News

Find out what I’ve been up to recently, and what’s coming up.

Past Events

• English Heritage/Played in Britain launch for The British Olympics: Britain’s Olympic heritage 1612-2012 at the German Gymnasium, St Pancras, 28 September 2011
• BBC local radio interviews on The British Olympics, 29 September 2011
• P & G Wells launch for The British Olympics: Britain’s Olympic heritage 1612-2012 in Winchester, 29 September 2011
• ‘Olimpick, Olympic and Olympian: alternative British histories’, University of Winchester research seminar, 13 October 2011
• The British Olympics at Guildford Book Festival, 20 October 2011
• The British Olympics, University of Winchester’s 12 for 12 Project, 4 November 2011.
• Lecture on London’s Olympic history, De Montfort University, Leciester, 15 December 2011
• Olympic and Paralympic History events, Anton Junior School, Andover, 4 and 25 January 2012
• London’s Olympic History, talk at Perins School, Alresford, for their Arts Festival, 9 February 2012
• London’s Olympics and London’s Parks, London Parks and Gardens Trust, The Garden Museum, 13 February 2012
• Hampshire and the Olympic Games: the local history of a global event, Hampshire Field Club, 2 March 2012
• The Ides of March Lecture, Portsmouth Grammar School, 16 March 2012
• Goalposts and Googlies: sport and the English language, keynote paper for the  English Language Student Conference at the University of Winchester, 23 March 2012.
• The Morpeth Olympic Games, talk at the Morpeth Northumbrian Gathering, Morpeth Town Hall, 6pm on Sunday 15 April 2012
• The Olympic Games, ‘Moving the Goalposts? Sport in Transition, 2012’, MCC/RFU/De Montfort University/University of Southampton day conference to mark the London Olympics, Lord’s Cricket Ground, 19 April 2012
• The British Olympics, talk at the Brympton Festival of Literature, Music and Art, Brympton House, Somerset, 22 April 2012
• Sport and Gender at the 1908 London Olympic Games, conference paper at the Sport and the City conference, University of Westminster, 24 April 2012
• ‘1866 And All That: rediscovering London’s first Olympics and Britain’s Olympic tradition’, Martin Polley in conversation with Simon Inglis, The Gallery, Cowcross St, London, Thursday 10 May 2012
• Olimpick, Olympic and Olympian: British re-imaginings between Zeus and Coubertin, public lecture at UCL at 6.30pm on Tuesday 22 May 2012.
• UK premiere of Beijing Taxi, Curzon Soho at 6.30pm on Wednesday 23 May 2012, where I’ll be a member of the post-screening panel discussion.
• ‘The Past and Present London Games’, Bishopsgate Institute, London, at 7.30 pm on Thursday 7 June 2012.
• Launch of Index on Censorship‘s sport-themed edition, ‘Sport on Trial’. I’ll be on the discussion panel with Jo Glanville, Mihir Bose, and Clarke Carlise, 19 June 2012, 6.00pm start, Free Word Centre, Farringdon Road, London. The talk will be followed by England v Ukraine live on the big screen
• The British Olympics: exploring Britian’s Olympic heritage 1612-2012, keynote paper at ARLIS Conference, 29 June 2012
• Hampshire and the Olympic Games, Bishops Waltham local history group, Tuesday 3 July
• ‘How the Olympics Came to West Hampstead…in 1799’, talk with Simon Inglis of Played in Britain and me at West End Lane Books, 277 West End Lane, West Hampstead, London NW6, 4 July 2012. 7.30pm start.
• West London’s Olympic Heritage, talk at Ealing Central Library, Thursday 5 July 2012, 6.15pm
• Politics and Olympics: Ideals and Realities, special event for Chatham House Under 35s Forum at the Free Word Centre (member event).
• The Olympics: What Do They Mean To Us?, The Telegraph Debate, Ways With Words Festival of Words and Ideas, Dartington Hall, Devon, Tuesday 10 July 2012
• The British Olympics, talk at the Drill Hall, Chepstow, at 7.15pm on Wednesday 11 July 2012 as part of the Chepstow Festival.
• ‘Relays: A visual Guide to the Olympics‘, author event on the Olympic Games featuring David Goldblatt, Mike O’Mahoney and me, Watershed, Bristol, Wednesday 18 July 2012, 6pm start.
• Talk on Britain’s Olympic history to the American Women’s Club, Tuesday 24 July (private meeting)
• Alternative Opening Ceremony Party, Philosophy Football @ Rich Mix, Bethnal Green, Friday 27 July 2012, 7.00pm
• 1936, a play by Tom McNab about the Berlin Olympics at the Lilian Baylis Studio, Sadlers Wells Theatre. I will be one of the post-performance panel members at the 4pm performance on Sunday 5 August
• “If I ever did one good thing”: Ludwig Guttmann, Stoke Mandeville and the Birth of the Paralympics, lunchtime talk for the Wiener Library, 22 August 2012
• Hampshire and the Olympic Games: the local history of a global event, Hampshire Record Office, Winchester, 30 August 2012
• ‘Knitting and the Olympic Games’, keynote paper for In The Loop 3: The Voices of Knitting, University of Southampton, held at Winchester Discovery Centre, 5-7 September 2012. My paper will be on 5 September.
• ‘Olympic, Olimpick, and Olympian: Britain’s alternative Olympic histories‘, Historical Association, Cardiff Branch, University of Cardiff, Thursday 25 October 2012
• ‘The Olympics and l’Entente Cordiale: The 1908 London Olympic Games and the Franco-British Exhibition’, keynote paper at Carrefour 2012, Hosting, Organising and Celebrating the Olympics, University of Rouen, 29-31 October 2012.
• ‘Women and the 1908 Olympic Games’, research seminar for the Anita White Foundation, University of Chichester, 25 March 2013
• ‘Knitting and the Olympics: clothing, competition, culture, and control’, Knitting & Crochet Guild AGM, Derby (private event), 13 July 2013
• ‘Queenie, Madge and the Duchess: the women of the 1908 Olympics’, British Society of Sports History annual conference, Manchester Metropolitan University, 6 September 2013
• ‘Sport, empire, and diplomacy: British international sport in the 19th and 20th centuries’, Comparative Sport History Seminar between the UK and Japan, Yamaguchi University (Yoshida Campus), Yamaguchi, Japan, 13 March 2014
• ‘Sport, empire, and diplomacy: British international sport in the 19th and 20th centuries’, Comparative Sport History Seminar between the UK and Japan, Ryukoju University (Omiya Campus), Kyoto, Japan, 16 March 2014
• ‘Sweaters and the Services: knitting patterns and the military’, In The Loop study days, University of Southampton/Winchester School of Art, 2-3 April 2014
• A Cultural History of the World Cup, 1-day conference at the British Library organised by the International Centre for Sports History and Culture and the British Library, 23 May 2014
• Football Diplomacy in War and Cold War: The British Experience, British Society of Sports History, South of England Sport and Leisure History Network, Summer Workshop, University of Winchester, 14 June 2014.
• Keynote speaker, with Loyd Grossman, at the launch event for Historic Pools of Britain, Golden Lane Leisure Centre, London, September 2015
• ‘Olimpick, Olympic, and Olympian: the British experience c1612-2012’, Bury Conference: A Festival of History and English, West Suffolk College/University Campus Suffolk, Bury St Edmund’s, 27 January 2016
• ‘World Cup Diplomacy: the British experience, 1966 and 1982’, British Society of Sports History/Instutute of Historical Research Sport and Leisure History Seminar, Senate House, London, March 2016
• ‘Olympic, Olimpick, and Olympian: Britain’s alternative Olympic histories’, Peter Symond’s College, Winchester, October 2016 (private event)
• ‘Hampshire and the Olympic Games: a local history of a global event’, Hampshire County Record Office, 27 October 2016
• The Cotswold Olimpicks: the long history of a small event, Keynote Paper, Southern History Society‘s 2020 conference at the University of Winchester, 8 February 2020
• From Pencils to Pixels: a sports history research journey, 1987-2021, University of Lausanne Postgraduate Conference, ‘Doing, Writing, Thinking Sports History‘, September 2021
• A Fine Solidarity in the Life of the Countryside: the Ashbees and Sport in Chipping Campden, Chipping Campden Historical Society, Campden Town Hall, 7.30pm, 19 January 2023.