A Taste for Diversions: English Sport 1775-1815 By Dennis Brailsford An essential text for academics and general readers alike, exploring some of the most important years in the formation of our sporting heritage. ISBN-13: 9780718829810 Specifications: 234x156mm, 144pp, Paperback with b&w illustrations Price: £17.50 • US$37.50 Publication: December 1999 Order this Title Now

About this Book

The Battle of Waterloo, it was said, was won on the playing fields of Eton. In his new book, Dennis Brailsford explores how this can have been so.

Here the acclaimed author of serious sporting history takes the first scholarly look at English sport from 1775 to 1815. The period from the middle of the eighteenth century to the middle of the nineteenth has been largely neglected by historians of sport, and yet it saw the establishment of all five classic horse-races, the founding of cricket’s ruling body, the MCC, and not only the first recognised championship in boxing but the first transatlantic challenger for the title.

Now scholars are beginning to recognise the significance of those years for our sporting inheritance, both its place in and its impact on society in Britain and in many of the outposts of Empire. Dr Brailsford has provided an essential text for academics and general readers alike.

Reviews and Comments

"This is an all-encompassing account with excellent research notes."
The Cricketer

"Serious and scholarly yet enormously instructive and entertaining. Essential text for the student of sport."
All Sport & Leisure Monthly

About the Author

Dr Dennis Brailsford is the successful author of several books on sporting history. He was formerly Director of the North Worcestershire College, Bromsgrove, and then became an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Birmingham. He frequently visits and lectures in North America and Europe and has made a number of broadcasts on BBC Radio. He is a member of the North American Society for Sport History.

Other titles available by Dennis Brailsford:
Bareknuckles: A Social History of Prize Fighting
British Sport: A Social History (Paperback Edition)