July 9 2012, I spent some time talking with Tom Watkinson of BBC2. They are writing a new three-part series on the history of the Railways. The series will be presented by historian Dan Snow, and will air on the BBC in 2013.Tom wanted to cover the relationship between the developing railways and sport, and as this is an area where I have some expertise he wanted to pick my brains. In fact the railways were crucial in helping sport expand. They meant top sportsmen could travel outside their own region and get more work, so they got ever richer and more widely known. Then later on teams could travel further and meet stronger opposition than in their neighbourhood, so standards of play rose ever wider. Sport helped the railways too, as sporting excursions, special trains for teams, racehorses and the racing elite, all provided the marginal costings that kept them in business.
About Mike Huggins
