The Sporting Times

"The Sporting Times" (founded 1865, ceased publication 1932) was a weekly British newspaper devoted chiefly to sport, and in particular to horse racing. It was informally known as "The Pink 'Un", as it was printed on pink paper.

History

The paper was founded in 1865Andrews, Alexander, "Chapters in the History of British Journalism", Chapter XXIII, [http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=AbA9vB0e9i8C&pg=PA322&lpg=PA322&dq=%22The+Sporting+Times%22&source=web&ots=LzNSdR6--c&sig=NsVBddjLgqWdwNi9v0vqvIV3sa4&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=3&ct=result#PPA322,M1 page 322] online at books.google.co.uk, accessed 2 July 2008] by John Corlett, of Chariton Court, East Sutton, Kent, who was both its editor and its proprietor, and by a Dr Shorthouse. [ [http://www.roll-of-honour.org/Kent/CanterburyBoer.html CANTERBURY BOER WAR (SOUTH AFRICA) MEMORIAL] at roll-of-honour.org, accessed 2 July 2008] Corlett also wrote a column in the paper called 'Our Note Book' and was associated with it from 1865 to 1913.Price, Warren C., "Literature of Journalism" (University of Minnesota Press, 1999) [http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=ncDF8wuZvK8C&pg=PA30&lpg=PA30&dq=Sporting+Times&source=web&ots=kLeHKylln3&sig=XzW6kLeeoZidbpyykTn8j6kmb_4&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=4&ct=result#PPA30,M1 p. 30] online at books.google.co.uk, accessed 2 July 2008] [ [http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&d=WH18810709.2.21&cl=&srpos=0&st=1&e=-------en--1----0-all TURF GOSSIP] in the Wanganui Herald, Volume XV, Issue 4182, 9 July 1881, page 3, online at paperspast.natlib.govt.nz, accessed 2 July 2008] "The Sporting Times" was published on a Saturday, and its competitors included "The Field", "The Sportsman", the "Sporting Life", and "Bell's Life in London".Itzkowitz, David C., 'Fair Enterprise or Extravagant Speculation: Investment, Speculation, and Gambling in Victorian England', in "Victorian Studies" vol. 45, no. 1, Autumn 2002, pp. 121-147] According to Alexander Andrews's "Chapters in the History of British Journalism", the paper thrived "less upon its racing news than upon its profusion of coarse and scurrilous scraps of tittle-tattle, representing 'society journalism' in its most degraded form".

In the 1870s, the chess column of "The Sporting Times" was written by John Wisker (1846–1884), winner of the 1870 British Chess Championship. [Gaige, Jeremy, "Chess Personalia, a Bibliography" (London, McFarland, 1987, ISBN 0-7864-2353-6, p. 467]

On 14 September 1889, the magazine "Vanity Fair" carried one of its caricatures, printed in colour, of "The Sporting Times" editor John Corlett, subtitled "The Pink 'Un". [Vanity Fair magazine dated 14 September 1889]

In Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's story "The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle", first published in the "Strand Magazine" in January 1892, Sherlock Holmes deduces that a man is keen on gambling by noticing that he has a copy of the paper, commenting - "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet". [wikisource-inline|The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle]

In 1922, under the heading "The Scandal of Ulysses", the paper reviewed the complete edition of James Joyce's novel "Ulysses" just published in Paris, its columnist 'Aramis' writing trenchantly: [Aramis, "The Scandal of Ulysses", in "The Sporting Times" 34 (1 April 1922), page 4]

In "Old Pink 'Un Days" (1924), the sporting journalist J. B. Booth wrote about his work with the newspaper and its development, with anecdotes of the turf, the theatre, and boxing, and with frank accounts of some of the colourful characters of the worlds of sport and Fleet Street during the early twentieth century. [http://www.marywardbooks.com/books/Old-Pink-Un-Days-by-J-B-Booth/mw0012759111.htm Arts / Antique & Vintage Books / Old Pink Un Days by J B Booth] at marywardbooks.com, accessed 2 July 2008] He followed this up with "A Pink 'Un Remembers" (1937)Price, Warren C., "op. cit." [http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=ncDF8wuZvK8C&pg=PA179&vq=%22Sporting+Times%22&dq=Sporting+Times&source=gbs_search_s&sig=ACfU3U3yuy57JA_qs0k39A-BkJWJgbR8KQ p. 179] online at books.google.co.uk, accessed 2 July 2008] and "Sporting Times: The Pink 'Un World" (1938).

The paper ceased publication in 1932.

Rudyard Kipling mentions "The Sporting Times" as "The Pink 'Un" in his autobiography "Something of Myself" (1937). [ [http://www.kipling.org.uk/rg_schoolbefore_notes.htm Notes on 'The School Before its Time'] , a chapter of "Something of Myself", online at kipling.org.uk, accessed 2 July 2008]

Origin of the Ashes

On 29 August 1882, at the Oval, the England cricket team was beaten for the first time in a home Test match by Australia, and on 2 September "The Sporting Times" newspaper published a famous satirical death notice of English cricket: [Perry, Alex, [http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/victorians/sport_04.shtml Victorian Sport: Playing by the Rules] at bbc.co.uk, accessed 2 July 2008] [http://www.vauxhallsociety.org.uk/Oval.html Oval Cricket Ground] at vauxhallsociety.org.uk, accessed 2 July 2008] [ [http://www.theoldnewspaper.info/en/1865/8/29/ The Old Newspaper] at theoldnewspaper.info, accessed 2 July 2008]

quotation|
In Affectionate Remembrance OF "ENGLISH CRICKET", WHICH DIED AT THE OVAL ON 29th AUGUST, 1882, Deeply lamented by a large circle of sorrowing friends and acquaintances. R. I. P. "N.B.—The body will be cremated and the" "ashes taken to Australia."

This notice followed a similar one which had appeared two days before in C. W. Alcock's "Cricket: a Weekly Record of The Game", reading in full: [Alcock, C. W., (ed.), "Cricket: a Weekly Record of The Game" dated 31 August 1882] cquote|SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF ENGLAND'S SUPREMACY IN THE CRICKET-FIELD WHICH EXPIRED ON THE 29TH DAY OF AUGUST, AT THE OVAL: "ITS END WAS PEATE". However, "The Sporting Times" was the first to refer to cremation and 'ashes'.

The England cricket team toured Australia during the winter of 1882, and after it had won two out of three Tests its captain was presented with an urn containing the ashes of a cricket bail. Since then, The Ashes is the trophy England and Australia play for in Test match cricket. The urn is kept in the Lord's Cricket Ground museum.

Bibliography

*Booth, J. B., "Old Pink 'Un Days" (London, Grant Richards Ltd., 1924, illustrated, including a drawing by Philip May and a caricature by Ralph Rowland
*Booth, J. B., "A Pink 'Un Remembers" (London, T. Werner Laurie Ltd., 1937, xx + 286 pp., with foreword by C. B. Cochran)
*Booth, J. B., "Sporting Times: The Pink 'Un World" (London, T. Werner Laurie Ltd., 1938, xx + 284 pp., with foreword by Hugh Lowther, 5th Earl of Lonsdale KG)

References

ee also

*Horseracing in the United Kingdom