Category: Sport

An open-water swimmer needs exceptional mental strength to attempt to swim the English Channel, the North Channel or even, as South African-born Surrey resident Wayne Soutter can testify, just north of the North Channel. His outstanding feat, in 2012, is the first time anyone has succeeded in crossing what was thought to be an impossible route from the Mull of Kintyre to Ballycastle.

Soutter, like many other Channel swimmers, was raising funds for charity. All other official North Channel swims have been between Donaghadee in Co.Down, N.Ireland and Portpatrick in Dumfries & Galloway, Scotland, which is further down the Channel. The first recorded completion was in 1947 by Tom Blower (1914-55) from Nottingham. Only a few hardy souls have swum both the North and the English Channels, one of whom is the amazing Alison Streeter, MBE (1964-).

Surrey-born Streeter was the English Channel’s ‘Queen’ until 2021, with 43 crossings. The ‘King of the Channel’ continues to be Michael Read, MBE (1941-) from Sussex with 33 crossings. It is by far the most popular of the Channels, being warmer, and is attempted by solo swimmers and relay teams every summer, though they must navigate their way through shipping and patches of oil, plastic, jellyfish, lumber and even the occasional refrigerator!

(Image: Kyle Taylor in the English Channel at Flickr.com / CC BY 2.0)

Not only did the 10th Duke of Beaufort (1900-84) inaugurate the Badminton Horse Trials, but his grandfather the 8th Duke (1824-99) also introduced the racquet sport of badminton, both named after their Badminton estate in Gloucestershire. Today, badminton is one of the UK’s most popular sporting pastimes, played in leisure centres and halls all over the country and promoted by around 2,000 local clubs.

The ancient game of ‘battledore and shuttlecock’ first took root at Badminton in 1863, then went with the 8th Duke (Henry Somerset) on his Army posting to ‘British India’. There it was played outdoors by the officers, who added a high net over which the shuttlecock must fly back and forth without touching the ground. A woollen ball was sometimes used instead of a shuttlecock and the name ‘badminton’ was apparently already being applied. This became widespread in 1873 on the Duke’s return.

By 1887 there were standardised rules and these were published in 1893 by the Badminton Association of England. Badminton joined the Commonwealth Games in 1966 (England 37 medals, Scotland 1, Wales 1) and the Olympics in 1992 (Team GB just 3 medals, Far East countries dominating). The Thomas Cup for men and the Uber Cup for women are named after legendary British players of the sport.

(Image featuring English champion Derek Talbot, MBE (right) in 1973: Friedrich Magnussen at Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0)

Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson, DBE (1969-) is the UK’s most successful Paralympian. Born in Cardiff, she was immobilised with spina bifida by age 7, but that did nothing to stop her trying different disability sports and, at age 13, she discovered her talent for wheelchair racing. This involves kneeling in a custom-made chair with two splayed side-wheels and a smaller front wheel. Arm power and reinforced gloves are the key to success.

Tanni first competed internationally in 1987. She went on to amass one Bronze, 4 Silver and 11 Gold medals in five successive Paralympic Games from 1988 to 2004. Among other achievements at the 100m, 200m, 400m and 800m track races, she has also won 13 World Championship medals and won the Women’s London Wheelchair Marathon no less than six times from 1992 to 2002. The 1992 Barcelona Paralympics were among her favourites, as she witnessed the sudden growth of recognition for disabled sports worldwide.

Since retiring from sport in 2007, Tanni has coached youngsters, given speeches at events, been a television presenter and has even entered the House of Lords as an Independent politician after becoming first a Dame, then a Baroness. She relishes the opportunity to debate women’s and disability rights, as well as sports and health issues.

(Top image: rjp at Flickr.com / CC BY-SA 2.0)

It was Queen Anne (1665-1714) who, in 1711, spotted Ascot Heath’s potential for horse racing and arranged for the first ‘Ascot races’ on this piece of Crown land, next to Windsor Great Park in Berkshire. These were very popular; even more so after King George IV (1762-1830) expanded and improved the spectator facilities. The annual ‘Royal Ascot‘ week became a glamorous top-notch social highlight. It is also the most prestigious flat racing event on the calendar.

For five days every June, around 300,000 well-turned-out visitors don their hats, suits and best frocks to enjoy the atmosphere and catch a glimpse of the Queen in the daily horse-drawn royal procession. A multitude of helicopters, limousines and coaches descend upon the 179-acre venue and a massive catering operation clicks into gear, during which some 120,000 scones and 2,650lbs of clotted cream are consumed, along with 56,000 bottles of champagne. The third day is unofficially known as Ladies’ Day, every milliner’s dream.

The royal connection is reflected in the names of the races ~ the Coronation Stakes, the Diamond Jubilee Stakes, the Queen’s Vase and the Commonwealth Cup, for example. The Queen’s own horses regularly participate and she has had many successes, including the filly ‘Estimate’ winning the 2013 Gold Cup.

(Top image: James Emmans at geograph.org.uk / CC BY-SA 2.0)

Having a similar format to the Olympics, the Commonwealth Games began life in 1930 as the British Empire Games and went through a few name changes until the current style was adopted in 1978. The Games, nicknamed ‘the Friendly Games’, take place every four years in one of the Commonwealth member countries. Wales has hosted it once, Scotland thrice and England twice, with a third English event scheduled for 2022.

The constituent nations and dependencies of the United Kingdom send separate teams, so, for example, the Isle of Man has sent its own athletes since 1958 and hosted the Commonwealth Youth Games in 2011.

Also in 1958, when the Games were held in Cardiff, there started the tradition of the Queen’s Baton Relay whereby a message from the Leader of the Commonwealth of Nations ~ formerly Queen Elizabeth II ~ sends a message inside a baton to arrive at the Games’ Opening Ceremony. In 1998 in Kuala Lumpur, the baton arrived outside the stadium atop an elephant!

The host nation helps to choose which sports are included and the variety has gradually increased over the years. Sports such as cricket, netball, lawn bowls, hockey and archery have all made an appearance. Australia has been the most successful participant overall.

(Top image of 2010 badminton team medallists: Doma-w at Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0)

Hampshire-born John Assheton Fincher (1863-1900) was a London bank clerk who tried his hand at a few inventions, one of which was the board game ‘Tiddlywinks‘. The patent was registered in 1889, as was its original name, ‘Tiddledy-Winks’. It was taken up by the John Jaques & Son company and quickly became popular as a simple, light-hearted contest for all ages, the aim being to propel your winks (counters) into the central pot by pushing down on the wink edge with your squidger (big counter), thereby scoring tiddlies (points).

With jargon such as this (see the whole list provided by the English Tiddlywinks Association), it inevitably found its way into universities. In 1958 students at Cambridge even challenged HRH Prince Philip (1921-2021) to a tiddlywinks match! He accepted but put The Goons in as his team. They lost. From 1961 onwards, the Prince presented the prize to the winners of the university Silver Wink tournament. That decade saw the highest number of universities participating in tiddlywinks, with the mainstay of Cambridge enduring to this day.

Aside from this, tiddlywinks is more usually known as a children’s game, sold either on its own or as part of a games compendium with a multi-purpose board, cup and counters.

(Image of a Tiddledy-Winks boxed game sold in the USA in 1897: Miami University Libraries at Flickr.com / Public domain)

Dame Kelly Holmes, MBE (1970-) is known for campaigns for physical and mental health, particularly via her charity, the Dame Kelly Holmes Trust, aimed at helping disadvantaged youngsters. However, she is best known for being Britain’s double Gold-winning 800m. and 1,500m. runner at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens.

She was born in Kent and opted for a career in the British Army, where she became a Physical Training Instructor and reached the rank of Sergeant. Watching the 1992 Summer Olympics she spotted a runner whom she had previously beaten in amateur competition and was inspired to enter the international stage herself. For the next five years, she ran in middle-distance track events while still serving in the Army, but in 1997 she received the funds to concentrate full-time on running. After coming through several bouts of injury, it all came together for her in 2004.

Her trademark style was to come from the back and take the lead on the final bend. She has said that her role model was Sebastian Coe (1956-), now a life peer, who still holds the UK record for the men’s 800m.. In parallel with that, Dame Kelly clocked up the women’s equivalent in 1995 and, likewise, this still holds today.

(Top image: Doha Stadium Plus Qatar at Flickr.com / CC BY 2.0)

The Grand National is an annual horse race many would like to see banned on animal welfare grounds, or at least greatly modified. This extremely demanding steeplechase has claimed the lives of 84 horses up to and including 2019. The three-day Grand National Festival, of which it is the highlight, has resulted in the deaths of 53 horses since 2000. Causes include collisions, trampling, exhaustion, broken necks, backs, legs and shoulders. Some perish instantly, others are ‘destroyed’ by vets.

The event began in 1836, a time when animals were viewed as acceptable components of sport. Indeed, the building of the Aintree racecourse originally included a cock-fighting pit and the leaseholder, William Lynn (1792-1870), had previously operated hare-coursing. Known initially as the Liverpool Grand Steeplechase, the course jumps included a stone wall.

The highest number of runners was 66 in 1929 but the most that have finished was 23, in 1984, evidence of how gruelling the two laps of the triangular 2¼-mile track are. One problem is the ditches on some of the landing sides of the 30 artificial hedges, or ‘fences’. These surprise the horses, whose heads may hit the turf. As safety continues to be debated, however, hundreds of millions of fans still watch on TV and online each April.

(Image [cropped]: Charles Roffey at Flickr.com / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

One of the world’s oldest sports, curling has some special features that remind us of its 16th century Scottish origins. It is played on a frozen ice surface with brooms and polished granite stones, or ‘rocks’. Add to this the self-policing element and the shouting of instructions and it is easy to imagine the scene taking place on a loch or pond in the depths of a northern winter.

The two teams of four wear shoes that enable smooth sliding on the pebbled ice ‘sheet’ and the ‘skip’ is in charge of each team’s strategy. Players, called ‘curlers’, need good balance, both for sliding off from the ‘hack’ and for leaning heavily onto their brooms and brushing to assist the desired speed and direction of the rock. A slight twist on release makes the rock spin or ‘curl’ its way down to the target area, the ‘house’.

Other northern countries like Canada have taken up curling and there is a World Curling Federation based in Perth. The first curling clubs were in Scotland and the rules were drawn up by the Grand (later Royal) Caledonian Curling Club, founded in 1838 in Edinburgh. Curling became an official Winter Olympics sport in 1998.

(Top image: ‘The Curlers’ by Roger Griffith, 1860, at Wikimedia Commons / Public domain)

British cycling’s modern-day success is due in large part to Sir Chris Hoy, MBE (1976-). Born in Edinburgh, he joined his first cycling club at age 14 and nine years later won the first of many medals at world-class level. Hoy has won six Gold and one Silver Olympic medals, the most of any Briton in any sport and the most by anyone in cycling. He was Team GB’s flag-holder at the opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympics.

At the World Championships Hoy has won eleven Gold, eight Silver and six Bronze medals in team, keirin and individual track cycling events. His Olympic distinctions were spread over four Summer Games in 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012. He also has two Gold and two Bronze Commonwealth Games medals. Another first came in 2009 when both he and his mother Carol received MBEs (hers was for services to healthcare) in the same Honours List, a unique coincidence.

Hoy retired from cycling in 2013. With a lifelong enjoyment of various other sports, including rowing and rugby, he then moved on to GT motor racing and entered the 2016 Le Mans 24-hour race, finishing 17th. He has also co-authored a series of children’s books about a boy who dreams of being a champion cyclist.

(Image [cropped]: Velo Steve at Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 2.0)

Many British Formula 1 drivers began their careers in go-karting. Karts were invented in the USA in 1956 and attracted attention in the UK soon afterwards. Graham Hill was in at the start of the sport in this country, competing in the first race, held in November 1959 on an American airbase in Suffolk.

In those early days, impromptu race tracks were set up in car parks or on fields, with straw bales marking the route. The karts have no suspension or differential, are powered by a 2- or 4-stroke engine and have no body to protect the driver, making the experience similar to bouncing along on a tea-tray with wheels. This gives it great appeal for youngsters and there are plenty of indoor karting facilities geared up specifically for children.

There have been six British world champions: Terry Fullerton (1973), Mike Wilson (1981, 1982, 1983, 1985, 1988, 1989), Oliver Oakes (2005), Tom Joyner (2013), Danny Keirle (2017) and Lando Norris (2014), whose interest was piqued at a go-karting birthday party at age seven. He signed for McLaren in 2017, so is on course to fulfill his ambition of being an F1 champion. The on-board camera on his kart in this video allows us to see the amount of sliding and skidding involved in a race:

(Top image: Richard Smith at geograph.org.uk / CC BY-SA 2.0)