Played in Britain

Infobox_Company
company_name = Played in Britain
company_
company_type = Book publisher and Research project
foundation = London, United Kingdom (2002)
location = flagicon|United Kingdom London, United Kingdom
key_people = Simon Inglis, Series Editor
industry = Publishing
homepage = [http://www.playedinbritain.co.uk/]

Played in Britain

Played in Britain is a ten year research project for English Heritage which seeks to record and celebrate Britain's sporting and recreational heritage, coinciding with the period from the staging of the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester to the 2012 Olympics. Much of the research has been made publicly available in a series of books, also called Played in Britain, featuring historic buildings (such as grandstands, pavilions, swimming pools and billiard halls) and sportscapes (such as golf courses, racecourses, rivers and lakes). The series also looks at sporting artefacts and archaeology.

The Played in Britain research project is led by author and architectural historian Simon Inglis, best known for his books on football grounds, stadiums and football history. Simon Inglis is also the series editor of the Played in Britain books.

Background

The Played in Britain series was launched in 2004, following a pilot study conducted in Manchester in 2002 as part of English Heritage’s contribution to the cultural programme of the 2002 Commonwealth Games. It frequently cites as its inspiration the words of Joseph Strutt, author of the seminal book "The Sports and Pastimes of the People of England", first published in 1801. Strutt wrote, “In order to form a just estimation of the character of any particular people, it is absolutely necessary to investigate the sports and pastimes most generally prevalent among them.”

Sporting heritage in Britain is expected to gain increased attention as the 2012 Olympics approach, but such attention is often dismissed as tokenism. For example, as government and lottery money was lavished on a new swimming pool in Manchester for the 2002 Commonwealth Games, a few hundred yards away one of the most important historic swimming pools in Europe, the Victoria Baths (built 1903-06) lay empty and abandoned by its owners, Manchester City Council. Some of the other threatened Victorian and Edwardian baths around Britain are in Birmingham, Nottingham, Glasgow and most recently, Ripon. More historic sports venues in London are expected to suffer as funds are increasingly diverted towards projects for the 2012 Olympics. These include the Herne Hill Velodrome and Haggerston Baths, Hackney.

Research so far

Played in Britain has published studies of the sporting heritage of Manchester, Birmingham and Liverpool. Further studies are scheduled for Glasgow (for Historic Scotland), Tyne & Wear and London (for the 2012 Olympics).

The series has also featured three thematic studies:

"Uppies and Downies" by Hugh Hornby, on the so-called ‘extraordinary football games of Britain’ such as the Royal Shrovetide Football match at Ashbourne, the Kirkwall Ba Game at Christmas and New Year and the annual Haxey Hood game in Lincolnshire. Hornby is a former curator at the National Football Museum in Preston.

"Liquid Assets" by Janet Smith, is a study of the lidos and open air swimming pools of Britain, of which there are approximately 100 left, down from a peak of around 300 in the early 1950s. The book’s foreword was written by artist Tracey Emin, herself a great fan of outdoor swimming from her youth in Margate.

"Engineering Archie" by Simon Inglis, looks at the life and work of the Scottish football ground engineer Archibald Leitch.

Future thematic studies include "Great Lengths", on indoor swimming pools; "Played at the Pub", on pub games; "Bowled Over", on the bowling greens of Britain and "The British Olympics" by Dr Martin Polley, an academic with a special interest in Olympic history.

The series has been regularly reviewed in the national press and media, but received its most surprising boost from the TV programme Richard and Judy, which featured a pocket book in the series, called "A Load of Old Balls". Although apparently a flippant title, the book is actually about the design and manufacture of balls in sport, and the decline of the British ball manufacturing industry.

Another strand in the series is devoted to reproducing the archives of Charles Buchan’s Football Monthly, a pioneering magazine founded by Charles Buchan and first published in 1951. Three books from the archive have been published so far - "The Best of Charles Buchan's Football Monthly", "Charles Buchan's Arsenal Gift Book" and "Charles Buchan's Manchester United Gift Book". Gift books for Liverpool and Spurs are in the pipeline.

Bibliography

*"Played in Manchester" by Simon Inglis ISBN 1873592787
*"Played in Birmingham" by Steve Beauchampe and Simon Inglis ISBN 0954744519
*"Played in Liverpool" by Ray Physick ISBN 9781850749905
*"A Load of Old Balls" by Simon Inglis ISBN 0954744527
*"Uppies and Downies" by Hugh Hornby ISBN 9781905624645
*"Liquid Assets" by Janet Smith ISBN 9780954744502
*"Engineering Archie" by Simon Inglis ISBN 9781850749189
*"The Best of Charles Buchan’s Football Monthly" ISBN 9781905624041
*"Charles Buchan’s Manchester United Gift Book" ISBN 9780954744540
*"Charles Buchan’s Arsenal Gift Book" ISBN 9780954744533

References

* [http://www.playedinbritain.co.uk Played in Britain]
* [http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/server/show/ConWebDoc.11008 English Heritage]
* [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2004/12/04/sojimw04.xml Our sporting heritage is being lost Telegraph]
* [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2008/01/31/sobook131.xml Scrums of village comfort Telegraph]
* [http://search.ft.com/ftArticle?queryText=simon+inglis&y=3&aje=true&x=19&id=060826000866&ct=0&nclick_check=1 Lidos are back with a splash Financial Times]
* [http://search.ft.com/ftArticle?queryText=simon+inglis&y=3&aje=true&x=19&id=050226001341&ct=0 Sporting cathedrals pass into oblivion Financial Times]
* [http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-news/regional-news/2007/06/01/the-sporting-legacy-that-helped-to-shape-our-city-64375-19228214 The sporting legacy that helped to shape our city Liverpool Daily Post]
* [http://www.newstatesman.com/200508290034 On the edge New Statesman]
* [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/article382300.ece Man who built his place in history Times]

External links

* [http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=txELAAAAIAAJ&dq=the+sports+and+pastimes+of+the+people+of+england+strutt&pg=PP1&ots=8m0Q2NBwlx&sig=_lqnePMMh2mQlpKIOxOpIUOq-W4&hl=en&prev=http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=The+Sports+and+Pastimes+of+the+People+of+England+Strutt&btnG=Google+Search&cr=countryUK%7CcountryGB&sa=X&oi=print&ct=title&cad=one-book-with-thumbnail#PPR5,M1 The Sports and Pastimes of the People of England]
* [http://www.victoriabaths.org.uk Victoria Baths, Manchester]
* [http://www.thestirrer.co.uk/sb2511061.html Moseley Road Baths, Balsall Heath, Birmingham]
* [http://www.savevictoriabaths.org.uk Victoria Baths, Nottingham]
* [http://www.govanhillbaths.com Govanhill Baths, Glasgow]
* [http://www.saveourspa.co.uk Ripon Spa, Ripon]
* [http://www.londonpoolscampaign.com/pools/haggerston Haggerston Pool, Hackney]
* [http://homepage.ntlworld.com/oliver.merrington/lidos/index.html Lidos in the UK]
* [http://palgrave.typepad.com/polley Martin Polley blog]