This book provides a detailed consideration of the history of racing in British culture and society, and explores the cultural world of racing during the interwar years. The book shows how racing gave pleasure even to the supposedly respectable middle classes and gave some working-class groups hope and consolation during economically difficult times. Regular attendance and increased spending on betting were found across class and generation, and women too were keen participants. Enjoyed by the royal family and controlled by the Jockey Club and National Hunt Committee, racing's visible emphasis on rank and status helped defend hierarchy and gentlemanly amateurism, and provided support for more conservative British attitudes. The mass media provided a cumulative cultural validation of racing, helping define national and regional identity, and encouraging the affluent consumption of sporting experience and a frank enjoyment of betting. The broader cultural approach of the first half of the book is followed by an exploration if the internal culture of racing itself. -- .
Reihe
Sprache
Verlagsort
ISBN-13
978-1-84779-079-8 (9781847790798)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Klassifikation
Mike Huggins is a part-time lecturer in history at St Martin's College, Ambleside. His earlier Flat Racing and British Society 1780-1914, received wide acclaim and earned the North American Society for Sports History prize for Sports History Book of the Year in 2000.
Price conversion indexList of tables PrefaceIntroduction1. The racing business between the wars2. Horseracing, the media and British leisure culture, 1918-19393. The declining opposition to betting on racing4. Off-course betting, bookmaking and the British5. Racing culture: The racecourse and racecourse life6. Jockeys, trainers and the micro-world of the stable7. Breeders and ownersConclusion
