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Podcast

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

Updated: daily
Episodes available: indefinitely

Episodes to download

  •

    Rugby's Great Split

    Thu 13 Feb 2014

    11/30 Clare Balding tells a story of lies, expulsions and bigotry when rugby split in two.

  • The State of Play

    Fri 9 Mar 2012

    30/30 Clare Balding explores the cultural importance of the great triviality that is sport.

  • Globalisation

    Thu 8 Mar 2012

    29/30 Clare Balding explores the way television has changed our relationship with sport forever.

  • Rugby's Big Bang

    Wed 7 Mar 2012

    28/30 Clare Balding explores the demise of the amateurism in rugby union.

  • Golden Girls

    Tue 6 Mar 2012

    27/30 Clare Balding explains how the 1960s saw women athletes finally take centre stage.

  • Sport for All

    Mon 5 Mar 2012

    26/30 Clare Balding asks why and when the British government got involved in sport.

  • Beating Us at Our Own Game

    Fri 2 Mar 2012

    25/30 Clare Balding takes a look at Britain's most successful export ever - football.

  • The Gentleman Amateur

    Thu 1 Mar 2012

    24/30 Clare Balding on the demise of the amateur gentleman and the rise of the professional.

  • Driving Innovation

    Wed 29 Feb 2012

    23/30 Clare Balding is at Silverstone to explore how Britain led the way in motor racing.

  • Broadcasting to the Nation

    Tue 28 Feb 2012

    22/30 Clare Balding discovers how the birth of broadcasting changed British sport for ever.

  • War Games

    Mon 27 Feb 2012

    21/30 Clare Balding explores the vital role sport has played during both world wars.

  • Ireland, North of the Border

    Fri 24 Feb 2012

    20/30 Clare is in Belfast to explore the impact that the Troubles had on sport in the region.

  • Ireland, Politics on the Pitch

    Thu 23 Feb 2012

    19/30 Clare Balding is at Croke Park in Dublin to discover how Ireland developed its own sports.

  • Welsh Rugby and Its National Heroes

    Wed 22 Feb 2012

    18/30 Clare Balding explores the role rugby has played in shaping Welsh national identity.

  • Anyone But England

    Tue 21 Feb 2012

    17/30 Clare Balding explores the role football has played in shaping Scottish national identity.

  • Cricket and the English Hero

    Mon 20 Feb 2012

    16/30 Clare investigates the role our sporting heroes play in shaping national identity.

  • A Bit of a Flutter

    Fri 17 Feb 2012

    15/30 Clare Balding looks at the role gambling has played in our relationship with sport.

  • Women Between the Wars

    Thu 16 Feb 2012

    14/30 Clare Balding discovers how working women were finally given their sporting chance.

  • Fighting Back

    Wed 15 Feb 2012

    13/30 Clare Balding looks at the relationship between boxing and Britain's ethnic minorities.

  • Tennis and Golf in Suburbia

    Tue 14 Feb 2012

    12/30 Clare Balding discovers how tennis and golf clubs were borne of Victorian middle classes.

  • Exporting Football

    Fri 10 Feb 2012

    10/30 Clare Balding charts how Britain spread the passion for football around the world.

  • The Dawn of Professional Football

    Thu 9 Feb 2012

    9/30 Clare Balding tells the story of how football went from an amateur pastime to big business

  • The Formal Empire

    Wed 8 Feb 2012

    8/30 Clare Balding reveals that sport was the glue that helped keep the British Empire together

  • The Corinthian Ideal

    Tue 7 Feb 2012

    7/30 Clare Balding explores the founding of the Football Association in 1863.

  • Playing Like Ladies

    Mon 6 Feb 2012

    6/30 Clare discovers the freedom that Victorian public school girls found on the sports field.

  • The Making of Men

    Fri 3 Feb 2012

    5/30 Clare visits Rugby School to discover why it produced men fit to run the empire.

  • The Unsporting Side of Sport

    Thu 2 Feb 2012

    4/30 Sport and gambling are inextricably linked, especially when it comes to horse racing.

  • The Bare Fists of Boxing

    Wed 1 Feb 2012

    3/30 Clare Balding explores the importance of boxing to the 19th-century alpha male.

  • A Level Playing Field

    Tue 31 Jan 2012

    2/30 Unlike the French, was it our bonding love of cricket that prevented a revolution?

  • The Rise of Olympism

    Mon 30 Jan 2012

    1/30 Claire visits Rugby School, which can claim to be the birthplace of the modern Olympics.

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