> 15:56.195
to leverage greater status and, and,

15:56.295 --> 15:57.875
and, involvement for women.

15:58.375 --> 16:01.755
Uh, so you always, one of the, one of the reasons that,

16:02.255 --> 16:03.315
tennis law

16:03.315 --> 16:06.355
and tennis was seen as, an acceptable sport

16:06.495 --> 16:07.715
for women to play.

16:07.715 --> 16:10.475
And you have to remember, in the 1870s when this was going

16:10.475 --> 16:12.155
on, this was the first time we were able

16:12.155 --> 16:14.675
to vote in local authority elections

16:14.675 --> 16:16.275
and to become members of school boards.

16:16.575 --> 16:20.195
It was when the, the very first women were entering,

16:20.305 --> 16:24.035
medical schools and, and, the legal profession.

16:24.225 --> 16:27.195
This coincided with the development of, of,

16:27.255 --> 16:29.475
the first wave of the women's movement.

16:29.975 --> 16:32.275
Um, and so women expected

16:32.775 --> 16:34.155
to be treated differently from the

16:34.155 --> 16:35.195
way they've been treated before.

16:35.655 --> 16:39.275
And yet, sport was seen as something intensely masculine.

16:39.495 --> 16:42.115
All sport was seen as a way of developing men, not, not only

16:42.315 --> 16:43.515
for their, their own health,

16:43.735 --> 16:45.715
but for their preparedness, for war, for,

16:45.775 --> 16:46.995
for national efficiency.

16:47.535 --> 16:51.195
And so, reactionary opinion in sports had a,

16:51.255 --> 16:52.275
had a difficulty here.

16:52.855 --> 16:55.475
Uh, if they admitted women to playing role

16:55.475 --> 16:58.475
and tennis, which very quickly, they, they had to,

16:58.545 --> 17:01.035
because the clubs were popular institutions,

17:01.075 --> 17:04.915
they were not governed by great national bodies as yet.

17:05.575 --> 17:09.475
Um, they, they would be

17:10.545 --> 17:13.555
putting a, putting a, a, the thin end of a wedge in.

17:13.555 --> 17:15.835
It would become possible for women to, to,

17:16.055 --> 17:17.275
take part in other sports.

17:17.415 --> 17:21.395
If they did not admit them to Lauren Tennis, then,

17:21.485 --> 17:23.515
there was the problem that they might go off and,

17:23.615 --> 17:25.035
and find other entertainment.

17:25.345 --> 17:29.435
Cycling was an obvious, alternative, which,

17:30.115 --> 17:32.115
reactionary parents and husbands

17:32.115 --> 17:33.355
and brothers,

17:33.925 --> 17:37.355
might have thought even more dangerously independent.

17:37.615 --> 17:40.435
Uh, Lauren Tennis, of course, was seen at the time

17:40.495 --> 17:42.155
as a non exertive sport.

17:42.615 --> 17:45.635
The way it was played was not like it would be today.

17:45.935 --> 17:48.435
Uh, it was possible to play without moving around too much.

17:48.905 --> 17:50.845
The woman was not expected at the time

17:50.845 --> 17:52.285
to buy any special equipment.

17:52.905 --> 17:56.485
Uh, men played in, long trousers until the 1930s.

17:56.585 --> 17:59.165
The first tournament where a man played in shorts was

17:59.405 --> 18:01.725
actually, at the, the prior club.

18:02.265 --> 18:07.205
Um, and, the, the first woman, for example,

18:07.225 --> 18:09.925
to, to win a Wimbledon singles title.

18:10.265 --> 18:13.005
Uh, Moore Watson, came from Soli Hol

18:13.065 --> 18:14.925
and was a member of the Edge Baston Club,

18:15.065 --> 18:18.005
and had won the Edge Bastin title in 1881.

18:18.225 --> 18:21.845
The first Women's Wimbledon title was not, contested

18:21.845 --> 18:22.845
until 1884,

18:23.345 --> 18:25.525
but if you look at pictures of her, she's,

18:25.525 --> 18:29.765
dressed from head to toe, and, wearing a hat,

18:29.865 --> 18:32.765
and, and, she's in play at the time.

18:33.265 --> 18:34.525
Now, it was thought therefore,

18:34.525 --> 18:38.045
that this was a relatively safe environment in which

18:38.465 --> 18:41.405
to allow women to take part in sporting activity.

18:41.745 --> 18:45.525
It could be played at home most of the time, that most

18:45.525 --> 18:48.445
of the families, doing this were,

18:48.825 --> 18:49.885
in possession of a garden.

18:50.465 --> 18:54.325
Um, the, the, Watson Sisters, Morgan

18:54.325 --> 18:56.805
and Lillian played against each other in the first Wimbledon

18:57.235 --> 19:00.885
singles, final, were the daughters of the vicar of,

19:00.905 --> 19:05.525
a, parish in Soli Hall.

19:06.105 --> 19:09.805
Uh, and they, the rectory had a, had a, a,

19:09.925 --> 19:12.085
a wall at the back that they could play tennis against.

19:12.665 --> 19:15.765
Um, this was thought to be relatively safe.

19:16.585 --> 19:19.525
Now, of course, in the context of increasing demands

19:19.525 --> 19:22.165
for women's involvement in public life, once

19:22.795 --> 19:25.605
they had a foot in the door, it became, harder

19:25.665 --> 19:27.845
to restrict them to the, the sort of language

19:27.845 --> 19:30.725
that was always used to describe women in the 1870s playing

19:30.725 --> 19:32.925
tennis was dainty and graceful.

19:33.305 --> 19:35.405
Uh, it was believed to be sort of poetic.

19:35.785 --> 19:38.485
Um, and, and, there was even some worry

19:38.485 --> 19:39.605
that men were playing it.

19:39.605 --> 19:42.965
In fact, the, the MP for Warwick in Lemington,

19:42.965 --> 19:46.685
who was the chairman of the, Warwick County,

19:46.685 --> 19:50.325
war County Cricket Club, complained that,

19:50.325 --> 19:51.605
they'd set up tennis courts

19:51.605 --> 19:55.645
because he said this would lead, healthy young men

19:55.645 --> 19:57.965
to go off and play tennis, which he regarded

19:57.965 --> 19:59.365
as a, as a women's game.

19:59.865 --> 20:04.285
Uh, so the, its status for gender was a, a matter

20:04.285 --> 20:05.405
of contention at the beginning.

20:05.945 --> 20:08.645
Uh, and of course, women were not treated equally,

20:08.785 --> 20:11.605
but over time, their place in it.

20:11.665 --> 20:13.885
And fairly quickly with, with the divergence of,

20:13.885 --> 20:16.725
for example, mixed doubles tennis, which was,

20:17.235 --> 20:20.885
contested in tournaments from very early on, their,

20:20.885 --> 20:24.125
their, their role in it, came to be seen as closer

20:24.225 --> 20:26.125
to equal than it was in a lot of other sports.

20:26.465 --> 20:28.445
Men and women were playing alongside each other.

20:28.775 --> 20:31.085
Women were playing in competitive tournaments

20:31.085 --> 20:34.725
and said, whereas men, and as the sport changed

20:34.725 --> 20:39.245
and progressed, women's role in it, became less unequal,

20:39.415 --> 20:41.965
let's just say, even in the 1950s, it has to be said

20:41.965 --> 20:45.805
that the prize of the prior, his annual tournament was,

20:46.145 --> 20:48.605
five pounds for, for men.

20:48.865 --> 20:51.765
And, four pounds, 10 shilling for women,

20:51.765 --> 20:54.485
which meant they were being deprived of 50 pence just to,

20:54.505 --> 20:56.245
demonstrate the, the, the,

20:56.245 --> 20:57.405
the difference of their status.

20:57.795 --> 21:00.485
However, thi this was different from most sports,

21:00.625 --> 21:03.205
and it challenged the idea of sports as in,

21:03.205 --> 21:05.365
as inherently masculine,

21:05.585 --> 21:09.485
and as a preparation for, for, military activity

21:09.585 --> 21:13.765
or as a demonstration of, muscular Christian virtue,

21:13.895 --> 21:17.685
which is usually the sort of language in which,

21:17.705 --> 21:20.685
sports officials talked about their, their, their work

21:20.705 --> 21:21.885
and the work of clubs.

21:22.425 --> 21:25.045
So there was a difference for, by class.

21:25.215 --> 21:26.845
There was a difference by gender,

21:27.225 --> 21:29.685
and of course, for the West Midlands, it,

21:29.825 --> 21:32.085
it was an important business opportunity.

21:33.175 --> 21:36.315
Uh, this became more true as time went on,

21:36.455 --> 21:41.235
as broadcasting emerged as, international tournaments.

21:41.255 --> 21:43.315
And these, in the interwar period, some

21:43.315 --> 21:45.555
of the biggest international tournaments were, and,

21:45.555 --> 21:50.315
and players were, were hosted at, Birmingham Clubs,

21:50.655 --> 21:53.955
as indeed, they still are to some extent.

21:54.455 --> 21:59.435
Um, and, this brought attention in the national press

21:59.935 --> 22:01.435
to, the region.

22:02.135 --> 22:06.715
Um, it, meant that the region had to be recognized by,

22:06.975 --> 22:10.595
by authorities, in, in London,

22:10.935 --> 22:13.275
and had to be given its, its share of influence

22:13.415 --> 22:15.955
or a share of influence, at least in the, the running

22:15.975 --> 22:17.515
of the, of the game.

22:18.015 --> 22:21.795
Um, and, of course, in recent years, that's meant that,

22:22.055 --> 22:25.875
tournaments attracting, thousands of,

22:25.875 --> 22:29.875
spectators have been drawn to, the remaining

22:29.875 --> 22:31.515
and larger Birmingham clubs.

22:31.615 --> 22:36.475
And, and that's drawn, not only, catering

22:36.495 --> 22:37.515
and hospitality business,

22:37.515 --> 22:41.875
but it's, it's drawn, profile to the city.

22:42.375 --> 22:46.795
Um, so there's a, there's a, a business change,

22:47.375 --> 22:48.675
that's being reflected here

22:49.175 --> 22:52.235
and caused, there's a, class change

22:52.495 --> 22:53.555
and a change of gender.

22:53.855 --> 22:56.355
Uh, and all of those demonstrate

22:57.215 --> 22:58.315
and strengthen things

22:58.315 --> 23:00.555
that are distinctive about the West Midlands.

23:00.975 --> 23:02.275
The, the Society

23:02.275 --> 23:04.395
of the West Midlands is different from the Society

23:04.775 --> 23:06.075
of Southwest 19.

23:06.415 --> 23:10.275
Uh, it's an industrial, very fluid, society

23:10.505 --> 23:14.675
with a very limited aristocratic,

23:15.405 --> 23:16.715
layer in it.

23:17.215 --> 23:22.155
Uh, and, it's, it's a, it's a, a city in the case

23:22.155 --> 23:24.995
of Birmingham, and Wamp at the same time.

23:24.995 --> 23:26.715
In fact, that's growing very fast.

23:27.175 --> 23:30.235
And so, this particular sport becomes a mirror

23:30.455 --> 23:32.155
to the change that's involved in that.

23:32.735 --> 23:36.355
The areas for continuing research, are

23:36.995 --> 23:40.155
drilling into those hard to find sources for the,

23:40.215 --> 23:41.835
for the hard to explore periods.

23:42.055 --> 23:45.725
Uh, we're coming up to the hundred 50th anniversary of,

23:46.385 --> 23:47.805
the Edge BA Primary Club.

23:47.825 --> 23:50.165
The primary club started on, on a a,

23:50.365 --> 23:54.765
a lawn on Pebble Mill Road, in 1875,

23:55.245 --> 23:57.805
probably by about a dozen friends and neighbors.

23:57.825 --> 24:01.245
The census returns tell us the people who were playing,

24:02.095 --> 24:04.045
could, could pretty much speak to each other

24:04.105 --> 24:06.165
by calling across their, their gardens.

24:06.665 --> 24:08.005
Um,

24:09.295 --> 24:12.475
and I do, I, I want to find out more about

24:12.535 --> 24:14.155
who those people were,

24:14.535 --> 24:17.435
and, why they came to choose law and tennis.

24:17.915 --> 24:20.075
Interestingly, as a sport, and,

24:20.255 --> 24:22.275
and how they, how the clubs grew.

24:22.465 --> 24:24.915
There's a lot more to be found about the relationships

24:24.945 --> 24:27.595
between different clubs and between those clubs

24:28.055 --> 24:29.995
and the national organization.

24:30.535 --> 24:32.315
So there's a, a good deal of work

24:32.375 --> 24:34.155
to be done in looking at those,

24:34.375 --> 24:39.115
and looking, for example, at the impact of changing,

24:39.465 --> 24:42.075
communities, in, the representation

24:42.135 --> 24:44.755
of ethnic minorities in, sports,

24:45.335 --> 24:48.955
in particularly in squash, in, law, tennis clubs,

24:49.135 --> 24:51.395
and, and the way in which that was handled

24:51.615 --> 24:53.275
by the, the clubs involved.

24:53.815 --> 24:57.195
But the takeaway from this is, first of all, that,

24:58.175 --> 25:00.035
sports history has a lot to tell us,

25:00.295 --> 25:01.355
not just law and tennis.

25:01.815 --> 25:04.915
It might be football, it might be cricket, it might be

25:05.785 --> 25:07.515
curling or quotes,

25:07.515 --> 25:11.875
but they tell us about people who didn't usually,

25:12.085 --> 25:15.155
leave a record of their attitudes and thoughts

25:15.155 --> 25:17.915
and preferences and identities for historians

25:17.915 --> 25:18.915
to easily look at.

25:19.535 --> 25:24.395
Um, sport is described by, Winston Churchill in one

25:24.395 --> 25:27.235
of his characteristically throwaway phrases as the, the,

25:27.255 --> 25:31.315
the, the greatest of, populous popular pastimes,

25:31.315 --> 25:33.955
the greatest of British popular pastimes, which appears

25:33.955 --> 25:35.395
to be a, something, a nothing phrase,

25:35.895 --> 25:39.115
but actually it describes both what is regarded

25:39.115 --> 25:41.675
as the strength and the weakness of sport history.

25:42.135 --> 25:45.715
Um, yes, it is popular, and some people might say it's

25:45.715 --> 25:47.915
therefore recording the lives of lots of people

25:47.935 --> 25:49.355
who didn't make that much difference.

25:49.825 --> 25:52.315
Well, that's a, a dispute historians have all the time.

25:52.995 --> 25:55.075
I personally think that everyone's life is,

25:55.335 --> 25:57.595
is worth examining, if only

25:57.595 --> 25:59.555
because everyone's life affects everyone else's.

26:00.015 --> 26:02.755
Um, but it's a pastime as well.

26:03.225 --> 26:07.235
It's something that people did without thinking about,

26:07.235 --> 26:08.635
what are the people's perceptions

26:08.635 --> 26:11.915
of it would be in hundred years time without recording it in

26:12.115 --> 26:15.595
speeches and, published books,

26:15.895 --> 26:18.875
and, in, broadcast material,

26:19.125 --> 26:20.795
which was intended for the ages.

26:21.015 --> 26:23.475
And in some ways, therefore, it, it's more candid.

26:23.735 --> 26:26.995
Um, it, so it is, a popular

26:27.535 --> 26:32.275
and in some ways distinctive source of history,

26:32.455 --> 26:34.515
and placed alongside business

26:35.135 --> 26:38.035
and, the history of faith,

26:38.095 --> 26:40.515
and the history of gender and class.

26:41.015 --> 26:43.035
Uh, it's, it's got a lot to contribute.

26:43.585 --> 26:45.045
The other thing is that it tells us

26:45.045 --> 26:46.445
that the regions are not all the same.

26:46.945 --> 26:48.845
Uh, the West Midlands had,

26:49.385 --> 26:52.565
as earlier a role in taking part in, the development

26:52.565 --> 26:55.685
of law and tennis as any other part of the country,

26:55.905 --> 26:58.165
and the people who played it in the West Midlands,

26:58.425 --> 26:59.965
who different from the people

26:59.965 --> 27:02.725
who played it in other parts of the country.

27:03.025 --> 27:07.165
Uh, a parallel obviously is in, rugby

27:07.275 --> 27:09.765
with the development of rugby league,

27:09.945 --> 27:14.365
or in football with the, with the, contest

27:14.475 --> 27:17.925
between, working class clubs

27:18.305 --> 27:20.125
and the ones from Eaton

27:20.385 --> 27:22.765
or from the, the officer class of the,

27:23.145 --> 27:24.365
of the, military.

27:24.865 --> 27:28.685
Um, these sorts of different identities of different parts

27:28.685 --> 27:31.965
of the country, often neglected,

27:32.275 --> 27:36.005
when looking at the most obvious sources, are,

27:36.075 --> 27:37.285
well worth exploring.

27:37.705 --> 27:39.805
Uh, so this is a, a proof

27:39.805 --> 27:41.405
of the value of sporting history.

27:42.035 --> 27:45.085
It's a proof of the value of, regional

27:45.085 --> 27:48.245
and local history, and of popular history.

27:48.585 --> 27:52.005
Um, and for all those reasons, I'll be doing more of it.

"Exploring the Cultural History of Lawn Tennis: A Focus on the West Midlands"**

00:00:00 - You can learn everything you need to know about perceptions of tennis by, getting anybody to say the phrase anyone for tennis, because it can only be said in, in a cut glass, English aristocratic, or upper middle class accents. And that's because we associate tennis with prosperity, usually with, the southeast of England, particularly with southwest 19 and London with, the All England Club and the Wimbledon Tournament. And that's understandable today where it's one of the, the four, grand slam tournaments where it attracts a, a more, prestigious international, set of players.
00:00:43 - However, to assume that that's how tennis started or that it developed along a sort of continuous line to that point is, is, is mistaken, frankly. And I was exploring ways in which, some of the story might have been missed. There's a, there, there, there are, there are two things I wanted to do here, really. One is to find out what was happening in a particular region of the provinces, the West Midlands. and the other in doing that was to demonstrate the value of looking at sports as a form of cultural history. and to see what it tells us about society, about the economy of a given area, about perceptions of,
00:01:25 - and their relationships to each other, as well as telling us about the particular individuals and the institutions involved. One of the main questions that we have to look at here is, where and when and with whom did lawn tennis begin? Real tennis, of course, been going for centuries, indoor tennis. and in some ways it's related to the development of lawn tennis, but actually in the West Midlands, that that was a quite, separate development, in most respects. I wanted to discover at what point and by whom was the game of law and tennis first started in the West Midlands. Now, this is a matter of great contention
00:02:09 - early on in the writing about the history of law and tennis, Lord Aberdare, for example, did a, a a history of, law and tennis in the 1950s, which emphasized very much the role of, Wimbledon and of London in the development of the sports. around about the same time a man called Ronald Larry was writing, the, a book called the, the Cradle of Law and Tennis. Tennis. he was a former correspondent of the, the Birmingham Post, and, perhaps unsurprisingly focused on the evidence of the sport beginning in, in Birmingham and, Lemington Spa in the West Midlands,
00:02:49 - and I want to explore that question to some extent. The, the debate about that has gone on since amongst, but more, serious scholars. we've had, for example, John Lewison, who, wrote about class and tennis in the, 1990s tended to downplay, tennis outside London and tended not to recognize participation by those below, the, the, the public school, upper middle class or classes, which at least he does recognize in the title of his book. and, Hener Gil Meister, on the other hand,
00:03:28 - of law and tennis, was more willing to recognize the diversity of origins of the, of the sport. most recently we've had, Richard Hill Way who's argued against the, what you might call the West Midlands thesis. and, you've had, Kevin Jeffries, who's written a book about tennis in the provinces, beyond SW 19, which again, has, has, made the case for looking at the evidence, outside greater London. and so the debate has gone on for some time. It's about the date, first of all. and, you'll see in the article there's a description of the argument made for the West Midlands,

"Exploring the Origins and Development of Lawn Tennis in the West Midlands"

00:04:11 - to the Birmingham Magistrates, who claims to be the man who invented law and tennis, and wrote a letter to the field about it in, in 1874, because at the same time, in 1874, a, a kit of, again, very like tennis called Farik, was patented by, a man called, major Clapton Winfield, who was a friend of the Prince of Wales, and was involved in the All England Club, and, and started a, a, a similar game, a racket game, with a net, in, in, Winfield's case on a, a figure of eight court, for example.
00:04:53 - different, but there were sort of two parallel versions of law and tennis developing, at least in those two locations and possibly in others. and it would be wrong to assume that, everything started in London and stayed there. What I wanted to discover was who were the people, who, along with Harry Gem and his closest, closest associates, were, were getting the game going institutionally, and what did it tell us? What was their identity? What did they think law and tennis was about? Well, the sources for sports history, incredibly rich, but very patchy. It, it's a fascinating subject to get into
00:05:34 - whose involvements in society is not always recognized in traditional top-down historical, inquiry. it's got a lot to say about the role of women, for example. it's got a lot to say about class identity and about changes in demography and, and, and in leisure, and to some extent in, in, religious and other ideas. So it, it, it's a fascinating set of sources to look at. But the problem is, most sporting records are incomplete. I did use, for example,
00:06:15 - internal papers of, the largest West Midlands Law and Tennis Club made up from two of the earliest ones. The, the Edge Baston Prior Law and Tennis Club is made up of the Edge. Bain Club started in 1878, and the prior club started in 1875. but those records are very, very sparse once you get back before 1900. and this is the same with most sports clubs. There are, minutes, there are membership records, all very, very useful. There are tournament programs and papers and correspondence, but most of these have been, lost over the course of time.
00:06:56 - with, with very few exceptions. and so one has to turn for corroboration and fulfilling in the, the considerable blanks to, the local press, to directories, to other contemporary records outside the sporting institutions, and to, to the extent that it's possible to family and oral history. Because of course, you know, the history of, modern sport, like all of modern history is not that long. and, and, it was possible, for example, to speak to the, the grandchildren of some of the very earliest players of law
00:07:35 - and so, a, a variety of sources had to be brought to play in this. And, there are gaps in those sources. And in those gaps, there's a great deal of room for, dispute and contention and part and ship, to be honest, which is a, a another of the, the challenges of, of sporting history. Lor Tennis was, significant to the West Midlands in a number of ways. It was important to certain elements of West Midlands, particularly Birmingham, society. It, it was the, it was the platform on which, the, of the, of the late Industrial Revolution

Social Dynamics and Class Distinctions in Birmingham's Lawn Tennis Clubs**

00:08:17 - Birmingham, it was the platform from which they announced their status, that they were, they were the, the, the rising middle class. It wasn't just for the most wealthy, it wasn't just for, aristocrats. there were clubs. And the two, the, the, the two clubs that I was able to look at the papers of most closely were reflected this, one of those clubs, like a lot of clubs, were dominated by the most prestigious and wealthy in society. you had a, a club whose grounds were, owned by Thomas Chapman, a a major industrialist who,
00:08:59 - that the Edpa Club used. the, the president, not just the landlord of the club, but the presidents of the club was the, was the, Aris who owned all the, the local land. Lord Cal. there, there were, PSEs, there, there were garden tees, hosted by PSEs at, at, at the Edge Bastin Club. And they tended to have a, a more traditional approach to playing games on Sundays. So the role of women, for example, there were other clubs on the other hand, on the prior club. Originally it was one of these where it, it, it was not, the, for example, as you had at the, the Edge Besting Club,
00:09:41 - of Birmingham, it was the wages clerks from the factories. It was sometimes the engine fitters, from local works. It was often junior professional people, trainee lawyers, or accountants, usually a younger lower status membership. and the tension between these was, was, you know, you could feel it in, in the records that they, the Edge Bus Club at one point refused to play any of the other local clubs because they said they weren't good enough. This tension is, is visible even as late as the, the 1950s, for example, in the, in the memoir, of,
00:10:22 - of 1969, who started out playing at, edge BA and The Pry, and a number of other local clubs in Birmingham, came from King's Heath in Birmingham, classic suburban, recruits to tennis. and, she describes in, in her memoir, written at the time, she was still playing, that there was a social hierarchy of clubs. Some were rather snooty, some were, they emphasized the professionalism more. They, they emphasized competing, not being paid professionalism, but of, of the, the serious approach to the game more.
00:11:03 - which had a much broader recruitment. The, the, the broadest recruitment, really to law intent is came in the interwar period. And, Joyce Kay's work on this is, is very, interesting by the way, the, in the expansion of works teams, and of, municipal facilities, which, which actually in the interwar period outran the numbers of people involved in private clubs, and actually interacted with those groups as well. so you'd have tournaments played at private clubs by the Birmingham Municipal Grounds, tennis Club, at that point. Lauren Tennis came closest to the promise that,
00:11:45 - who's a world top 10 player. He was the son of the MP for Edge Baston. His brother was also a, a major, international player. And he boasted in, in a book in 1924 that tennis was the most democratic, sport, that you could find. I, I think that was a rather bold claim, but it came closest to it's, at that time, it was possible for large, and very diverse numbers of people, to play the game. And, it, its reputation was not quite as elite as it subsequently became. So we've gone from a Victorian and Ed Edwardian game with very small numbers playing, to be honest, most clubs had 20 or 30 members.

"Shifts in Tennis Participation and Gender Dynamics in the West Midlands: A Historical Perspective"

00:12:27 - But, was, was the, the leading one of the, of the region, to, a larger number of, law and tennis enthusiasts actively playing in the, in the interwar period. and in the, in the postwar period, you get into a completely different scenario where all sorts of sporting organizations are struggling to, to recruit. they're competing with, television. They're competing with other forms of leisure and entertainment. and, in order to watch those sports, you now only have to watch the television,
00:13:07 - to the tournaments in the past. And at the same time, you have the, the development of professionalism, which of course was very difficult for, smaller clubs to be able to, to contend with it. It puts a great many of their tournaments under threat. So the circumstances of sports have changed over time, and it's changed the people involved. But at the beginning, you had a relatively wide range, and in the interwar period, a relatively wide range of people that were sports works clubs from, all of the car manufacturers in Coventry, for example. they had them, obviously, the Bourneville works, led by this great philanthropic family that provided sport.
00:13:52 - tennis team, in the West Midlands. we went from that to the, the, the bubble of popular participation, somewhat bursting, perhaps, the, the balloon going down might be a better, better for in the post-war period. So class is something that was reflected in the system. Gender is also something that's reflected, the, the involvement of women in tennis, dates about to its beginning, now. It was never equal, but it was equally possible for women to participate.
00:14:30 - take something like the Tally Hoe Club, which is a quite, serious hard courts club in Birmingham, had hundreds of members. And in the 1920s, 40% of them were women. and most of those women, were the, the, the, the club very helpfully when it turned itself into a limited company, listed not only all its members and their addresses, but also their occupations, which, which tells you that their occupations were a matter of some significance. and the women, with a couple of exceptions were not listed by employment, but as single or married or widowed. And, the, the majority of them were single.
00:15:13 - of them playing members, obviously not afforded the same prizes in tournaments, sometimes with not the same rights to use the, the courts, at least early on. But it was a sport which unusually, when it started in the Victorian era, admitted women to play it. And this was a, this was something of a, a challenge for reactionary attitudes of the era. And now there's some debate about whether women's submissions in the sport was, a, a concession, which was, of course, unequal and therefore reflected patriarchy, which is true.
00:15:53 - to leverage greater status and, and, and, involvement for women. so you always, one of the, one of the reasons that, tennis law and tennis was seen as, an acceptable sport for women to play. And you have to remember, in the 1870s when this was going on, this was the first time we were able to vote in local authority elections and to become members of school boards. It was when the, the very first women were entering, medical schools and, and, the legal profession. This coincided with the development of, of, the first wave of the women's movement.

"Challenging Gender Norms: The Evolution of Women's Participation in Lawn Tennis"

00:16:32 - to be treated differently from the way they've been treated before. And yet, sport was seen as something intensely masculine. All sport was seen as a way of developing men, not, not only for their, their own health, but for their preparedness, for war, for, for national efficiency. And so, reactionary opinion in sports had a, had a difficulty here. if they admitted women to playing role and tennis, which very quickly, they, they had to, because the clubs were popular institutions, they were not governed by great national bodies as yet. they, they would be
00:17:13 - It would become possible for women to, to, take part in other sports. If they did not admit them to Lauren Tennis, then, there was the problem that they might go off and, and find other entertainment. Cycling was an obvious, alternative, which, reactionary parents and husbands and brothers, might have thought even more dangerously independent. Lauren Tennis, of course, was seen at the time as a non exertive sport. The way it was played was not like it would be today. it was possible to play without moving around too much. The woman was not expected at the time
00:17:52 - men played in, long trousers until the 1930s. The first tournament where a man played in shorts was actually, at the, the prior club. and, the, the first woman, for example, to, to win a Wimbledon singles title. Moore Watson, came from Soli Hol and was a member of the Edge Baston Club, and had won the Edge Bastin title in 1881. The first Women's Wimbledon title was not, contested until 1884, but if you look at pictures of her, she's, dressed from head to toe, and, wearing a hat, and, and, she's in play at the time.
00:18:34 - that this was a relatively safe environment in which to allow women to take part in sporting activity. It could be played at home most of the time, that most of the families, doing this were, in possession of a garden. the, the, Watson Sisters, Morgan and Lillian played against each other in the first Wimbledon singles, final, were the daughters of the vicar of, a, parish in Soli Hall. and they, the rectory had a, had a, a, a wall at the back that they could play tennis against. this was thought to be relatively safe.
00:19:19 - for women's involvement in public life, once they had a foot in the door, it became, harder to restrict them to the, the sort of language that was always used to describe women in the 1870s playing tennis was dainty and graceful. it was believed to be sort of poetic. and, and, there was even some worry that men were playing it. In fact, the, the MP for Warwick in Lemington, who was the chairman of the, Warwick County, war County Cricket Club, complained that, they'd set up tennis courts because he said this would lead, healthy young men to go off and play tennis, which he regarded
00:19:59 - so the, its status for gender was a, a matter of contention at the beginning. and of course, women were not treated equally, but over time, their place in it. And fairly quickly with, with the divergence of, for example, mixed doubles tennis, which was, contested in tournaments from very early on, their, their, their role in it, came to be seen as closer to equal than it was in a lot of other sports. Men and women were playing alongside each other. Women were playing in competitive tournaments and said, whereas men, and as the sport changed and progressed, women's role in it, became less unequal,

"Gender and Class Dynamics in West Midlands Tennis: Historical Context and Implications"

00:20:41 - that the prize of the prior, his annual tournament was, five pounds for, for men. And, four pounds, 10 shilling for women, which meant they were being deprived of 50 pence just to, demonstrate the, the, the, the difference of their status. However, thi this was different from most sports, and it challenged the idea of sports as in, as inherently masculine, and as a preparation for, for, military activity or as a demonstration of, muscular Christian virtue, which is usually the sort of language in which, sports officials talked about their, their, their work
00:21:22 - So there was a difference for, by class. There was a difference by gender, and of course, for the West Midlands, it, it was an important business opportunity. this became more true as time went on, as broadcasting emerged as, international tournaments. And these, in the interwar period, some of the biggest international tournaments were, and, and players were, were hosted at, Birmingham Clubs, as indeed, they still are to some extent. and, this brought attention in the national press to, the region.
00:22:06 - by authorities, in, in London, and had to be given its, its share of influence or a share of influence, at least in the, the running of the, of the game. and, of course, in recent years, that's meant that, tournaments attracting, thousands of, spectators have been drawn to, the remaining and larger Birmingham clubs. And, and that's drawn, not only, catering and hospitality business, but it's, it's drawn, profile to the city.
00:22:47 - that's being reflected here and caused, there's a, class change and a change of gender. and all of those demonstrate and strengthen things that are distinctive about the West Midlands. The, the Society of the West Midlands is different from the Society of Southwest 19. it's an industrial, very fluid, society with a very limited aristocratic, layer in it. and, it's, it's a, it's a, a city in the case of Birmingham, and Wamp at the same time.
00:23:27 - And so, this particular sport becomes a mirror to the change that's involved in that. The areas for continuing research, are drilling into those hard to find sources for the, for the hard to explore periods. we're coming up to the hundred 50th anniversary of, the Edge BA Primary Club. The primary club started on, on a a, a lawn on Pebble Mill Road, in 1875, probably by about a dozen friends and neighbors. The census returns tell us the people who were playing, could, could pretty much speak to each other by calling across their, their gardens.
00:24:09 - and I do, I, I want to find out more about who those people were, and, why they came to choose law and tennis. Interestingly, as a sport, and, and how they, how the clubs grew. There's a lot more to be found about the relationships between different clubs and between those clubs and the national organization. So there's a, a good deal of work to be done in looking at those, and looking, for example, at the impact of changing, communities, in, the representation of ethnic minorities in, sports, in particularly in squash, in, law, tennis clubs,

"Exploring the Significance of Sports History in Understanding Regional Identities"

00:24:51 - by the, the clubs involved. But the takeaway from this is, first of all, that, sports history has a lot to tell us, not just law and tennis. It might be football, it might be cricket, it might be curling or quotes, but they tell us about people who didn't usually, leave a record of their attitudes and thoughts and preferences and identities for historians to easily look at. sport is described by, Winston Churchill in one of his characteristically throwaway phrases as the, the, the, the greatest of, populous popular pastimes,
00:25:33 - to be a, something, a nothing phrase, but actually it describes both what is regarded as the strength and the weakness of sport history. yes, it is popular, and some people might say it's therefore recording the lives of lots of people who didn't make that much difference. Well, that's a, a dispute historians have all the time. I personally think that everyone's life is, is worth examining, if only because everyone's life affects everyone else's. but it's a pastime as well. It's something that people did without thinking about, what are the people's perceptions of it would be in hundred years time without recording it in
00:26:15 - and, in, broadcast material, which was intended for the ages. And in some ways, therefore, it, it's more candid. it, so it is, a popular and in some ways distinctive source of history, and placed alongside business and, the history of faith, and the history of gender and class. it's, it's got a lot to contribute. The other thing is that it tells us that the regions are not all the same. the West Midlands had, as earlier a role in taking part in, the development
00:26:55 - and the people who played it in the West Midlands, who different from the people who played it in other parts of the country. a parallel obviously is in, rugby with the development of rugby league, or in football with the, with the, contest between, working class clubs and the ones from Eaton or from the, the officer class of the, of the, military. these sorts of different identities of different parts of the country, often neglected, when looking at the most obvious sources, are,
00:27:48 - so this is a, a proof of the value of sporting history. It's a proof of the value of, regional and local history, and of popular history. and for all those reasons, I'll be doing more of it.

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