Played in Britain Series

Great Lengths

by Ian Gordon and Simon Inglis

Published 31 March 2009

Swimming is Britain's most popular participation sport. Nearly one in four people swim at least once a month, with around 80 million visits to swimming pools recorded every year. Surprisingly, although public baths have formed a vital part of community life since an 1846 Act of Parliament, their story has never been told in book form until now. Great Lengths, the eighth book in the acclaimed Played in Britain series, traces the development of indoor public baths and pools, from the earliest subscription baths of the Georgian period and the first municipal baths in Liverpool in 1829, to the current generation of leisure pools with their flumes and potted palm trees. In both the public and private sectors the golden era of pool design fell between the 1880s and 1914, when over 600 baths were constructed, many rich in architectural detail and technological innovation. The magnificent Victoria Baths in Manchester completed in 1906 (2003 winner of BBC2 Restoration series) set new standards for opulence. Birmingham's Balsall Heath Baths (1907), London's Haggerston Baths (1904) and similar establishments in Hull, Nottingham and Glasgow equally reflected the civic pride of their creators, as greater awareness of hygiene and physical fitness brought safe swimming and recreation to the urban masses. A further burst of activity between the wars saw a new generation of concrete and glass Art Deco baths and in the 1960s these were joined by classic Modern designs. Great Lengths is no mere exercise in nostalgia. Scores of Victorian and Edwardian baths have been allowed to deteriorate. Dozens remain closed and the subject of long running campaigns for restoration. Yet many modern baths built in the late 20th century have also been found wanting. For this reason, this book will serve as an important reference for anyone involved in the current debate, whether as swimmers or providers.

Played in London

by Simon Inglis

Published 1 September 2014

From its first century Roman amphitheatre to the 21st century Olympic Stadium at Stratford, London has always been a city of spectacles and sporting fever.

In the 12th century crowds would gather at Smithfield to watch horse racing and ball games. In Tudor times they flocked to the tiltyards of Whitehall and Westminster to enjoy jousting, while in the 17th century the Stuarts were keen exponents of a game with the familiar name of Pall Mall.

From more recent times Wembley, Wimbledon, Twickenham, Lord’s and the Oval are known around the world. As the first city to have hosted three Olympic Games, London has also led the way in the development of athletics, boxing and gymnastics and, in the 20th century, of greyhound and speedway racing, and even of darts, once a fairground favourite, now contested in front of massive crowds at one of the capital’s latest coliseums, the O2 Arena at Greenwich.

Profusely illustrated with detailed maps and in-depth research, Played in London is the most ambitious offering yet from the acclaimed Played in Britain series. Capital sport guaranteed!

Engineering Archie

by Simon Inglis

Published 31 March 2005

Professional football provide one of the Victoran era's most mesmerising spectacles, developed at a time when the British public has at its disposal more free time and spare pennies than ever before. But as the bread became more plentiful, it needed someone to build the circuses. That man was Archibald Leitch. Born in Glasgow in 1865, Archibald Leitch - a consulting engineer and factory architect by profession - became to football what Frank Matcham was to theatre; in effect, its designer in chief. Millions of spectators sat or stood in Leitch's structures, built for such famous clubs as Arsenal, Manchester United, Chelsea, Everton, Liverpool, Tottenham, Aston Villa, Hearts and, not least, Glasgow Rangers, where his stadium career began in 1899, and nearly ended just three years later, when one of his stands gave way, leading to the death of 26 spectators. Leitch witnessed the tragedy and vowed never to let it be repeated. But while his pedimented gables and criss-cross steelwork balconies formed a recognisable and much-admired style, and his own patented crush barriers were so ubiquitous as to be virtually invisible, until now little has been known of Leitch himself. Moreover, following the modernisation of football grounds as a result of the Hillsborough disaster in 1989, only a dozen of his buildings survive. In this timely and entertaining study of Leitch's life, his works and his legacy, Simon Inglis has unearthed a surprising number of hitherto unseen plans, documents and archive photographs, many of them rich in detail.

Played in Birmingham

by Steve Beauchampe and Simon Inglis

Published 30 April 2006

A Load of Old Balls

by Simon Inglis

Published 17 October 2005