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The Making of Men

Episode 5 of 30

Clare Balding visits Rugby School to learn why the role sport played turned its pupils into men fit to run the empire.

The Duke of Wellington never said the Battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton but it could be argued that the might of the British Empire was moulded on the pitches of Rugby School.

As Clare Balding continues to chart the way the British have shaped sport and sport has shaped Britain, she visits Rugby to discover how the visionary headmaster, Thomas Arnold, ensured games lay at the heart of school life, producing men ready to rule. As the school archivist, Rusty MacLean, explains to her, on leaving, these pupils took the games they'd developed at Rugby to all parts of the globe, giving birth to numerous national sporting clubs in Africa and India, as well as developing new games like Aussie Rules and American football.

Readers, Brian Bowles, Stuart McLoughlin and Jack Firth
Producer: Lucy Lunt.

Available now

15 minutes

Last on

Sat 16 Jun 2018 02:15
91热爆 Radio 4 Extra

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The Unsporting Side of Sport

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Playing Like Ladies

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Credits

Producer Lucy Lunt
Producer Sara Conkey
Producer Garth Brameld

Broadcasts

  • Fri 3 Feb 2012 13:45
    91热爆 Radio 4 FM
  • Fri 4 Jul 2014 14:15
    91热爆 Radio 4 Extra
  • Sat 5 Jul 2014 00:15
    91热爆 Radio 4 Extra
  • Fri 29 Jul 2016 14:15
    91热爆 Radio 4 Extra
  • Sat 30 Jul 2016 02:15
    91热爆 Radio 4 Extra
  • Fri 15 Jun 2018 14:15
    91热爆 Radio 4 Extra
  • Sat 16 Jun 2018 02:15
    91热爆 Radio 4 Extra

Podcast

  • Sport and the British

    Clare Balding charts how sport has shaped the British and how Britain has shaped sport