Recommended Publications
Recent publications of the NUTS, and by NUTS members
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British Athletics 1953 and British Athletics 1954by the late Michael Sheridan These are A4 books of 120 (1953) or 140 (1954) pages, each containing:
Each book can be obtained for £15 or both for £28 (including UK postage) Payment by: Elizabeth Sheridan, 27 Yew Tree Park, Congresbury, Somerset, BS49 5ER |
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Robert Sadler and the lost Copenhagen Running Groundsby Kevin Kelly Many years of research by Kevin Kelly has resulted in a book on the history of the prominent athletics track in Garratt Lane Wandsworth between 1853 and 1864 and the story of Robert Sadler, the man who started it all. The exact location of the track had been lost in time as it had never appeared on a map but this is now revealed together with a previously unpublished image of the founder. During its life the track hosted over 500 events and virtually all the top pedestrians of the era competed there including the legendary Deerfoot. It is a soft backed book of 80 pages with a similar number of illustrations. Available now from Kevin Kelly, 71 Penwortham Road, Streatham, London, SW16 6RH E-mail: Price £9.99; Post & packing: UK £1.50, Europe £5.00, Rest of the World £7.50 |
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Sydney Thomas 1868-1942 World Champion Harrierby Warren Roe Following Warren's biographies of Jack White and Teddy Mills, he has now published in the same format that of Sydney Thomas 1868-1942. The flavour of the book is born out at the start "In 1908, as London hosted the Olympic Games, a 'down and out' man destined for the workhouse was to be seen in Lurline Gardens, Battersea making attempts at singing and inviting passers-by to give help. This man was Sydney Thomas who not many years before had been a brilliant athlete, breaking records in front of vast adoring crowds and winner of numerous championships both in Britain and America. This is his story." If you are interested in purchasing a copy a cheque for £4 (Euro 5 banknote from Europe) to Warren at 36 Ravenscourt Grove, Hornchurch, RM12 6HS will cover the cost of the book including postage. |
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British Athletics 1951 and British Athletics 1952by the late Michael Sheridan These 128-page A4 books each contain:
Each book can be obtained for £15 or both for £28 (including UK postage) Payment by: Elizabeth Sheridan, 27 Yew Tree Park, Congresbury, Somerset, BS49 5ER |
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Athletics National Records Evolution 1912-2012by Janusz Wasko, John Brant, Gjörgy Csiki and Andrej Socha A new edition of the pioneering 2007 work expands the book to 458 pages, increases the number of countries covered to 36, adds 5 more years worth of records, and adds extensive additional information form national records expert Gjörgy Csiki and female athletics expert John Brant. The book lists all known progressive records in Olympic events for the countries featured, including for example, more than one jump or throw in a competition, where they were both or all national records. In addition to the main 36 countries, there are the top 30 records for each event as at 1940, 1960, 1980, 1990, 2000 and 2012. For details of ordering, contact Janusz at rwasko@onet.eu |
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Heptathlon and Pentathlonby Stuart Mazdon with assistance from Alan Lindop |
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The Olympics 100 Years Ago – How Great Britain's Athletes Performed in Stockholm in 1912by Bob Phillips and David Thurlow, a “Track Stats” Special, published by the NUTS, available from , 40 Rosedale Road, Stoneleigh, Epsom, Surrey KT17 2JH, cost £8 UK, £10 overseas. Book review by Ian Tempest: This 86-page A4 book, which is a very detailed exposition of the 1912 domestic season and the British experience at the 1912 Olympics, elaborates on some of the themes in “Britain and the Olympics 1896-2010”; namely the distaste of many in Britain for the Olympic movement, the feeling that the Games were being taken too seriously by other countries, and a belief that the professional approaches being adopted elsewhere were inimical to the Victorian public-school idealism of amateurism still prevalent at the top of UK sport. So, while the USA and Sweden were among the countries who organised themselves in a very systematic manner, the British approach was “haphazard”, with the official trials on 18 May being arguably less important than the Oxford v Cambridge match on 23 March. The authors, however, concede that one of the winners of the Varsity Match, miler Arnold Jackson (4:21 2/5) – who then did not compete again before the Games – won the Olympic 1500 metres title at 3:56.8! Maybe the maligned selectors knew something after all – or maybe excellence shines through whatever the circumstances? The authors list the team chosen for the Games – including a number who did not compete for various reasons – and the officials and journalists that accompanied the party. Like the BBC today the press-box was full of talent, including Walter George, Joe Binks, Guy Nickalls (a 1908 rowing champion in the eights) and Sam Mussabini. The daily reports of the meeting are very interesting. Fashion at the time was for numerous heats with small fields – in the 100 metres there were 17 heats for 69 athletes – and there were no false- start rules so one race got under way after nine false starts. As inexplicable was the decision to run heats of the 10,000 metres on 7 July (30 athletes) with the final the next day! Generally, though, the Games are considered to have been very well organised by Stockholm and Sweden. Aside from Arnold Jackson, Britain’s other gold medal came in the 4 x 100 metres relay. The circumstances were bizarre. There were only eight teams, but the organisers had six heats (so four walkovers) and three semi-finals. The first semi-final (only winners to make the final) was won by USA with a world record, but they transgressed with the baton-changing so Britain, who passed the line 2nd, made the final. The other semi-final winners, Sweden and Germany, both set (legitimate) world records. In that final, on 9 July, the British team of Willie Applegarth, David Jacobs, Henry Macintosh and Victor D’Arcy upset the odds by winning in 42.4, just a tenth outside Germany’s world record set in the semis. The book concludes with a review of the athletics proceedings by “The Times” correspondent (who ignores field events altogether) and a feature on the history of the 4 x 100 metres relay at the Olympics by Dave Thurlow, before concluding with ex-MP Robert Lehmann’s hostile views on Olympism, as expressed in 1912 in a speech reported in the Manchester Guardian. This book is truly a fascinating insight into a very different era to today. And has a number of useful illustrations. 1912 is also the centenary of the IAAF so a celebration of the Stockholm Olympics is extremely appropriate. |
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Britain & the Olympics 1896-2010: A Celebration of British Goldby Bob Phillips, published by Carnegie Publishing, Chatsworth Road, Lancaster LA1 4SL, telephone 01524-840111, www.carnegiepublishing.com, cost £12.99. Book review by Ian Tempest: Unlike books that described the Olympic champions in alphabetical order, Bob Phillips covers achievements in chronological order. There are advantages to this approach, showing sequentially some of the changes in how the Olympics were run and how the gold medallists trained over the years since 1896. The book encompasses Olympic champions across all sports – and even people who may not have been 'Olympic champions' at all! At first glance “2010” in the title sounds like a misprint – but Bob is covering the Winter Olympics as well as the Summer Games, thereby bringing many different champions to the fore, from the 1924 curling team gold medallists (only formally acknowledged as Olympic champions in 2006!) through to Amy Williams, who won the skeleton bobsleigh in 2010. I doubt I’m alone in being most fascinated by the early Olympics (up to World War One) – Games of “idiosyncrasies, eccentricities and anomalies”. In 1896, for instance, there wasn’t an official British team, but individuals entered in their own right (and many top athletes at home would not have known the Games had taken place). In 1900 Britain won the “Over 20 Tons Class” yacht race – but many of the individuals in the crew are still not identified. In 1904 Tom Kiely won the all-rounders' event in St Louis but entered privately and as an Irish Nationalist would not have welcomed being called a Brit. In fact, it took many years for this event to be declared an 'Olympic event', such was the confusion surrounding many events in these early Games, which took place over many months and by no means followed a rigorous timetable of competition. Great Britain gave so much to the development of Victorian sport, especially in establishing and organising great sporting events, codifying rules and promoting sport in ways that encouraged people to flock to these events and see the star performers. Yet it is evident with the early Olympic Games that Britain was struggling to reconcile its position in the modern sporting world, and had conflicting attitudes towards the Olympics. Many in officialdom did not take the Games seriously and were suspicious of any hints of professionalism, but the world was changing. Bob Phillips records that even before the 1912 Stockholm Olympics had started the correspondent for “The Times” was comparing unfavourably the “extraordinary thorough work” preparing the Swedish athletes with the “gay, happy-go-lucky ways” of Britain. Bob neatly contrasts all this with the 21st century Games, with big money and a highly professional approach driving the success of Britain’s cycling team in 2008 (eight gold medals out of a total of 19 golds – itself a record since 1908’s exceptional total of 56 golds). I liked in Bob’s review of the 1930s the coincidence of the walking successes of Tommy Green (1932) and Harold Whitlock (1936) with the mass trespass of Kinder Scout in 1932 and the establishment of the Ramblers Association (1935) – truly walking “was a national pastime that could even make headline news”. All sorts of athletes had a Sunday morning constitutional, including Bill Roberts, the 400 metres runner. This book is heartily recommended for its great stories of wonderful legends of the past, its many excellent black and while and colour photographs, and a most valuable Appendix of miscellaneous achievements. This reveals, for instance, that of the 482 gold medallists (NB not a complete total as those sailing champions in 1900 are not known) at least 40 were born outside Britain, while at least 56 champions of other nations were born in Britain, including many Irish-Americans pre-Partition. Nationality has always been a highly fluid concept. Finally, the Olympic champions who might not be. They were professionals who competed in their own class of events in 1900 in Paris. They included Edgar Bredin, winner of three “titles” as a professional. Ironically nowadays it’s the professionals who dominate the five ring circus. |
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The Official History of the AAAAUTHOR: Mel Watman Description: The Amateur Athletic Association, founded in 1880 during a meeting at the Randolph Hotel in Oxford, was for many years the world’s most influential governing body for track and field competition. It was the AAA which established the rules and ethos of the sport. Order this book from www.sportsbooks.ltd.uk. |
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Hammer Throwby IAN TEMPEST. A statistical survey of British throwing. An update to this booklet covering the 2011 and 2012 seasons can be found here. A5 book, 88 pages, full of information on the history of UK hammer throwing and hammer throwers, including progressive UK senior and U20 records, deep lists (all UK men over 50m, women over 44m) plus complete lists of UK/AAA/age group/regional championships winners, English Schools champions and all UK international performances in the major championships and dual internationals. There are also features on the historical development of hammer throwing in the UK from early history onwards, Highland Games, rules and regulations and a brief history of the Hammer Circle. Also over a hundred biographies of the leading lights of the event going back to the 19th century, (to pick up the leading throwers at the dawn of hammer throwing as a competitive event) brought right up to date with the 2010 Commonwealth and World Junior medallists. Featured are:
Most athletes featured are:
Price is £8 (including postage) in cash or by cheque (payable to NUTS) From Don Turner
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For information on other booklets in this series, see NUTS Historical Group
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DecathlonCompiled by ALAN LINDOP on behalf of the National Union of Track Statisticians The 120 page A5 booklet contains: (all information as at 1 January 2011)
Price is £9 (including postage) in cash or by cheque (payable to NUTS) From Don Turner
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This is the 14th in the event Statistical series, others also being available from Don Turner, with Women's Combined Events (Heptathlon and Pentathlons) due next.
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Women's World Lists 1921-1962by John Brant and Janusz Wasko, published February 2011. 255x175mm, 408 pages 100-deep women's world lists for each year in all standard events including 60 metres. Major changes from last edition (1926-1962) are:
If you thought the last book was good, then this is even better! For the first 30 copies ordered there will also be the bonus of a little booklet additionally sent, with to date, the most full detailed Women’s World Games results ever published and all international meeting/matches from 1921 to 1925 with full names/full birth dates (including Monte Carlo Games 1921 to 1923). £25.00/€30.00 including postage Order from:
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All-Time Greats of British AthleticsAUTHOR: Mel Watman Description: Former Athletics Weekly editor Mel Watman, who has been writing on the sport for half a century, pays tribute to Britain's most successful athletes...
from The book, which runs to 242 pages plus 32 pages of photos, features in-depth profiles of 78 athletes while more than 500 appear in a British Honours List which details their main career achievements. Seb Coe, who Watman rates as Britain's greatest ever athlete after his unique feat in retaining the Olympic 1500 metres title in Los Angeles in 1984, took time out from running Britain's preparations for the 2012 Games to write the foreword. He said: '...he has lovingly and painstakingly chronicled those individuals who have left a nation with some of the most breathtaking moments in our sporting history... I know that this book will relive those moments for everybody that reads it.' Order this book from www.sportsbooks.ltd.uk. |
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Who's who of British International Athletes 1945-1960by the late Michael Sheridan This 206-page A4 book contains:
This book can be obtained for: Payment by: Elizabeth Sheridan, 27 Yew Tree Park, Congresbury, Somerset, BS49 5ER
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Track StatsJune 2013 edition now available. For more information see Track Stats |
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The NUTS AnnualPublished as "British Athletics", for more information see Annual and Compilers |