BBC Radio Podcasts from Sport and the British

Sport and the British

The State of Play

Clare Balding explores the cultural importance of the great triviality that is sport.

Globalisation

Clare Balding explores the way television has changed our relationship with sport forever.

Rugby's Big Bang

Clare Balding explores the demise of the amateurism in rugby union.

Golden Girls

Clare Balding explains how the 1960s saw women athletes finally take centre stage.

Sport for All

Clare Balding asks why and when the British government got involved in sport.

Beating Us at Our Own Game

Clare Balding takes a look at Britain's most successful export ever - football.

The Gentleman Amateur

Clare Balding on the demise of the amateur gentleman and the rise of the professional.

Driving Innovation

Clare Balding is at Silverstone to explore how Britain led the way in motor racing.

Broadcasting to the Nation

Clare Balding discovers how the birth of broadcasting changed British sport for ever.

War Games

Clare Balding explores the vital role sport has played during both world wars.

Ireland, North of the Border

Clare is in Belfast to explore the impact that the Troubles had on sport in the region.

Ireland, Politics on the Pitch

Clare Balding is at Croke Park in Dublin to discover how Ireland developed its own sports.

Welsh Rugby and Its National Heroes

Clare Balding explores the role rugby has played in shaping Welsh national identity.

Anyone But England

Clare Balding explores the role football has played in shaping Scottish national identity.

Cricket and the English Hero

Clare investigates the role our sporting heroes play in shaping national identity.

A Bit of a Flutter

Clare Balding looks at the role gambling has played in our relationship with sport.

Women Between the Wars

Clare Balding discovers how working women were finally given their sporting chance.

Fighting Back

Clare Balding looks at the relationship between boxing and Britain's ethnic minorities.

Tennis and Golf in Suburbia

Clare Balding discovers how tennis and golf clubs were borne of Victorian middle classes.

Rugby's Great Split

Clare Balding tells a story of lies, expulsions and bigotry when rugby split in two.

Exporting Football

Clare Balding charts how Britain spread the passion for football around the world.

The Dawn of Professional Football

Clare Balding tells the story of how football went from an amateur pastime to big business

The Formal Empire

Clare Balding reveals that sport was the glue that helped keep the British Empire together

The Corinthian Ideal

Clare Balding explores the founding of the Football Association in 1863.

Playing Like Ladies

Clare discovers the freedom that Victorian public school girls found on the sports field.

The Making of Men

Clare visits Rugby School to discover why it produced men fit to run the empire.

The Unsporting Side of Sport

Sport and gambling are inextricably linked, especially when it comes to horse racing.

The Bare Fists of Boxing

Clare Balding explores the importance of boxing to the 19th-century alpha male.

A Level Playing Field

Unlike the French, was it our bonding love of cricket that prevented a revolution?

The Rise of Olympism

Claire visits Rugby School, which can claim to be the birthplace of the modern Olympics.